To think the gardener should do a bit of weeding?

[Tomboytown]

Moved into new house and kept their gardener on.
He mows the lawn and trims the hedges and makes a lot of noise with a leaf blower, but can’t seem to weed, water or deadhead anything
Am I asking too much, if you have a gardener what do they do, and how much?
He comes once a week, but he could do exactly the same job once a month, he just trims everything.

Have you actually told him what you want doing? He may just be doing what the previous owners wanted. Best thing is to tell him is what needs doing or what's expected of him. X

I’ve had a couple of conversations and anything I’ve specifically asked him to do, he’s done.
I honestly didn’t think I would have to tell him specifically to weed, or water a pot that looks desperate.
It’s like he has blinkers in and just does his trimming.

Maybe the previous owners did the weeding?

I honestly didn’t think I would have to tell him specifically to weed, or water a pot that looks desperate.

Yes you do. We pay our gardener to cut the lawn, that’s it. If we want more done we arrange it as a separate job.

If you want him to cut the lawn and weed etc you’ll need to discuss that with him and potentially pay him for more time.

My Gardener doesn’t weed. He cuts the hedges and grass, then cleans up. Tbh, I don’t expect him to weed as it’s very time consuming and he has so many clients to get around. If you expect him to weed, then you need to be prepared to pay him a lot extra, otherwise it won’t be worth his time.

Thanks, that’s what I was looking for.
Can’t believe a gardener has to be told to pick up a weed!!
What if he says he doesn’t want to do it?
I’ll have to employ someone just to weed?!

Of course you have to tell him what you want done. Ours, as a matter of course, cuts the lawns and trims them. The night before they are due we text if we want anything else done. Could be weeding, deadheading, watering baskets and pots, hedge trimming. He bills us accordingly.

Can’t believe a gardener has to be told to pick up a weed!!

But if he takes it upon himself to start weeding clients’ gardens and billing them for the work, they’d end up feeling that he’s a con artist. You need to ask him and take it from there.

Most "gardeners", especially those at the lower end of the price range, are employed purely for lawn mowing and hedge trimming, and don't necessarily have any skill in gardening in the sense of nurturing plants. You need to be sure of their knowledge and expertise, otherwise you may find pruning is treated in the same way as hedge trimming, and weeding will remove some of your treasured plants.

Of course many people have no interest in their garden other than it "looks tidy", so a hedge trimmer/lawnmower meets their needs perfectly.

How much do you pay, out of interest? I can't really do it and DH hardly does so the gardens look scruffy as anything. I'd love a gardener but not sure of the costs.

I am guessing the previous owners paid him to cut the grass and trim etc but not do the weeding and watering. I think you need to ask him how much more time/money would be required to add on the tasks you would like done.

Most 'gardeners' are not skilled and don;t know anything about actual gardening. They are more 'garden maintenance' people who just mow, strim and trim.

I think I’m viewing it as -he’s employed for 2 hours a week, what can he fit in in that time.
Rather than -he’s employed to do the hedges and the grass.

He seems to be very knowledgable about plants

Your man is not a gardener, he's a groundskeeper.

I've heard that some people come to do this work through training that's offered to reintegrate into society, so they don't really have any background in plant care.

Local rates vary a lot, but I suggest you get a proper gardener for a two or three hours a week during the growing season to look after your plants if you don't have the time.

If you have him all year the grass doesn’t need cutting in winter and shrubs stop growing so he could do more maintenance then perhaps.
Our gardener who comes every two weeks told me lots of his clients don’t want him in winter so he’s happy to do more clearing up etc then.
I do always mention something I’d like doing “if he’s got time”. He luffs me as I always give him tea. Lots don’t do that.

You have to tell exactly what you need being done. No one is going to read your mind.

It's worth bearing in mind that many people who offer gardening services are not actually gardeners. Yes they are capable of cutting lawns and hedges and general tidying but may have very little knowledge of the actual plants.

One March, just as my neighbour's forsythia was about to burst into glorious yellow her gardener tidied it up, cutting off all the about to flower buds in the process.

So unless you are sure the gardener is reasonably knowledgeable about plants I wouldn't trust him to do the weeding, or even pruning, without guidance. He could easily dig up (or cut off at the wrong time of year) what might turn out to be pretty flowers.

If you are paying him to do two hours every week then yes, just like a cleaner you can ask him to do whatever during that two hours.

But you have to actually discuss it with him.

If it takes him two hours to cut and strim the lawns then he won’t also be able to weed in that time. You could ask him to alternate weeding and grass cutting or you could add on time to handle weeding too.

However you work it out the man isn’t a mind reader! Your request isn’t unreasonable but you will have to discuss it and work it out with him.

We have to spell out exactly what we want doing to our gardener or else he will just mow the lawn and sweep up. He charges the same price for turning the soil and weeding for what he does for just mowing!

My dad has two gardeners. One comes every week and does the heavy stuff like mowing lawns, chopping fallen branches and digging out brambles. Then there’s the trained gardener who comes for a few hours every couple of months and prunes. Neither weed. That’s what daughters and grandchildren are for.