How to Buy Gardening Services

Tips on buying gardening services

1. First you should figure out what your needs are. Do you need services to simply cut your lawn weekly or bi-weekly, or do you have a massive amount of shrubbery and flower beds that will need tending to? Also determine just how much money you can spend. If you can't spend too much, you might be better off hiring a high school kid from your neighborhood to cut your lawn, while employing the gardening service for jobs like trimming your shrubs and taking care of your plants and flowers.
2. Talk to friends, family and co-workers for gardening service recommendations. If no one can help you, consult your local yellow pages and look for gardening service advertisements that have good notices.
3. Talk to the gardening service company you call about their fees: many have seasonal fees, many simply have hourly rates. Also talk about what you'd like done to your property. For instance, if there are certain chemicals you don't want used in treating your lawn or shrubs, let it be known. You should also discuss the aesthetic you're after. If you want a clean, classic and conservative look to your lawn and garden, don't go with a gardener who tries to talk you into digging up a chunk of your yard for a goldfish pond!
4. When you settle on a gardening service, map out a schedule of when they will work. This is extremely important, for you don't want them coming on days when you're at work and they're not supposed to be there (you'll have to pay for their services even though they weren't supposed to come). Also discuss whether or not their services will be needed on holidays or bad weather days.
5. It's a good idea to closely monitor the gardening service's employees on their first day of work on your property. That way if something is done that displeases you (say they plant a tree in the wrong spot in your backyard), you can inform them.

Caution

If you have children, be sure to scan your property for toys they may have left scattered about. The last thing you want is the person mowing your lawn to run over something that gets spit back in his or her face, causing bodily harm.

Where to buy gardening services

While there aren't many listings for Web sites advertising gardening services, you may be able to find recommendations for services in your town using the forums at any one of these three places--

Enter Garden Mart and sift through a vast directory listing gardening services, retailers and growers. You'll also be able to ask experts for advice on gardening.

GardenWeb is “the Internet's garden community.” Join for free and enter the forums to ask questions about gardening service companies in your hometown. Also get handy gardening tips and a list of popular gardening events in the U.S.

Check out The Garden Link for forums as well, plus expert advice, gardening news and a list of recommended books on gardening.