Hiring a gardener

Sorry about you’re!!!! Don’t come , grammar police!

I think it would be hard to find. Think of someone you know who has a nice yard and ask them. People are kind of secretive with stuff like that, though.

You're forgiven, OP -- we grammar Nazis appreciate sinners who recognize their errors and apologize.

I think the term for what you're seeking is "landscape designer", someone more accomplished than the weekly "mow and blow" service. If your neighborhood has an e-mail group or Facebook page(s), post your inquiry there. Or call some local nurseries and ask if they can recommend someone for you to consult. You can even walk or drive by houses with yards that look good to you and mail them a note asking if they would refer you to the landscape designer who's done such a great job for them. I disagree with R2 -- people in my neighborhood are proud of their yards and seem happy to brag about having hired such artists.

"landscape designer", is one term. I also need to hire. The ones I used in the past are closed for the pandemic.

I have a friend who found work doing light garden work. She posts on the Facebook marketplace and got lots of responses. It’s important that you’re clear about the work you want done.

R3, could you fill us in on this "mow and blow" service? I’d love to know what that entails.

Maybe try a referral service like Angie’s list? Agreed with the other commenter who said you need to make a detailed list of tasks you want done.

Go to your local Home Depot parking lot, there you will find a gaggle of Mexicans who are expert gardeners.

Drive around the old money part of your town.

Really? I've found people listing their services on 3x5 cards on a supermarket bulletin board, in the local paper's classified ads, on Craigslist, and now, on Next Door. Lots of people looking for work these days, skilled and unskilled. My husband is pretty good at doing most of the gardening himself and loves to work out there, but he can use help for some of the physical stuff (moving rocks - we grown them in New England) grinding stumps, pulling weeds and pulling down broken limbs and the like. Around Greater Boston they get $15 - $18 an hour.

If you're looking for someone to plan the garden - to decide what grows best where, in whatever kind of sail is needed, and what plants will work to give you something (color, foliage, contrast, privacy) for the whole season - and actually plant the stuff and come back to take care of it you'll need a landscape designer who will charge considerably more. One of our (wealthier) neighbors have one, it's gorgeous in a 20 x 40 foot space. They said the contractor the designer used to grade it and build the hardscape (paths, driveway, and patio) and lay the irrigation system cost them $15,000 last year and, they said, about $10K for the designer to buy, plant, and maintain the garden for the first year. It looks like everything came in nicely and now they have someone come by every two weeks or so to weed, feed, and deadhead the flowers that have gone by.

I have planted everything myself but it’s too much. I‘m getting weeds that are from a horror movie, these thistle things everywhere, as well as a constant supply of ditch lilies. I’m in the southeast so it’s a jungle out there. Vines taking over overnight. I had this vision of a kindly gardener who knows all about plants that I can collaborate with. I will pay top dollar too! I’m going to check FB marketplace and ask at the local nursery. Most of the landscaping companies that you see advertised are the “mow and blow” guys. I need a Chancey the gardener but with no political affiliation.

Hi, Meghan!

I didn't pay that much R10 but still got excellent and lasting results. What hardiness zone are you OP?

R6, I giggle every time I see people on my neighborhood e-mail group posting about "mow and blow". I know some of them and they're sweet old ladies or very straight soccer dad types, so incongruous with my reaction to the term. Some of those Mexican guys hanging out in front of Home Depot probably could do a good job of whichever kind of "mow and blow" you want, or both.

I have landscapers mow, trim and blow me once a week. I hire Tru Green to spray for weeds, bugs and fertilize my lawn every month.

Go to the society Episcopal church in town and ask around.

[R13] I’m in zone seven.

I'm zone 10a.

Ask your gay friends for recommendations. I know many gay men who own houses and pride themselves on the look of their gardens. Maybe the "gay advocacy and auxiliary groups" in your community have a listing online or in their offices. Also, try the regional gay newspapers. I know a man who took out an ad in a local gay newspaper, he was a "tree doctor" who takes measures to save trees from the organisms which are killing them. He said he was non-stop busy from then on because of the response to that ad.

Call the nearest equivalent to the botanical gardens in your area.

A university might have them.

It's hard to find a good landscaper, forget "gardener." My mom had a guy that was reasonably-priced, fast, and thorough. He cut trees way down, though. Some people would prefer that (you don't need him to come back for a while), but there wasn't a ton of artistry to what he did.

Sort of like a barber who cuts your hair too short, but you don't need to see him for a while, at least.

Ask at your State University extension about their Master Gardener program and hire one of them ...

Do they still have smoking hot gardeners, Lady Chatterly or Charlotte from SAT style? Has anybody here had a gardener?

OP, you want a guy for a day, someone to do the gardem/yard work you don't ... crawl around on his knees and pull weeds, trim a bush or two, cut the grass, rake and clean up ..... do some plantings in whatever seasons you have. Someone to maintain. It can be done. Now comes the catch: one always wants the work to be done, then oh I didn't know it'b be that kicks in. You want a body to help you, steadily a day a week. Budget $600 or so monthly, in a year your "garden" will be whipped into great shape. Be prepared to pay $15-20 an hour, an eight-hour day, one day a week. You can probably pick up a laborer from any local garden service ... ...or ask the boss of a local garden center. They'll know the locals doing yard work. I've one guy come in weekly, cuts the grass in season. rakes in season, plants, transplants, trims, moves rocks. When you two get in a groove, some work days need only be a half day, but my guy is as proud of my place as he is of his own. He is glad to have the work, does the big fall clean-up, "rests" a bit in the winter but has been needed about every third-fourth week, then does the spring clean-up. His daily "day job"is with a mow and blow cousin riding around on an industrial-strength mower. He comes to me on his day off, is well worth the money. I'm out Long Island NY near on a scant acre near Montauk. Got him through crew planting for a local nursery. You look at your local ..... probably after a three-month hire you might be able to do it all yourself. Good luck!

Need yardboy

We have a live-in gardener. He's the partner of our chauffeur, who also has been doing most of the housekeeping since the pandemic and we're not going out much. Sweet fellows. They live over the garage, like in the movies. There's plenty of work for him to do, because we have a small orchard and a big vegetable garden as well as the ornamental spots.

R26 = Norma Desmond

There are usually guys (often gay) that do some gardening work freelance. These are sometimes assistants at landscaping companies or nurseries. Lesson learned, if he brings his sketchy boyfriend to help and they ask you to leave cash in the mailbox make sure you physically hand it to them instead.

Hi OP, I’ve been in your exact same situation. I have a very large garden that is always on the edge of madness. One year I let it go and full-blown madness descended: thousands of weeds, raggedy shrubs, leaves and sticks everywhere. At first I couldn’t find the right kind of help and was forced to hire a landscape designer who came with his own crew, when all I needed was the crew. They worked for a few weeks spraying the weeds (good luck finding someone to hand weed but that’s what you probably need), replanting, new soil, vast amounts of mulch (which will help you keep the weeds down).

Then an enterprising go-getter set up a gardening service in my area and I found him through a friend. He and his crew keep everything in check, no more or less than is needed. They are also available for the odd bigger job.

I hope you can do this too without taking the expensive side trip I did with the landscape gardener. He didn’t do anything I couldn’t do and if you love gardening then it’s the fun part anyways. Good luck!

Dream Gardener Please bring your seeds And cuttings Your sculptural expertise For the boxwood Your binging methy Partner is welcome, too As they know to use an acidic Soil for rhododendrons and Have squatted for long enough To have a perky butt

OP - I'm in a similar position. Just bought my first house and the sellers were expert gardeners and built up a densely and diversely landscaped garden. As a lifelong renter who's really only dealt with a couple of house plants it's overwhelming. I was advised to.... visit a local, independent nursery (not a Lowes or Home Depot Garden Center) as many of them apparently have at-home gardening services like this -- where you need someone with a bit more knowledge and experience than a lawnmower guy. The other thing that was suggested to me was reaching out to local garden clubs that have "master gardeners" as some master gardeners offer their services in this area. I've got a couple of weeks until I'm moved in, but I'm going to start with one of those two. In my case, I don't just want them to do the work, I want them to teach me about the garden -- help me identify the dozens of plants, trees, bushes, flower beds etc. and understand how to maintain them. Good luck!

[R31] good luck to you too! I planted a hedge and half of them died. I definitely need help from an expert.

Yeah, my stuff mainly dies when I do it myself. How I miss my old gardener and her crew (now retired/out of business).

Do you mean [bold]this[/bold] gardener OP?

Or this one OP.

Please don’t eat my asshole in the garden!

Although the idea of hot naked torso working in the summer heat is a sexual fantasy come true, the reality is quite different. Unless you have deep pockets or an estate property to justify it, you are better off with the traditional yard service to come once a week and possibly hire a worker to help with the grunge work. If you limit your time to the high profile areas that pack a punch- (pots on the terrace or the spring border by the drive), you can actually make things look quite good.

I only hire those who are willing to engage in sodomy after work.

Quite right R38.

OP, I had the same issue. We have no grass at all - it's all garden and landscaping - so the normal lawn service was not what we needed. It took me a couple of years to find someone, and now I treat her very well because I want her to stay around. Next Door is where I finally found someone to help in the garden. I'm paying $25 per hour and she comes every week for three to four hours. It's heaven.

Oh bitch u better get over here and mow!

And blow

Trim too!

And plow

I hate all forms of work now. Yard work is # 1 enemy.

To rim and ridge

Honestly! You boys can make any topic sound naughty! Good job, well done!

R38: A straight, married couple I know with a vacation home in Fowey in Cornwall heard that was happening at their place: two guys they'd hired to do yard work were seen by the neighbors engaging in sodomy, leading one to tell him there really were fairies at the bottom of his garden.

You can find local help at your local gardening shop or store. Either the store has a bulletin board where people and local businesses offer their services or the shop clerks can recommend a legit upper scale landscape business.

If you are looking for a hottie, or someone you can trust, then just let them all audition. In this economy I'm sure you'll get someone that suits your needs.

Funny I was just thinking this myself today. I want a once a week guy too but first I gotta get heavy duty help clearing the yard.