Employing a gardener

[deliakate]

I am quite struggling with finding someone who has the knowledge and skills to do the plant work and finnickety pruning etc in our garden (which includes some lovely borders and shrubs, a box hedge knot garden, a vine, huge wisteria, roses etc). We have a garden maintenance guy, who sweeps up leaves and mows the lawn etc. He has said he doesn't know much about the wisteria/vine, and I suspect he doesn't have very much horticultural knowledge full stop. I have zero, btw!!

I mentioned to him I might try to find someone who can come in and tend to the plants on a more intricate basis - he made a bit of a stink about employing two gardeners, and said I'd have to sack him if I wanted to do that. AIBU to find someone to do both the big stuff and the smaller, or do most people either employ two gardeners, or do the fiddly bits themselves???

Is there a rhs course provider in your area? Maybe you could post an advert for an rhs trained gardener there? My husband is an RHS trained gardener and the plant knowledge makes a huge difference to his customers

Agree with advice by mostlyupbeat. Or ask people with nice gardens who they employ. If you current guy is cheap and your garden is big enough, you could employ both. Having said that, the gardens I am working in now used to be "done" by people from the "slash and burn" brigade and they charged about as much as me.... I do most of the work in my client's garden with a bit of input from them (some are happy to cut their own grass or work alongside me to learn the ropes), in some gardens I do everything, even harvesting... :)

if you can afford it -get someone to do the more difficult stuff yes emloy two--perhaps your maintence guy is nervous about loosing a customer

In answer to the queries on this subject, i am a horticulturally trained, and have studied for nearly 10 years, there are gardeners and there are landscape gardeners. By this i mean there are people out there who will call themselves gardeners and just cut grass or trim hedges, but there are gardeners like me who will advise on what jobs you can do in the garden and when. quite often when i am employed to look after a new customers garden , i am horrified at the shoddy workmanship left by others calling themselves gardeners, when actually they have really just been there looking to make a quick buck. I gained the qualifications, i live eat,sleep gardening. If you want to find a good gardener, ask friends for references of the gardener they use, ask at your local council for approved traders for garden services, some councils have lists of who they approve. Alternatively try www.trustatrader.com . Garden contractors who are members of this site have to demonstrate many things in order to be worthy of working under the banner, Make sure your gardener has public / personnal liability insurance,if you want any more help please get in touch.