What credentials should a gardener have, if any?

[jeppardi]

Since the spring, I've being paying a local guy with his own gardening business £60 a month for 2 hours maintenance. Apart from checking he was a legitimate business, I didn't ask for any gardening credentials - I was just pleased to find someone with availability after phoning a few others. He's pleasant, reliable and has mostly done a good job, but there have been some issues - seedlings pulled up (mistaken for weeds - I blamed myself for not warning him I'd planted them), an ornamental plant that mysteriously died (I suspect some weedkiller he used on the patio may have been misdirected) and some crab apple trees hard pruned in winter when the RHS says they should only be light pruned in early spring (he said not to worry as he'd done it before and it had been fine). Are these sorts of things par for the course, or should I be looking for someone new? If I get someone new should I be asking them whether they have a particular credential?

If he had been formally trained it is unlikely he would make errors like this.

Hi, I'm a self-employed gardener in the Midlands. Are you paying this guy £30 per hour? That is a lot!

In my experience there are different types of gardener:

• People like me who are plant enthusiasts, have an RHS qualification and will do a great job weeding, pruning, and looking after your plants and borders. We are a minority, in high demand and usually are fully booked. We tend to not use big power tools, vans or chemicals, though some do. Many of us are women. We get work through word of mouth so you may not come across us.

• Then there are lots and lots of guys with vans and tools who as far as I can work out charge more and many don't do as good a job or have any qualifications! They are often focused on cutting hedges, lawns and trees using big tools and will get a job done quickly but sometimes at the wrong time of year. Many of my customers have me do the borders and a separate guy come to hack the hedges back - they generally report that the hedge guy is very reluctant to do any weeding.

• There are some complete cowboys who will turn up with no gardening experience at all and hack at stuff, killing plants, and overcharging you for the privilege.

• There are some good specialists such as tree surgeons and lawn care companies who have expertise in one particular area.

What you ideally want is one of me, charging more like £20 per hour (depending what area you live in) and with an RHS level 2 qualification.

We all make mistakes but a decent gardener should be able to tell what seedling they are pulling out, or ask if they're not sure. I think your crab apples wil be fine but if he has he just cut them back all over it will be a shame. There's such a difference between actual pruning which is a real art, and just cutting things back hard!

People like me who are plant enthusiasts, have an RHS qualification and will do a great job weeding, pruning, and looking after your plants and borders. We are a minority, in high demand and usually are fully booked. We tend to not use big power tools, vans or chemicals, though some do. Many of us are women. We get work through word of mouth so you may not come across us.

I do the same as you an agree with what you've said here. I advertised 12 years ago and since then have had work through word of mouth.

I agree about the crab apple too, it'll probably be fine. I was taught that pruning is both a science and an art and not about just chopping a plant to shape. So many people mess it up and then wonder why their trees and shrubs aren't thriving as they ought to. Pruning is my favourite part of the job and it can be a very complex job, especially for previously badly pruned plants, but there is a real pleasure in seeing the results of the job being done properly.

@Handyweatherstation I love pruning too! It's a really interesting skill to learn, and so satisfying.

What seedlings?

@OwlInTheMoss isn't it just!

A couple of years ago someone actually called me a Rose Whisperer, when all I'd done was corrective pruning!

You're paying him about twice the going rate for qualified gardeners.

Something else that occurs to me is that good gardeners tend to have their own tools, which will probably be decent ones and well cared for. I don't like to use anyone else's tools, partly because accidents happen, but also because I buy the best quality I can afford, which a lot of non-working gardeners don't.

I think it depends what you want done really. If I was paying someone to prune I’d want to know that they knew what they were doing, which could be demonstrated through some kind of horticultural qualification, or just that they were experienced and seemed knowledgeable about different types of plants and their pruning requirements. I agree £30/hour seems a lot.

11 Ajuga reptans 'Blueberry Muffin' seedlings and 11 Campanula 'Takion White' seedlings. I bought 12 of each from Marshalls and planted them randomly around the borders and after a couple of his visits there were only one of each left.

It's SW London so everything is twice the going rate.