Are you still a gardener when...

Are you still a gardener when you hire a gardener?

I hired a gardener to come twice a month for 4-5 hours each time. Every time he shows up I feel:

1) guilty because I'm not doing things myself when I like it so much
2) wanting to hug him for doing all the things I don't have time to get to.

This time of year I only have about 1/2 a day a week to do any yard work and with the rain I can spend all my time weeding. After April 15th (I work for a CPA firm) I take a week and a half off and just weed and plant. This year for the first time the yard isn't completely full of weeds and the trees are getting trimmed. I'm not sure what I'm going to do besides planting, but it is a wonderful feeling. So I'm trying to get over my guilt...I've never been good at giving instructions, I feel I have to help.

Does anyone else hire help in their yard and how do they feel about it?

gardening is supposed to be fun.
when there is so much to do that you cannot possibly do it all and thus get mired by responsibility in the garden, well, it isn't fun.

my advice, hire the gardener for twice as long if you can, and just spend the time enjoying the yard and tinkering.

or if it really bothers your sensibilities, hire me a gardener... I could use some serious hammock time.

drew

Hear hear

Guilty? If I had the money, I'd have a gardener.... AND a cook, and a housekeeper! LOL.

Your garden is for your enjoyment. It is okay to have help, for WHATEVER reason, but especially when you can't do the work yourself, have limited time, and/or work outside the home. I keep telling myself this as I contemplate hiring someone to help clean up the yard and haul away the debris.

I know that it would take me FOREVER to get the yard in shape by myself, as I can't physically do what I used to, so I know how you feel about watching someone else do it. But think about how nice it will be to have the yard in manageable shape so that you can really enjoy doing the fun stuff in your garden!

Still, I have to say to you, Kathy.... YOU GO GIRL !!! LOL. Seems like the sensible thing to me!

I would dearly love some manpower in my garden, and I wouldn't feel at all guilty about it. It's only because I can't afford to hire some one that I don't.

My only qualm would be that he would change things .... so I'd prolly be there over his shoulder, annoying him, the entire time .... LOL.

Cheri'

I hired a man a couple years ago to do the heavier work in my yard. Digging, etc... And we have Scot's Lawn Service to fertiulize the grass. 3 acres of it ! Do I feel guilty ? No ! And neither should you ! I agree with everyone else - gardening is our hobby, our passion. It should be fun ! Do whatever it takes to keep it fun and not a chore !

I think it's just plain smart. You've looked ahead, and planned ahead. This year won't leave you with regrets. At the end of the season, you'll have a lot more things to admire in your garden.
Besides, he gets paid to do something he likes to do. You are helping him, and he is helping you.
I think it takes a bit of maturity, to admit that you aren't a superhero, and could use some help.
Again, I think it's just plain smart.
-T

Heck, if I was gonna pay somebody to help me, I'd pay them to cook, clean and do laundry so I could play outside! LOL Pat yourself on the back for knowing how much you can handle and knowing when you need help. Some of us just run and run and run, never get finished and fizz out too early. ;)

At 48 years old I finally hired someone to come in to clean 2 times a month. I fought myself and won the right not to feel guilty about letting her do her job.

Now, if it wasn't for the yard men knocking over sprinklers and not fixing them, ultimately us firing them, I probably wouldn't be gardening now. It would be very difficult to turn any part of the job back over to helpers, I would be following him around nagging him......so.....not yet.

:^)

Molly

We have a Sports Booster auction at the school each year. i bid on a squad of 4 football players each fall. I use them to dig new beds, put edging in, move statues etc. I used them one year to move my niece & her 3 kids. My brother said it was the best Birthday gift I ever gave him!

Wanda, that is so cool.... :^)
Molly

o man, that is sooooo very cool. I'd love to rent a few football players for a weekend. Wish the high school here did something like that.

Cheri'

This weekend I did have to show which were the seedings coming up and with were the weeds, I think a few poppies were pulled before I realized what was going on. But, half the yard got weeded, so I could give up a few poppies.

A few years ago we did have someone come and clean the house (till our house cat that we had locked in the backroom ended up in the backyard when we came home), I never felt guilty about that. I think it is just that I like doing the yard work and not the house.

Oh well, I trained myself as I'm looking at the yard to see the flowers and not the weeds, so I'm just going to enjoy the gardener (also it is a lot cheaper that the house cleaners).

LOL Kathy. I don't have money to pay for either right now, but I'd still take the cleaners, cook and launderer! I have five kids and any day now, that number will change to six. We also have two dogs and a cat. It is just turning to spring here and I am dying to get outside but I am sure the new baby will keep me inside somewhat. I'll take outside over inside any day though! I am glad you are finding some time for you and time to stop and enjoy your flowers and all the work you have done. Blooms should be guilt free. :)

Howie and I wish we could pay someone to mow, trim and edge our yard so we could concentrate our energy on planting!

We're taking our pond out Saturday. We've decided after four years of ponding that it is just too much maintenance for us. Non one in our household is in great condition to be kneeling and reaching into a pond to retreive debris. We also have a lot of leaves. It's just not worth it to us, so we're filling in the hole and putting in some kind of water feature, maybe a bubbler.

If I had tons of cash, I'd definitely have a cleaner in once a week. I'm not sure I could turn the garden over to someone else

I hire help from time to time because with working and commuting 100 miles I don't have time to do everything especially cleaning up after the winter. If my yard was one acre instead of two I would still have to hire help because I would just have less grass to mow. Well I never hardly get a chance to mow the grass because since I bought the first riding lawn mower I can't seem to mow good enough to suit someone so she gets after it herself. Ask her who broke the glass door out of my greenhouse ha ha I wasn't laughing at the time.

Nope I think its great to hire help for some things but I have found out you should be right in the middle of the operation because if your not the results can end up bad. I spent four years shaping some apple trees and hired a guy who knew how to prune. Linda insisted I leave with her to get a new couch and I came back to a mess he pruned my trees very short the way they do in commercial orchards in Eastern Washington. I was sick so from now on I am staying involved. I don't feel like I am not a gardener because someone helps me now and then probably less than 400 bucks most years and for $10 an hour I get really pretty good help most of the time but some times I have a heck of a time understanding them as I don't do Spanish but do mime pretty well. Ernie

Housecleaners??? You guys have time to clean your house? When my kids were little, I "bought" a girl to clean from the church teen auction. I kept paying her for 2 years & then she ran off to college. My teens have not been much help. Now, I'm tinking of getting a good cleaning girl again. I do basic dusting & vasccuumming, but I'd rather go play in the garden then clean a bathroom.

I have a really funny poem that might just be appropriate here:


A Week in the life of a Gardener's Spouse

She dug the plot on Monday-
The soil was rich and fine,
She forgot to thaw out dinner-
So we went out to dine...
She planted roses Tuesday-
She says they are a must,
They really are quite lovely,
But she forgot to dust...
On Wednesday it was daisies-
They opened up with the sun,
All whites and pinks and yellows-
But the laundry wasn't done...
The poppies came on Thursday-
A bright and cheery red,
I guess she really was engrossed-
She never made the bed...
It was violets on Friday-
In colors she adores,
It never bothered her at all-
All the crumbs upon the floors...
I hired a maid on Saturday-
My week is now complete,
My wife can garden all she wants-
The house will still be neat!
It's nearly lunchtime Sunday-
And I cannot find the maid,
Oh no! I don't believe it!
She's out there WITH THE SPADE!!!

I love this, hahaha

That poems great. I'm thinking with all the rain and now we had a week of 75-80 degrees the weeds are getting huge, that every other week doesn't seem like enough.

Did my DH send ya that poem...........come on, ya can tell me.
Wonderful idea about the football squad.......but I have one of 'em living in my house, and the others here half the time....wonder what incentive I would need......hmmmmmmmmn.

"eyes"

Hmmm, and I have been playing with the idea of renting myself out as a part-time gardener. Sounds like there might be a market, huh?

I can hear the jingle now, sung to the tune of "Part Time Lover"

Look at the weeds out in my yard
Who knew that this could be so hard
These flowers need a hand from the Part-time Gardener...

...We'll have to work on this, Kathy!

Well my part time gardner visited on Saturday between the two of us I got three times as much done as I could have alone. I should have done this years ago and will continue to do it from time to time.

There were three winners that day I got help he got spending money and Linda played tennis and did quilting everyone got what they wanted. Ernie

I'm itching to dig--but the weather is just teasing me. If I uncover anything but irises or spring bulbs right now, we'll be sure to have a snow storm in April & kill everything...