Gardeners Can Be Consultants Too

One of the compelling counterarguments to hiring a gardener is that the home-owner actually enjoys gardening. Hiring a gardener would be like hiring someone to do your hobby for you, right? It's a good point when it comes to the enthusiast, but the one thing that gardening enthusiasts can forget is that it's sometimes good to get a second opinion on your garden.

In other words, you're not asking a gardener to take the reins from you, but more that you're getting their expert opinion on the current state of your gardening ideas right now, and what direction you COULD take your garden in.

Of course, why stop at one gardener? You could simply call up a number of them, and invite them over (at your expense, of course) and be up front that this is a consultation and your soliciting their experience and wisdom only. A lot of gardeners are happy to take up the offer and you can find yourself collecting a lot of very interesting opinions on your garden and what you could do with it. Soliciting other opinions on something you spend a fair amount of time on can be both intriguing and potentially irksome. Your garden is your pride and joy, so you may need a bit of a thick skin in listening to others" opinions on the work you've done so far.

I'll underline the specific benefits of gathering "local knowledge" so that you can make even more informed gardening decisions in the future.

It'll get you out of your gardening rut
Gardeners tend to work alone, and so their ideas are all their own. Getting out of your own gardening rut can be a refreshing break from your usual gardening thought patterns by entertaining fresh new ideas. Even if you don't consider the new ideas worth carrying out, they may spark some inspiration for another idea.

Local knowledge
As mentioned, local gardeners have local knowledge: they know the local garden centres, and what works best in the local climate. You might be surprised with some of the tips they could offer you, particularly for seasonal gardening.

Advice on gardening tools
People who consider gardening their trade tend to be very knowledgeable about gardening tools. After all, when you're gardening 30+ hours a week, you want to know the best labour-saving devices on the market. You can find out what tools might make your gardening a lot more joyful (and less back-breaking) than it is right now.

Advice on gardening itself
If you can't take tips and advice about gardening from professional gardeners, who else can you? They may spot easier ways for you to go about your usual g

Conclusion
Gardeners may not have the word "consultant" after their company name, but they DO have experience and wisdom when it comes to gardening. Moreover, it's often a well received compliment to ask them their advice, and I find it's almost always money well spent.

Article kindly provided by gardenerhitchin.co.uk