What is a Gardener?

Simply put, a gardener is a person who likes to play in the dirt, and who has a different job description each day. Gardeners, also known as landscape artists, are responsible for designing and maintaining gardens, doing seasonal maintenance, and ensuring that grass, flowers, shrubs, and trees are all thriving in their clients’ yards or businesses. These jobs can take place at private homes, apartment complexes, or other businesses.

How difficult is it to be a gardener? Are there specific prerequisites for gardeners? In order to become a landscape artist, you need a high school diploma, but gardeners do not necessarily have to have a college degree.  Many gardeners start by working in a nursery or greenhouse to get experience, and then work their way up through the ranks.

If you want to become a Master Gardener, or have a chance to own your own landscaping company, you can take horticulture classes from local universities to learn more about the needs of the soil and climate where you live, and you can also take design classes to be able to create elegant arrangements of flowers and shrubs in yards and businesses. If you are considering starting your own landscaping business, taking business classes is also a great idea, and will help you to build a successful business from the monetary angle.

Types of Gardening Services

A gardening company offers a variety of services, and these services depend on the region of the country in which you live, as well as the season of the year. Gardeners can do one-time jobs such as a fall clean up, or they can be contracted to do weekly or monthly maintenance at a client’s home. The two main jobs of a gardener are to design new yards and to maintain those that already exist.

Gardeners design yards and raised flower and shrub beds. For a new residence, a gardener is extremely important for developing an artful but functional plan for the yard. A Master Gardener would be best for this, as they have the background to know which plants thrive in a specific region, and understand the need for specific needs plants have for drainage and sunlight. Landscape architects are responsible for everything from placing the plants where they belong, to hauling rocks, to designing ponds or other special features in a yard.

In addition to designing raised beds and lush grass landscapes, there are two ways that a yard needs to be maintained. Gardeners are often hired to cut the grass, which is usually done on a weekly basis. In addition to cutting the grass, landscapers will typically edge the sidewalks and the beds and sweep off all sidewalks and driveways during these visits. Additionally, grass is fertilized on a monthly or bi-monthly basis.

The other maintenance job for landscapers is to take care of all the bushes, plants, and flowers in a yard; typically these are found in raised beds. Gardeners prune, fertilize, and replant on a regular schedule throughout the year. In times like the spring and fall, special clean-up visits are often required when the long winter is over and beds need to be spruced up, or when fall comes and the leaves fall.

How to Bill Clients for Gardening

In general, gardeners would rather work outside than tend to the billing process for their business, but this is an important piece to run a successful landscaping company. Gardeners can bill their clients in several ways. Most gardeners bill their clients either on a monthly basis, or a per-visit basis. These details are worked out to the satisfaction of both gardener and client before the work begins.

If a client has a lawn maintenance plan and gets their grass cut every week, they will often be billed monthly. The invoice is usually left in the front door or mailbox on the first day of the month. Clients can also choose to have a credit card on file and get charged that way. This is even better for the gardener because it ensures that she or he gets paid regularly.

If a gardener is hired for a one time design or clean-up, they will normally give the client that invoice at the time of service. These jobs are usually large in scope and offer a higher invoice fee, so there might also be a payment plan in place for the client. These details will be worked out between the gardener and client beforehand. The company could leave the invoice right at the residence when they complete the job.