Flipping Gardeners, a dilemma needing some ideas.

Checkatrade and streetlife are both useful but I am finding it a nightmare trying to get tradesmen to quote -currently my DD in London needs a fence putting in and I'm doing the 'research'and contacting as she is at work all day.I have so far contacted-answerphone messages and texts -8 companies and three have got back to me .I wouldnt mind if they just said 'sorry overwhelmed with work'.Its a 'nice'job too.No fence to take out, easy access
Same when I was trying to get our own drive done
Come another recession and I suspect some of these people will wish they had bern more customer-friendly ..

I haven't had a gardener, but have been very happy with tradesmen I got from checkatrade. I took a while to read feedback before contacting anyone. Good luck!

Look what is happening in my garden right now. Three knights in shining armour, some sleepers and big saw.
These guys have not stopped working. I only found them because my neighbour ordered some fencing from them. It is looking so much better already.

Gardenergrandad Welcome if you are new on here.
What I really want now when the bordering is done is some reliable muscle who will listen to what I am asking and do it as advised. And do the heavier stuff about once a month.

I have a great idea. You could be GNs own gardening expert.

What do you do about what I think are Flea Beetles which have eaten holes in my clematis and many other things. They don't look like slug holes. Or quite like vine weevil bites.

I'm in Bolton, near Manchester.

Hi RubyLady
The gardener sounds a right pain; good decision not to use him. Where in the country do you live?

The gardener did come, but was very aggresive in his manner. His daughter and business partner had had an accident in a garden and had broken her arm. Hence an operation and time off work. It made the gardener very angry and he did say that if there was another accident he would sue the people involved!

He did not put together the storage unit I had bought due to no instructions but it's one that just clips together. I left it, I didn't want to antagonise an already angry man. He was supposed to be coming this last week to cut the front. I told him not to bother. I wanted my son to do it but that's not got done. The next door neighbour's son is home alone all week and will probably appreciate some extra money so I might ask him to do it this weekend. It would only take him ten minutes. So, on the lookout for a new gardener now, one that is not angry and threatening to sue!

Hi Nelliemoser
I've worked in gardening/horticulture for many years and have found that knowledge of 'gardeners' beyond basic maintenance is very rare. The important thing to look for is good communication, enthusiasm, someone who will listen and learn and someone who you feel comfortable with. Lack of knowledge can always be overcome with a 2 way discussion - you know your plants and what you would like done with them. Most true gardeners will enjoy the interaction [don't waste too much of your money chatting though]. If you meet a 'know it all gardener', steer clear. Re missed appointments, gardeners are not great at time keeping but it's worth giving a person a second chance but no more. Above all trust your instincts; remember the gardener is working for you in your garden.

Hope this helps.

Just a follow up to my letter to Incapability Brown on Friday 20th of May. After I sent my stroppy letter on 23/5/16, I had a post it note stuffed through the door. This post it note said "I have already priced the job it will be £65 pounds."

Well I knew straight away by the price this was not my job he was talking about.

25th of May I struck lucky. The neighbours had a local fencing company van across the road. It said on the van timber and much more. I collared the man when he came out to his van and he came round to look at the garden and price it up. I did not think about them doing such stuff but it's part of their business. A bit more hopeful now.

So after he got my stroppy email Incapability B texted to say he would be around on bank holiday Monday to measure up. Well I thought this could leave me with a difficulty about who to choose but Incapability yet again failed to appear.

This morning I had the full quotation details and rang the company to confirm that I wanted them to do the job. Just a few minutes later I had a text from Inacapabilty to say he would be along tomorrow, Wednesday to price up.
I was delighted to tell him as politely as possible he had missed the boat.

If you run a buisness take note on how not to do it. If when this work is done I will post a picture.

My gardener is coming next week and will be putting the back garden in order, moving storage around, sorting the bins out and putting up my new swing seat. He is a treasure and one I am going to keep hold of if he helps me out like this, he is worth his weight in gold. I have nagged my DS to do the work, for money but he wont so I will pay my new friend instead. Sorted.

Good letter Nelliemoser. It's absolutely infuriating when people make an arrangement and then fail to stick to it - especially when they give themselves such glowing testimonials.

Right here we go. Do you think I can send this as it is. (with the proper names.)
Dear Incababilty Brown
I have been trying to use your services over the last few months and you have twice provided two men for two hours who did a good job of clearing out a lot of old shrubs.

From the start I mentioned I wanted you to do some work to put timber edging on the borders of my flower bed to keep soil in place and make everything easier to manage. It was suggested that the border edging should wait until the weather improved.

I texted you on 5/5/16 and asked if you could now visit to look at the work I want doing and give me a quotation.

10/5/16 Your reply. "I will have to come and price it up".

I suggested after 5pm Wednesday 11th and your reply was "After 5 Wednesday would be great." You made no contact then.

You contacted me on Thursday 12th asking for my address. I texted you that on 12/05/16.

No more contact from you and I had to text you again on 17/5/16.

Your reply! " Yes course we are in BLANK doing maintenance tomorrow I will pop in in the morning to see you at 9am."

No show again that morning and I texted you saying I would be in after pm on Wednesday 18th.

I am getting a little annoyed by this. Do you want to do this work or not? if you can't do it please be honest and make it clear. At present I feel my time is being wasted.
You run a small business that appears successful. I quote this from your website page.
No job is too big or too small and the team pride themselves on being “Small enough to care – big enough to cope” – call them today to discuss your gardening needs.

What I feel is that by not making proper contact with your customers and not keeping to agreed appointment times your company appears unreliable which is clearly not good for your business reputation. Your website has room for reviews of work done. To be honest because of these failures to keep appointments I would find it difficult to make any recommendations of your services at the moment.

I will try once more to offer you this border edging work. I really want it done at some suitable time before winter.
So please will you contact me to let me know if you wish to do this work or not so I can make other arrangements.

Thank you

The two guys who came to dig over gave me a proper reciept each time and I paid by cheque.

What I want at present is basically ground work involving putting planks to support the soil and stop it falling into the lawn. I have no idea if this guy has a gardening qualification, he might be more of a landscaper than a gardener but he has a website and such I might have a better idea about the plants than he does. He refers to his business as garden maintenance.

I have spent a jolly afternoon re attaching two clematis and its netting to the fence after we painted it. Reattaching a clematis that has lots of shoots about 2ft long onto its trellis is a bit like untangling wool.

With one off jobs- it means they have no garanteed earnings, and nothing to do in the winter.

Perhaps we are at fault of poor quality- eg not 'proper' trained or knowledgeable gardeners - as we are not prepared to pay for a decent rate?

Out of interest, how much do you pay per hour for yours? And are they paid properly/legally- or cash in hand behind ghe garden shed?

Gardeners don't want to do a one off job. They want you to employ them on a regular basis. For example, ours comes once a fortnight. If you are asking them to come and do a one off job you have to be fitted into their regular schedule. My gardener even has difficulty doing extra time at my house.

The problem is that they call themselves "gardeners" but most don't know a weed from a plant and cannot prune a shrub correctly. Gardening was my hobby but since I have become disabled I have had a succession of these so called gardeners who more or less ruined my garden. Fortunately the lady I employ to do my housework has only a very small patch of her own and is willing to learn more about gardening, enjoys doing mine under my supervision. In fact she thanks me for letting her do it.

I am trying to keep hold of the man who has done the first part of my fencing - to do the next bit! He's very elusive at the moment, but has said he will let me know over the w/e when he can estimate........ (crosses fingers)

I did have a very nice little man who did gardening/handystuff - but he disappeared last spring! Now I am trying to get my lawn back under control so I can then mow it without the mower box, much easier. Stop the rain!!!

I have had the same problem trying to get someone to keep my mum's back garden in order. She has someone to cut the front and back lawns each week but nobody seems interested in general tidying, weeding, etc.

I found an advert for what appeared to be a gardener in her local village magazine but when I phoned him and explained what needed doing - flowerbeds tidying, cutting back of bushes, etc., he wasn't at all keen - stating that he mostly did jobs like laying patios. More money in that I suppose. Others that I have contacted say they are "too busy". It is left to me to do this when I visit each week, and last week my husband and I drove to hers, with all our gardening tools, and spent several hours doing the garden. It is time-consuming and quite tiring, on top of keeping our own fair-sized garden in order.

I'm wondering if it has got round that my mum isn't exactly generous in what she is willing to pay, although she is very comfortably off (I have spoken to her about this, but to no avail). She was very reluctant to use the cleaners recommended by Age Concern because their hourly rates were what she considered to be high (although I thought them reasonable). Her own cleaner is only paid £7 an hour and my mum only has her for an hour a week. I top it up myself from time to time but my husband gets annoyed because he says mum is well able to afford it herself.

Sorry - going off-topic a bit.

I needed my whole garden, back and front, renovated last year (needed it for years but finally decided to do it). I asked one guy who had replaced a fence for me as he was working in a garden nearby. He agreed to come and assess the job. I phoned and spoke or left messages with five other garden firms. One came to look and another acknowledged my call but I heard nothing else from any of them. That was six people who didn't want/need a fairly substantial job!

By word of mouth, I found the guy who finally did the work for a surprisingly modest price. His only stipulation (before I described the job) was that he couldn't undertake any more grass cutting! His working life is cutting other people's grass, seemingly. I gave him a sheet of A4 with my ideas. He designed the layout and did a great job returfing, removing lots of paving slabs, laying gravel, removing rubbish, dismantling the shed etc. The best thing he did was to create a small, fenced off area (I call it the compound!) where my many rubbish bins and gardening stuff live out of sight. It's brilliant because I hate sheds ?

It's raining today. My water butt will start filling up again. I've emptied it because I now follow my dog with the watering can to dilute his visits to the lawn. Bare patches weren't a problem before I had the garden revamped but I love it now so I look after it. ?

If you can use age concern, now age UK, to find a local trusted gardening service. Start with :

www.ageuk.org.uk/money-matters/financial-products-and-services-to-help-make-your-money-go-further/business-directory/

For more information:
Call Age UK Advice: 0800 169 2081

Hope they help you get someone.

We found a good local gardener via Gumtree. Most of them post images of the work they've done. Large gardens can be a nightmare to maintain and our gardener does most of the heavy work and leaves me with the type of gardening I enjoy i.e. pottering!

Why don't you put a notice up on StreetLife.com? Local people will tell you who they have used and if the are reliable ...however best not to sound complaining when you ask is this might put the good ones off!

I'm just having my garden done. Because it is very small and has a number of constraints I'm using a garden designer to draw up the detailed plan and spec and she recommended someone to do the landscaping. I think the very fact I used a professional meant the landscaper was more willing to quote ..and come. Also she only recommends those she knows to be reliable and who do good clean work. This matters to me as I don't want to disrupt my neighbour's avoidably as access has to be through one of their gardens.

Good luck!

I have a number of leads to pursue. but I fear they might not think what I want doing is worth their time.

Re Incapability Brown I am working out exactly what I intend to say to him (diplomatically of course) about how he might improve his customer relationships. I am not going to let him get away without commenting on what I feel is his unprofessional behaviour. It will require some thought.

I have this argument with DH . He expects the gardener to do all sorts of gardening by osmosis. I argue that he is a maintenance man and does the lawn every fortnight and tidies paths . If I want anything else like drains clearing or cutting back or chopping down I tell him and arrange another day.