Hi there,
I'm a 46yo woman and have done a desk job all my working life, but did do a degree in Landscape and Garden Design back in the day (basically a hort degree with a design element tacked on) and I am a bit of a gardening anorak!
Unfortunately, I've had a string of injuries (slipped disc in neck, RSI in both wrists, tennis elbow on both sides, shoulder injuries on both sides) ALL apparently linked to the fact I sit at a desk all day! I do think my health and wellbeing would be better served by being a gardener and I love being outdoors.
So, the long and the sort of it is, I've decided to quit the office job and do gardening instead.
I've been told by different sources that there are the 'men who cut things' and that I can find gardening work doing all the other stuff - weeding, trimming, pruning and so on.
My family think I'm living in cloud cuckoo land, but other people have told me that I will find lots of work out there and can earn good money (my office job pays a modest c.£25K, so I'd be happy if I could acheive that).
I was self employed for a time years ago, so I'm familier with the business side of working for yourself and that part doesn't phase me.
If anyone has any thoughts/advice, whether positive or negative, I would love to hear!
Thanks all - this is a great site by the way - so glad I found it!
Sarah.
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Hi Sarah
There are plenty of opportunities for Horticulturists it's such a vast area perhaps as an employee but if self employed as part of a team e.g garden designers often have border work /planting opportunities, perhaps contact some local ones which may also help you build up some useful contacts in other specialised fields should you decide to go down the garden designer route .
You might get away with using light machinery in some smaller gardens to boost your earnings as many self employed gardening opportunities require you to be an all rounder .
Weeding especially hand weeding I always found hard on the knees and hands in fact more so than using machinery .
Be mindful of the Winter months as work starts to drop off so you need the sort of clients who can keep you busy during this period .
All the best
Sarah , wish you every success. There was a similar post / request to yours on here previously, perhaps trawl back through the archive and reply to find out how things have gone.I don't wish to shatter your dreams but wonder with your physical limitations whether this is the right path? Yes garden design but as John has said most clients want a complete maintenance package, not individual contractors for different tasks so wonder if there is a market out there?
Hi Sarah,
Agreed, this is a fabulous site. I went freelance 9 years ago and don't regret a thing. I mostly work from behind a screen and would love to be outdoors all the time but I'm not sure my poor old bod would stick the pace - but I wish you every success.
Have you looked at the Women In Gardening Group on Facebook?
Another useful resource is Alan Sargent. He has many many years experience of designing, building and managing gardens and is uber-generous with his advice. I'm sure he'll be able to help answer some of your questions.
Hi all,
Thanks John - no interest in garden design if I'm honest lol Could do some planting plans/consultancy/maintenance schedules, but I'm more interested in plants than design. Yes, happy to push a mower / strimming / trimming, etc. Have a big garden myself so familier with weeding! Find a French hoe the best tool for that. Yes, winter months does bother me a bit. Might need to find a side hustle.
Thanks Peter - I'll look for that other post! I'm physically fine at the moment - it's sitting at a desk all day that buggers me up!
Thanks Angela - what do you do behind the screen if you don't mind me asking? I will look up the Women In Gardening Group that sounds just the job :)
Have just offered to write the gardening column in the local village rag (the guy who used to do it died about a year ago) - I'm hoping they'll let me advertise for free in return.....?! Lots of elderly people in my parish - hoping that's a positive thing for me.
Any other comments very welcome! :)
Thanks All,
Sarah.
Sarah, don't know if you have worked out what you will have to earn self employed to equal your present salary? I'm assuming that you need to maintain your present earnings?
25k equates to £480 /week (25k ÷52).
Assuming that you are able to fill 36 weeks and this is being optimistic and based on full weeks from 1st March to 30th November so 36 weeks, and I do think you will struggle for full weeks in November and will do next to nothing in Dec Jan,Feb you will have to earn approx £694 /wk, appreciate you may earn more in the height of the season but the average remains unaltered. The 25k equivalent is gross without any deductions for the running costs of the business, no holiday or sickness pay, assuming from what you have said you will be working for domestic customers who in our experience are reluctant to pay a realistic rate I do question whether replicating your 25k salary is realistic and achievable? If you don't need to replicate that's fine and there is a modest upside as your tax and NI payments will be less than under PAYE.Basically you need to earn £20 hr on a 35hr week on everyone of those 36 weeks.
The above is written with the best of intentions and apologies if you have already taken into consideration these points. Best wishes.
Hi Sarah, I'm a copywriter. I write blogs, articles and social media posts for landscapers, garden designers, a large landscape materials supplier and a couple of trade associations. Oh - and quite randomly - a website designer. So very much involved in landscaping and gardening, just not as directly as I'd like to be.
The writing fits in well around caring for elderly parents, young grandchildren, dogs, bees, garden, housework etc etc etc
Writing for your local village rag sounds like an excellent idea - enjoy!
Having a Google Business listing is completely free and we've found it generates lots of interest local to where you are based which is great. Cutting lawns is not the most exciting but, for us, it pays the best by far and is the easiest work too. So we'd definitely recommend having a few of those jobs each day amongst the other jobs that you might find more interesting. Our top tip would be being reliable. You don't have to be the best gardener in the world but, if you're reliable, you'll set yourself apart from the majority.
All the very best
Hi Sarah, depending on your area a minimum of £30hr is achievable in domestic garden's. Any thing less than £25hr you might as well be employed. I openly charge £40hr for regulars. I prefer to chase price work ar £60hr and more. You have to sell yourself, wow them with your knowledge and skill. Your degree an years experience are excellent usp's.
Best to diversify to begin, you can specialise later.
Plenty of work in the winter digging boarders, spreading compost, pruning apples/pears/wisteria/grape vines, fence repairs, I spend the pretty the whole of February jet washing paving and garden furniture.
Best of luck
Completely agree with all the comments above and particularly Peters breakdown hence my suggestion of finding work as an employee with all the benefits which come with employment or alternatively the support which often comes working as part of a team in a self employed capacity .
From my experience of contact with solo self employed established horticulturists top earnings are around 18 k before tax working full time and through Winter and they bring a lot of knowledge to the table adding real value to projects .
There will of course always be niche opportunities which can generate interest from writing articles.as you suggest I e right person reads it at the right time .
Initially when I started out I found earning a living as a self employed gardener very challenging as a main bread winner and so working as an employed gardener was a safer more secure option for me and I still had the benefit of job satisfaction .
As finances improved and I shared the bread winning role with my wife it enabled me to become self employed again , Initially found it very challenging to earn what I was used to earning as an employee also working longer hours
You really have to take stock and try not to settle into a rut of earning low rates because our work provides job satisfaction it's easy to fall into a comfort zone and it's very easy to convince yourself that because you are working hard every day that the finances are taking care of themselves but you have keep reminding yourself that you are running a business unless you are in a position to choose gardening as a lifestyle choice .
Well said.
It's hard to find that balance of job satisfaction and financial reward. You need to make enough to make it worthwhile and a bit extra to compensate for unpaid time. Admin, site vists, drive time, invoicing, pricing, tool maintenance, debt collecting. Which is the side of the job that can ruin it.
If your to cheap or nice customers will take advantage. I learnt that lesson long a go, it hurt. To love a job so much, but be undervalued is painful.
If I didn't go self employed I couldn't have afford to surport my wife and two kids.
Using your words John, 'I love hate' my job.
Spring always replenishes me.
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