Garden maintenance

 Something I noticed while working for a large landscaping company is; the maintenance department is the most overlooked and under appreciated facet of this type of company.  Personally, I love doing maintenance.  I love knowing through my hard work a garden has grown into it's full potential, or even surpassed the original vision.  I also enjoy the relationship that grows between a client and their gardener, each become part of an extended family.

 Quality, professional garden maintenance comes at a price.  They are not a "mow and blow" service, they are skilled and educated in how a garden grows.  This skill can be obtained through college, of course, but in my humble opinion, until you actually work with the plants and your native soil, you don't really know.  A fresh gardener will wreck quite a few plants before being enlightened/skilled.  It takes time to learn properties and characteristics of soil, and how to recognize pests and diseases.  Then it takes more time to know how to deal with them.  Whether they are college educated or life educated, both understand the delicate balance of soil, plants and gardens.  I also believe they have a passion for what they do.

If you're lucky enough to maintain a garden for at least a year, through the 4 seasons, you start to truly know this garden.  You get to know problem areas, disease issues, critter problems, clients likes and dislikes and how the plants grow.  The garden becomes yours in a way.  Tending to a garden on a regular basis you have the opportunity to implement change the proper way, over time because its a process, nothing in the garden changes quickly.  A garden becomes a place of learning.  You get to see how plants grow in different sun lights or watering schedules and its possible to try different pruning techniques.  With regular maintenance a gardener can prune little by little as needed, not a heavy handed,"once a year" butchering.  We don't do this disfiguring way often, but it occasionally comes up and while it might be necessary, it always makes me uncomfortable.

There can be a lot of flexibility in the scheduling of maintenance.  If a garden consists mainly of shrubs, and doesn't have a lawn, or a lot of annuals and perennials,  maintenance visits can be as few as 3-4 times/year.  I personally prefer coming once a month.  Coming 12 times/year is perfect for us because our focus is on the plants and trees.  We only maintain one lawn, and I don't mean to boast, but it's damn close to perfect. Our other clients with lawn needs have an additional gardener who comes to care for their turf.  It's a lovely relationship for all involved.

A big plus about maintaining gardens on a schedule is it's money a business can count on faithfully.  Maintenance is a landscape gardening company's bread and butter.  It's also an on going free advertisement for the business, which depending on the service offered can be either good or bad.  You can run a business without advertizing.  Obtaining new clients through word of mouth is possible if people can hear about your quality of work from friends and neighbors, and see it as well.  The Garden Girls have every year, steadily increased their client list without any advertizing.  Our work speaks for itself. 
 
In closing, professionals who provide quality garden maintenance are "keepers of the gardens".   When a gardener is given the opportunity to bring a garden back from weedy mayhem, or to simply maintain it's beauty, it should never be taken for granted.  Maintenance clients, including their gardens, need to be respected and appreciated for entrusting us to care for their garden.  Plus, what their landscape continues to do for a gardener's company. 

Not everyone places value on the aesthetics outside of their home, but for those who do, there are gardeners like us.