How to choose Garden help

Personally I'd want to take that person around the garden and ask them to tell me what they would do, and to identify weeds and other plants, informally, but I'd know instantly if they know their stuff or not. I love my garden too much to have someone who hasn't got a clue torture it. I'd be happy to take someone on to teach them, if they didn't know but showed that they were genuinely interested.

I havehad a lady gardener for the last year. She is not horticulturally trained but has gardened all her life. She is brilliant but costly, £25 ph. She does 2 hrs every fortnight and manages to keep my patch under control but I do quite a bit.

Not much choice round here but I always point to a few shrubs and ask if the potential gardener knows when to prune and how to plant bearded irises, a good indication of basic gardening knowledge.

The best gardener we ever had was female. She knew her stuff and made great planting suggestions. We were very grateful for her hard work in transforming our boring little garden.

We have a female gardener. We first employed her when we needed our front garden redesigning. She is gradually redesigning various other bits of the garden.

She also comes once a month to maintain it. We have a small garden with no grass. She charges £18 per hour, trained at the nearby College and is absolutely brilliant.

She initially learnt by helping her grandfather but now employs her father and father in law for heavy work.

We have had various male gardeners. The best was Mr Goodacre (called Mr Goodeggcup by our young children) but we had others who hid in the shed drinking, leaning over the fence chatting.

So, I would go for a female!

I have a gardener coming this weekend to cut and scarify my back lawn, dig all but a few of the plants out of the flower beds and leave me a “clean canvas” for replanting. He seems to be busy, which is usually a good sign. If he proves worthy of the three figure sum it is costing me, I might talk to him about a maintenance contract for which he charges £25 an hour.

We took on a garden in the past year that hadn’t been looked after. It really needed a lot of work and we had a chap with two assistants. It was working out at £75 an hour for the three so it wasn’t sustainable in the long term. However trying to find just one person to do tidying, mowing and maintenance is hopeless. They arrange to come to see it and just don’t turn up. We are trying to do it all ourselves but we have got to find someone.

It would be easier to find crack cocaine than any help around here! Having been let down by several gardeners in ‘21, I eventually found someone last year who works near a friend’s neighbours house. After a preliminary visit, he agreed to add me to his general maintenance list, for which I’m eternally grateful. He’s expensive and I keep him and his team supplied with tea and KitKats, but I couldn’t manage without him. DH wasn’t a gardener, so I’m happy that my plot is just well mown and weeded fortnightly.

This is really tricky .

My parents were expert prize winning gardeners and felt extremely frustrated with the people that they had to employ .
My father said that they were all hopeless -
all hiding behind shrubs chatting on their mobiles .

I'd been doing his garden for about 12 years when I employed a man to do the heavy digging .

My father was furious with me over it :

On the first day , he came with his knowledgeable florist wife and I was very pleased .
Without her on the second day he seemed to spend most of his time rearranging his head phones .
He didn't do as I'd asked and left a lot of weeds in the beds which he thought were plants .
He left early .
I've had another guy who is a park gardener and has taken exams .
Physically fit - he was very good at pruning and digging .
He needed a lot of guidance on plants .
His problem - his incredible moods and tempers !

I've not employed someone else .

I know several people , who employ lady gardeners .
This seems to be a better bet .
They are all women with incredible knowledge and know the difference between a weed and a plant .

When I was a child if needs be - we had Mr Jones the Gentleman Gardener .
He looked like Mr Pastry !
Not only did he tip his hat and call me Miss Esmay , but he was a complete joy to listen to .
Gardening was his profession and that the difference - any one can advertise as a gardener and actually hasn't a clue .

You could ask at your local allotment society shop.
Most folks who tend their allotments understand about plants soil seasons etc. most are fit and reasonably strong.

Two people on our small allotments ‘do’ other folks gardens.

I’d ask him about his own garden, a good gardener will wax lyrically about their favourite plants, vegetables, favourite time of year.

That is sexist Skydancer, I’m surprised.
The man who redid our back border two years ago was extremely knowledgeable about plants and gave excellent planting advice.
Exdancer I would ask what his favourite plants are, if he could advise plants for more spring colour maybe? Perhaps autumnal pruning suggestions, just to get an idea of his knowledge

This is a sexist comment I realise. If I were you I'd employ a lady gardener when it comes to care of plants and a bloke when it comes to the heavy stuff.

Yes it’s a question of trial and error with gardeners! Last year we had a very helpful man to cut the grass and trim the hedges and he did that very well. One day I was chatting to him ( in March!) and he referred to our camellias as lovely roses! Fortunately we hadn’t asked him to help out with the plants. Good luck in finding someone suitable. There are good people out there.

You could ask him if he's happy to do weeding. You could also see if he recognises any of your plants and how they need to be cared for. He doesn't need to know all the Latin names to have a bit of experience and common sense, though!