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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

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Original poster

to get a gardener?

47 replies

IHeartKingThistle · 18/05/2014 23:59

I am usually the kind of person who insists they can do everything independently then muddles through badly. I've never had a cleaner or anything like that.

But I have lost control of the garden. It's not massive but there's an extremely long hedge backing onto a lane down one side, made up of all kinds of trees and bushes. It grows at a rate of knots. There are brambles sprouting everywhere and moss in the lawn. Nature is winning. I've taken on more work recently, DH is away with work a lot and barely has time to mow the lawn. We need help!

I thought only landed gentry with mazes in the garden had gardeners, but DH has suggested getting a gardener in for a couple of hours a week. Does anyone have one? Is it worth it? How much can a gardener realistically do in that time?

OP posts:

puntasticusername · 19/05/2014 00:04

Why do you think you might be UR to have a gardener?

Is it affordable, when balanced against your other financial commitments? If so, why not? Get one who will double as a wine waiter and spend the summer in your hammock, knee deep in sauvignon blanc, I say...

Original poster

IHeartKingThistle · 19/05/2014 00:11

That sounds good!

I don't know really - I know I am very very bad at accepting help or admitting I need it in RL so I would almost feel embarrassed if people knew I had a gardener. How stupid is that?

I have just realised I have done a Very Bad Thing and I should not have put this in AIBU. Sorry!

OP posts:

PomBearWithAnOFRS · 19/05/2014 00:12

My mam has a "little man" who comes and cuts the grass for her, and if anything else ever needs doing, she just asks him and they arrange an extra hour or two for him to do whatever it is. Her garden is actually planned to be low maintainance as she lives alone, but she still likes to have it all nice, and the gardener does a great job, with the right tools so to speak, and in a tenth of the time it would take mam if she had to tackle it herself.
Get someone in if you need to, and just think of it as giving someone a job they may desperately need. Most gardeners seem to do lots of small jobs, so a couple of hours here and there can make all the difference to them. Even if all they do is cut the lawn, it will help you and let you use the garden in the summer, rather than looking at a jungle, sighing, and despairing of it ever being nice

Eyelet · 19/05/2014 00:14

We have a pair of gardeners, they come every three months for a day to help me push forward on the garden(derelict for twenty years). Once all is under control then I hope to have them come for an hour or two once a fortnight to keep the garden ticking over.

puntasticusername · 19/05/2014 00:15

It seems you feel bad about admitting you need help with things sometimes, is that right?

You also appear determined to beat yourself up for putting this thread in the "wrong" section of mn. For that, YABU

Original poster

IHeartKingThistle · 19/05/2014 00:23

OK, I can rethink this. Maybe I am strong and independent enough to be proactive and get a gardener! Hmmm...

Good to know normal people have gardeners too. It would be lovely to look out without sighing and despairing!

OP posts:

puntasticusername · 19/05/2014 00:29

That's the spirit!

Seriously - yes, you can't do everything and you can't be good at everything. Save yourself for the things that really only you can do, or that you really want to do. Spend your money however you want. I bet no one else will notice, or care, half as much as you think.

Original poster

IHeartKingThistle · 19/05/2014 00:30

I've just put the job up on ratedpeople. Yay!

Thanks

OP posts:

puntasticusername · 19/05/2014 00:31

Don't forget the bit about the sauv blanc, mind

PomBearWithAnOFRS · 19/05/2014 01:25

Garden Party at IHeart s place in the summer then! Fire up the barbecue and fill the kiddie pool with champers bottles and cans and blast the cheesy 80s pop loudly

puntasticusername · 19/05/2014 01:27

To the LEFT, to the RIGHT, jump uppa DOWN and grind cofFEE...

PomBearWithAnOFRS · 19/05/2014 01:48

ShadowsCollideCantLogInToMN · 19/05/2014 02:12

Go for it. Seriously. DP and send most of our laundry to the dry cleaners (it's collected, laundered, pressed and delivered back). Both of our Mums make huffy noises about this. Especially as we don't have children, so must have the time to do it ourselves. Yup, we have the time. Just don't want to do it though. So we pay for it to be done. If we had a large garden I'd have a gardener, too.

ShadowsCollideCantLogInToMN · 19/05/2014 02:14

Oh, just read your last post. Good for you. I refuse to make a housework martyr of myself, much as my Mum might want me to. I outsource as much as possible

Trumpton · 19/05/2014 02:37

We have a gardener who does 4 hours a week . It sounds a lot but we have a big garden and I just can't do it . We are both still working , although in our 60s, and it was taking us all weekend to keep the grass down. I never thought that I would pay someone to do what I could do but with so little time it makes sense . It's funny that it is more socially acceptable to pay a cleaner than a gardener

WillWorkForMoney · 19/05/2014 07:33

Dp is a gardener and although some clients are "posh" the majority are just normal people with busy lives. Go for it :)

BlackeyedSusan · 19/05/2014 07:43

we have a lovely gardener. ok well technically 1/56th of a gardener.. can't tell you costs as that comes out of service charge but he gets a lot done in two hours. the previous gardener got sod all done in two hours.

lavenderhoney · 19/05/2014 07:51

I have a gardener. It never occurred to me to worry what anyone thought!
He trims the hedges and cuts the grass. He takes all the cuttings away:)
I don't have time and I don't have the tools. I also don't want to do it and it provides work for someone.

minibmw2010 · 19/05/2014 07:53

We have one, I got fed up of DH moaning about having to spend time on it during the weekends and then not spending time with me and DS (or worse insisting I help ) so I found one. He comes every second week and does weeds and the lawn (we have a lot of flowering beds). £15 an hour. Much prefer that than a cleaner!

Original poster

IHeartKingThistle · 19/05/2014 08:08

Thanks so much for all the replies - feel quite excited to have it taken off my hands!

So what's on my shopping list now?

sauvignon blanc
pineapple

-agadoo CD

OP posts:

goldopals · 19/05/2014 09:37

Go for it! My backyard is huge and I could not take care of it without the gardener

AMumInScotland · 19/05/2014 10:20

Well done for going for it!

If it makes you feel any better you don't have to say "I've got a gardener" you can say "A guy comes round to mow the lawn and take a machete to the undergrowth so we don't vanish for a hundred years" or however you want to describe it.

We have a guy to cut our lawn - he's got a huge great lawnmower and can do it in half the time it takes me. He also attacks the hedges twice a year, which stops me being ripped to pieces by hawthorn.

Definitely worth it!

CuttedUpPear · 19/05/2014 10:25

I am a gardener and I heartily approve of people employing gardeners!

By the way it's also a GREAT career for young people (of which I am not one) but thinking in terms of our DCs looking for work. I have never been without work, you are outdoors, it is quite physical, and if you take the route of plant knowledge first, you will always be in demand.

ICanSeeTheSun · 19/05/2014 10:28

You will be doing your bit for the economy, you will have a lovely looking garden which hopefully with good weather be used for many evenings and weekends.

I enjoy gardening, don't know much about it though lol.

BadRoly · 19/05/2014 10:31

That reminds me! I was going to find a gardener today - well I found one but need to ring him to say "YES PLEASE"! Don't feel bad about it

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