Can\'t find a professional gardener to help me

I have a "stupid" gardening problem that is genuinely puzzling me. I have poor soil and need some hands-on help to get my plants to survive and thrive. I have made *many* phone calls and emails to gardeners from Angie's List, Craig's List and the like to try to find a gardener to help me and am unable to do so. It's very frustrating because not only is my garden failing, but I am failing to find someone I can pay to help me. Mostly, people don't return my calls/emails, but some just refuse to make an appointment because they are "too busy," don't serve my area, etc. One came to give a consultation, ran away in the middle and I could never get in touch with her again. Another I contacted on email just plain didn't like me. Only in one case out of about 20 candidates did someone come over to give a consultation, but I haven't heard back from him with an estimate (so it's not definite).

And even if someone *does* give me an estimate, that's no guarantee that s/he is willing to do the work. I had someone give me an estimate on my lawn for last year, but was never able to get in touch with him again.

And so on, and so forth.

Why is it so hard to find a gardener? Is there a "secret list" of cabal gardeners who are actually willing to provide this service? Meanwhile, how can gardeners just afford to turn down work/alienate prospective clients like a few did?

Thanks so much and have a good day,

Sarah Trachtenberg

Chelmsford, MA

Does your local nursery provide on-site advice? Or recommend anyone? A lot of times it boils down to $$$ - how much can you afford to hire someone versus how much work can you put in yourself. You will usually have to pay to even get advice and if you sign a contract for work done make sure you include some kind of performance schedule along with the payment schedule. We hired someone for a design plan and perhaps doing the work if we liked his work ethic and design. After signing the contract, it was one excuse after another to get him out there to do the initial plan. We were so exasperated that we finally called it quits after several weeks but he sued us and took us to small claims court - those contracts are more for the contractor than the homeowner. Then we hired someone to do some stone work and signed a contract with him - a patio and dry stream bed. We should've seen the red flags when he didn't believe in mortar and didn't listen to us on some things such as the way the water flowed during a heavy rain. Soil washed out after the job was complete and after calling him out on it, he said that was our responsibility. ARGH!!

Maybe talk with friends & neighbors who are satisfied with their yard & garden help.

You might ask a local community college that has a horticultural program for names of students who could use work experience.

Greetings.

I am a Master Gardener since 2012, and I now (exhausted) have 8 clients. I do not advertise, and I would avoid someone who does. I do all the work myself because I do not want to give the responsibility of taking care of my clients' gardens to people who simply do it for money.

With all due respect, do not go to your local nursery. They will refer you to someone with whom they have a business relationship. That person will buy all their stuff from the nursery for a markup.

Do not sign a contract. Do not work with a company or service. I feel that my clients should be able to walk away at any time if they are not happy.

And look carefully at anyone who wants money from you just to talk to you. Anyone who really cares will come to your house, tour your garden and talk to you GRATIS!!!!! I consistently do this.

Students can be very unreliable.

Neighbors have very different standards. I know people who are satisfied because they don't know that you don't prune crabapples in summer because of fireblight and you don't cut back viburnums in spring, losing flowers and fruit. I have seen these issues over and over again in gardens where the person is quite satisfied.

Do this: do you have a local University garden extension program? Call them and ask for someone with expertise in your problem. I got my start 5 years ago because a person with a large English style garden who had not taken care of it for years needed help. The office put out an email asking anyone if they wanted to help. Another gardener responded, but realized that she could not handle it and called me. I am still working for that client, because after I fixed the problems they hired me to maintain the yard. I just saw one of their children off to college and was given a huge hug. As they say, priceless!

Master gardeners have to volunteer their time with projects. So they spend a lot of time together. So they know who has expertise. I am honored to say that many of my clients are either referrals from Master Gardeners, referrals from clients, or people who have walked past my house and saw the work that I clearly do myself and ask if I can help them.

If you really want to score, get someone who grows their own plants from seed. I do. I give my clients plants I have grown, although I have one who is insisting on paying me for them. You don't want to work with anyone who doesn't have a heart. You want to work with an engaged gardeners who loves plants and enjoys the opportunity to transform your garden and make you happy. They should do research, they should ask you what you prefer, and they should be willing to go to garden centers with you and steer you away from bad advice and bad plants. I do.
I know I should charge for that time but I love garden centers. And I prefer to plant the things they buy themselves, because sometimes garden centers sell you too much or put the plants too close together.

Call me nuts, but this is my third profession and I love every minute of it. It's hard work, but I still can't believe that people let me into their gardens, and many times their lives, and let me transform them into what they dream of. Use your local extension to find someone who loves gardening, and has credentials and knowledge, and will LISTEN to you, and I think you will be much happier.

Donna