Anyone in the gardening business?

[lavender1]

Wondering if anyone works in gardening/ horticulture? I know there are a lot of teachers here but any greenfingered gardeners? I am a gardener and absolutely love it!

Seriously can't believe everyone on this site is a teacher/ journalist...are you sure there are no gardeners/ garden designers hiding?....just wondering if there any people who do something totally different to teaching...bank robbery, you know that kind of hands on stuff (sorry)

i love gardening but work with compooters!! went through my seeds today and found billions of hollyhocks...any-one want any ???

Hello,
I am a gardener.I went to horticultural college,chucked the deskjob & have been happily self employed ever since.

I'm intrigued Lavender1,I have never met another female gardener,it seems to be all men doing landscaping around here.Tell me more!

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Mirage, your job sounds ideal, have you been self-employed for long..I've been working for a Landscape Gardener for nearly 2 years..

I spend quite a bit of my time doing garden maintenance in Cambridge, anything from weeding, pruning berberis, planting bulbs/flowers, transforming a mess to a blooming site..I do spend quite a bit of my time doing Nursery work, making up hanging baskets, pricking out seedlings, potting plants..don't quite make the tea but I really do spend 90% of time outside...

Am also intriuged, what did you study at Horticultural College and how is your business going..And yes you're right it's all men, I'm the only women and work and the physical side of digging up trees is what the men do, other than that it's great fun and would love to pursue this further....wondering how you got to be s/e...lots of questions I know but just never thought anyone would ever reply to this and am chuffed

Lavender, I think your job is wonderful. If you put an ad up offering your services to private clients I bet you would be inundated. I use a female gardener about once a year to give my garden a sorting out (it's only tiny). She's lovely, better than the men I've used and much better company. She doesn't seem to have a desire to hack everything to the ground which a lot of men do. She advertises herself (with cards in the newsagent's window mainly, I think) as a 'lady gardener' so she clearly sees it as an asset. She last tarted up my garden prior to ds's birthday and people just went mad with compliments. I think it's rewarding and creative. Why not go self employed? You sound exactly the kind of person I'd hire. I did wonder why you called yourself Lavender. It's my favourite plant.

aloha, you've made my day, wonder if you ever considered the " built like brick toilet men" who would pull anything up with brute force always thought people preferred men as stronger and a more blokey job.

Ha, wish could be s/e but still lots to learn (boss done for 17 years) long way to go yet..if you live near Cambridge could bump into you!...hope your job gives you job satisfaction too!

Oh Lavendar, what a great job. can I pick your brains? Am I meant to do something with my geraniums in the winter? They are still flowering outside.

Lavender I would also far rather have a female gardener. I recently had to organise a redesign of my developments gardens and the female designer who quoted was far better than all the men - listened to what we wanted, had more imaginative ideas and lots less patronising.
If you were self employed you could always subcontract to a man if you really needed brute force. I think intelligence and crativity is far more important, especially in smaller city gardens. Why don't you think seriously about advertising your services, and focusing more on the designing/occassional jazzing up side - to start off with all it would take would be a few postcarsd in windows (I'm sure you already have basic equipment and know where you could hire other stuff/buy decent plants etc)

Hi Tinker, are they the pelargonium ones that you put in hanging baskets etc, of the perennial, crane's bill that form clumps and spread out a lot.

have a feeling they are probably the latter as was cutting some back only on Monday..if they don't look all brown and slimey (leaves that is) then unless you have never cut them back then I would be tempted to leave them as if still flowering you will still be enjoying this so why take the flowers away..if they're a bit of a mess, cut them back to ground level and they will reshoot (should) AND if you have never cut them back and the flowers are the odd few then cut the little devils back and you'll probably get more flowers in the spring/ summer (never been asked this before hope it's of help)..soil is sssooooo cold though, keep ye warm!

Ah! Forgot there were 2 types. These are the perlagonium ones, I think (in pots on the window sill, the traditional bright red ones) They're not all flowering but they are still very healthy (brought them in yesterday when they got snowed on) but don't they go "woody"? You can tell I'm not expert, I just have things because they look nice.

very very tempting prufrock, it really is...boss would start to wonder why only working 2 days a week and don't know if could whilst working for him!...agree with the listening thing, my boss is an expert at gardening he really is, the other blokes try to listen but you know they just want to get in there as soon as they get to customers and be all hunky and chop trees down and be all forceful (so aren't listening really)it's a male thing I think

crikey Tinker, brought my pelargoniums in 2 months ago, think they would have died otherwise, you must have green fingers...they don't like the frost...mine are in the porch, it's cold and I keep removing dead bits...they will survive indoors but frost may get em out a doors..talking to plants is supposed to give them some sort of a boost...just give em a good talking to now and again(silly)

talking to sounded a bit daft but it is true apparently

Lavender1,I grew up in a farming family,where all the girls were expected to do 'mens work',so was used to being outside ect,so what led me to work in shops & offices for nearly 20years I don't know!

Anyway,a few years back,I decided that I had had enough of office work & persuaded my boss to let me do a 4 day week so I could go to college one day a week.I took a 2 year course,the Royal Horticultural Society's General Exam & passed with credit.

After that,I did what the others have suggested,put up postcards on noticeboards,post offices ect,explaining what I did & my hourly rate.I had to go & take them down again the next week as the phone didn't stop ringing.For a year I worked 7 days a week,4 in the office & 3 gardening,just to see if I could hack it.Then handed in my notice.

I won't ever get rich,but I enjoy what I do & my quality of life has changed beyond recognition.Most of my customers now are recommendations so I no longer advertise at all.Things are a little quiet now,mainly due to the time of year & me just finishing my maternity leave,but I have a couple of new contracts lined up starting in March & am constructing a polytunnel at the minute,while things are quiet.I am hoping to grow herbs,tomatoes & peppers & possibly start an organic veg box service in the village.

Your job sounds great,it must be nice sometimes to work for someone else.How did you get your job?Did you have much experience to start with?

I am sure there are plenty of opportunities for a gardener in Cambridge,after all,it is a fairly affluent area.Would it be worth doing some market research to see what the demand would be?You will probably find that a lot of people would rather employ a female gardener,especially elderly people,as we are less threatening & more approachable than men.Sexist I know,but true.

Hope I haven't bored you rigid.

Oh, Lavender, I bet you already know all you need to know. the people who'd employ you would know zilch! I just wanted someone who loved gardens, had some imaginative ideas and would raze everything to the ground. I've had men in (fnarr, fnarr) and they are far too gung ho for me. One bloke cut down my little tree I've been nurturing! Grrr. He also pruned my lilac at the wrong time so I hardly got a single flower the following spring. I've certainly never asked anyone for their qualifications - I just want someone who can help me. And my 'lady gardener' subcontracts work when it's too physical for her and she only buys plants after consultation and I pay for them. She's coming next week, when the snow has melted!

nah, not at all. The course you did is the one I have an exam in in about 6 weeks...I do it in the evenings..is it harder working for yourself than someone else, all that paperwork..sounds like you enjoy it, it's worth doing a job if you want to get out of bed every morning and go to it..(I do)...

didn't have any gardening experience at all (prior to this job)...didn't even know what a hoe was for.(really!)..I stuck gardening down as an interest on my CV when I went for the interview as thought would help (tbh come from a very outdoory family..hols in caravan etc. and did trees at College and had done one day as volunteer at local park which out on as well..

Got the job from local job centre, had 10 mins left before ticket expired for car and was drawn there, kept flicking through screen and local outside work appeared...started work the day after, haven't looked back one bit! hope haven't bored you with details...

Please can I ask you something...this RHS exam, did you learn all your notes thoroughly..was it as hard or easier than you expected...any tips appreciated as am keen brain just not always keen to learn it in the evenings.

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Tinker, you can hack back your pelargoniums quite a lot if they look like they're getting woody. In fact, I think the std advice in winter is to chop them right back and put them somewhere sheltered. But you must be somewhere warm if they are still flowering - just watch out for frosts and they should be OK.

PS on cutting back - there is a small planting on the corner which I pass as I go to work. Every spring, just before the viburnum is about to flower, the contractors come and hack it back - so eliminating any reason for having it there at all!

I am not in the gardening business but like it. I dream of the day we will be able to get a house with some land around it. In my childhood, I lived on a farm, only one year we had pigs and chickens, after that it was mainly plants and fruit trees. We had, well my parents still have lots of plants and vegetables, and fruit trees. My parents like to work outside attending to them and prefer that actually. It is vigourous exercise.

Where we live presently, the house gets no sun. I tried planting herbs and they died after sprouting. The ony plant we have now is a Scheflera and daily it is dropping it's leaves. Can you tell me why? I do water it every week and it is now in the bathroom by the window where it can get some natural light and a slighty warm atmosphere. I hope it wouldn't die. Can you tell me what I should be doing to it? Anyone? Mirage? Lavender1? Sad eh?

florenceuk and lavender - thanks so much for the tips. I don't know why they're not dead (left them out last winter and they survived that as well!). Must thrive on neglect.