As a gardener I have been frustrated to find that no matter how many qualifications, tools, insurances, licenses I have - my prices will still be compared to casual labour from the retired or a neighbours young son looking for pocket money! Is gardening a profession? We think it is so we have created The Gardeners Guild.co.uk. What should be the minimum requirement for a gardener?

The problem as I see it is that there are 2 separate requirements.

1) For people like myself who suffers from an inability to do anything heavy, we need someone to just do the labouring jobs such as digging, cutting the grass and turning the compost heap. No particular skills needed so only prepared to pay a labourers rate.

2) Those with larger gardens probably need some one with much greater skills
such as pruning, knowing what plants suit the area etc. Skills needed so they should be prepared to pay more than for a labourer.

That's how I see it anyway.

Gary Edwards says...

As a gardener I have been frustrated to find that no matter how many
qualifications, tools, insurances, licenses I have - my prices will
still be compared to casual labour from the retired or a neighbours
young son looking for pocket money! Is gardening a profession? We think
it is so we have created The Gardeners Guild.co.uk. What should be the
minimum requirement for a gardener?


As "Granity" says, people either need a garden labourer or
a skilled gardener. Typically most just need the garden
labourer - someone to dig the garden, pull a few weeds, mow
the lawn or trim a hedge.

You've got to view these as two different markets. If you
try to compete against the garden labourer you'll lose out
because you can't compete on price. However, if you are a
skilled gardener your market is much smaller but you can
likely earn more using your skill. I am thinking here of
the minority of people who own large gardens that need more
skilled work such as pruning, maintaining flower borders
etc. However, the people who have such gardens tend to be
skilled gardeners as a hobby anyway. Also long gone are the
days when the "big house" had it's own gardener, cook and
servants. This only leaves two market areas as far as I can
see for skilled gardeners:
1. ground maintenance for businesses.
2. landscape gardening, where here you skill base needs to
also include elements of art and design.

--
David in Normandy.
To e-mail you must include the password FROG on the
subject line, or it will be automatically deleted.

On Wed, 12 Mar 2008 16:53:21 +0000, Gary Edwards wrote
(in article ):


As a gardener I have been frustrated to find that no matter how many
qualifications, tools, insurances, licenses I have - my prices will
still be compared to casual labour from the retired or a neighbours
young son looking for pocket money! Is gardening a profession? We think
it is so we have created The Gardeners Guild.co.uk. What should be the
minimum requirement for a gardener?


Just an idea. Do you have a reasonable front garden of your own? Make it
look fantastic and then put up a sign "gardening by ...". It pays to
advertise!


--
Sally in Shropshire, UK
Burne-Jones/William Morris window in Shropshire church with conservation
churchyard:
http://www.whitton-stmarys.org.uk

On 12 Mar, 22:37, Sally Thompson
wrote:
On Wed, 12 Mar 2008 16:53:21 +0000, Gary Edwards wrote
(in article ):



As a gardener I have been frustrated to find that no matter how many
qualifications, tools, insurances, licenses I have - my prices will
still be compared to casual labour from the retired or a neighbours
young son looking for pocket money! Is gardening a profession? We think
it is so we have created The Gardeners Guild.co.uk. What should be the
minimum requirement for a gardener?

Just an idea. *Do you have a reasonable front garden of your own? *Make it
look fantastic and then put up a sign "gardening by ...". *It pays to
advertise!

--
Sally in Shropshire, UK
Burne-Jones/William Morris window in Shropshire church with conservation
churchyard:http://www.whitton-stmarys.org.uk

I had a phone call the other day asking if I sold primroses.
I'm in the trade he said.
Oh Yes!
Yes I am a landscaper....
Sorry I said, but I specalise in Dahlias
Oh! What are those? he asked.
I thought you said you were in the trade.
Yes but my partener is the one that does the plants,
Oh! I said, so you're a builder then
Well..............Yes really.

To me that sums up the problem

You have to know your plants, how to look after them, and do a good
days work for the money you charge.
If people feel they have had value for money then they will pass your
info on to friends.
If the don't feel they've had value then they just talk about you.

If I want someone to cut the grass, and I have a mower already, or
just want someone to rake up leaves then I'm not going to pay the
earth, but if I want someone to maintain the borders, shrubs etc then
I want someone who knows what they are doing. and will pay
accordingly.
If they can find a neighbours son willing to do any work that doesn't
involve a computer then they are doing well.
20 years ago we used to get 6 or 7 youngsters a year looking for
weekend work or holiday work.
I havn't had 1 asking in the last 8 years.
David Hill
Abacus Nurseries

Dave Hill says...
You have to know your plants, how to look after them, and do a good
days work for the money you charge.


One of our previous retired pensioners did odd-job
gardening for other neighbours to supplement his pension.
While he did a good job of mowing lawns and trimming hedges
he was a liability in the flower borders as he didn't know
plants from weeds. Herbaceous perennials barely poked above
the ground before they were dug up and composted. The old
lady next door was always complaining about his "too tidy"
approach to flower borders :-) Still she was too frail to
garden any more for herself and couldn't afford a "real"
gardener.
--
David in Normandy.
To e-mail you must include the password FROG on the
subject line, or it will be automatically deleted.