I have been thinking about this lately, mostly because so many people have offered their services to maintain my yard - I guess it looks worse than usual lately. Mostly I want someone to prepare some beds for me - the kind of work that either requires equipment I don't have or that you break your back doing if you don't have the equipment. Other than having my gutters cleaned, I can't think of anything I want done that isn't a one-time job. I'd like a couple of paths put in and some edging put in that wouldn't disappear under layers of silt from run-off through my yard, but again, those are one-time jobs. It would be nice to have someone do the stuff I don't like - taking care of the lawn - so I can spend my time on the perennial beds. I don't mind mowing - that's when I do some of my best work on the compost pile, but it sure would be nice to have someone else reseed in the fall and get the weeds out of the little lawn and maintain the pine straw under the trees. I think I want a husband.

Entm, I like your thinking, and I don't see why you shouldn't be able to construct a business such as you describe. I don't know how many people on this forum would want to hire someone for any kind of regular basis but perhaps for some special jobs (as Sugar Hill suggests). And I think the public at large would hire somebody if you marketed on a community-scale to begin with, very part-time to begin with until word spreads. You could begin by advertising in something akin to my local "Tucker Times"--perhaps there's something like that in your community.

I knew someone who started part-time (weekends only) installing and maintaining ponds (where I used to live in Louisiana) and he was doing it full-time with crew after about a year.

I also am starting to look at my yard with an eye towards edible plants in a much, much greater scale and away from purely aesthetics --but I want both, with somewhat restrained design to keep it all from looking too junky.

I could actually use help on my pitiful lawn/weed patch portion of the front yard, and an organic lawn specialist would be lovely (there's another service you might be able to provide). Alas, I can't afford to hire somebody to re-sod right about now so I'm trying to either postpone fretting about it, or try and figure out how to do it.

Good luck!
Rose

I like your thinking, too. I am trying to have an environmentally friendly garden.
I hired a landscaper to help build some terraced beds when I first moved to this house and it was terribly expensive. I won't do that again. Especially since they didn't quite "get" what I wanted and I have had to work around some placement errors ever since.
I do need help in bed preparation and building simple walkways and the like. If I could do it myself I would but at 53 with a weak back it is not really an option. My guys (DH and DS) aren't interested and not much use. I would consider getting help if It was something I could afford especially if it was someone who really knew what they were doing - not a crew left with vague instructions.
The edible landscape thing is interesting, too. We are trying to control an unruly patch of raspberries. My original vision was canes growing picturesquely on an attractive support. Currently, this is not the case. I'd definitely grow more fruit if I felt I had a handle on it.

Thank you for your responses. I would honestly prefer to do one time jobs. I'm not really looking for maintenance type jobs like lawncare (even though there is money in it). I've actually started to question the need for a lawn. Besides somewhere for children to play, a lawn doesn't contribute much to the household; it is fairly expensive to maintain; takes up a lot of space; and only gives back a little oxygen for all your sweat and toil. I say this after having brought in 3 dump trucks of topsoil and redoing our front yard a year and a half ago. I spent a ridiculous amount of money on weedkiller and fertilizer to create a beautiful zoysia lawn.

I'm rethinking my philosophy about a lot of things. I don't know what I'm going to do with the front yard in the years to come, but I'm experimenting with red clover in the backyard right now. When I get my fruit trees planted, I am hoping that the clover will contribute a decent amount of nitrogen to the soil. I'll leave a nice flat patch of the backyard for a swing set and toys; the rest is going to become an ongoing experiment.

Rose, I like the idea of advertising weekend work in our local newspaper. I'm right on the edge of Newton and Rockdale county. We end up with the Covington News in our driveway, even though we don't have a subscription.

You generally aren't going to be able to get away from some nonedible foundation plants. Almost every home in the South is going to get treated for termites at some point, and a lot of the termite chemicals will translocate into plants. I have no idea on how long the chemicals will persist in plant tissues; better to never have to worry about it.

Random Thought of the day:
I thought of a way to save some money on my espaliers. I was going to buy a number of 4x4 pressure treated posts and set them in concrete, but instead, I will visit with my mother-in-law and cut down some of the running bamboo she has behind the house. I am going to try and set bundled strands of bamboo in concrete, inside some spare containers. I'll bury the containers to make everything stable, and I should spend only about 1/4 of what I was anticipating. I'm trying to learn to use what I have on hand, rather than spending money at Lowe's and Home Depot every weekend.

Your bamboo post idea sounds cheap and asthetically pleasing. (I have a apple tree that is awaiting some sort of framework to be espaliered on as well. it was tied to cheap plastic stakes for the last 12 months).

My parent's next door neighbor, in Milwaukee, started a business where she was sort of a personal gardner. I don't know all her offerings, but she cared for people's perennial gardens, deadheading, pruning, weeding, etc. She charged by the hour and is quite busy during the season.

I often wish I had just an extra pair of hands as well in the garden, I think your business could be quite successful, especially if you are direct about what you will and won't do. If you focus on organics, and sustainable gardening (as you seem interested in) that is a niche that is hard to fill.

I think it would be nice if people (in general) got back to producing some of their own food, I think it would make us all a little more thoughtful, resourceful, and forward thinking

Good luck with this!

Harriet

Lots of people want a pretty yard/garden but don't have a clue. Others are avid gardeners who need help in certain areas, such as basic design or hardscape building or maintenance. I have many Master Gardener friends who are getting a little age on them and can't do the heavy work that they once enjoyed. Others have never quite understood proper pruning techniques. If I decided to hire someone, I would like someone who knows plants to help me manicure my garden without destroying things or I might need someone to help me design and put in a new landscape at a new home that I may build.