Being a garden and grounds maintenance professional

Have you ever wondered what it takes to run a professional gardening service?  Maybe you picture yourself thriving on the challenge of nurturing peoples’ gardens and grounds into their best possible condition.  Or perhaps you dream of working outdoors, immersed in nature.  After all, many people switch careers into gardening and related industries.

Whether you dream of doing the job yourself or not, we thought that ‘stepping into the shoes’ of a horticultural professional would provide some interesting insights. Who better to talk to of course than the Garden Company’s own Horticultural and Gardens Manager, Joanna Mège. We persuaded Jo to leave her sites in the capable hands of her gardening crews and talk to Helen and me about the ups and downs of her role.  Jo joined the Garden Company in 2014 and – with her team – provides a  service to 50+ clients in Hertfordshire, North London and surrounding areas.  Client sites range from privately-owned gardens (large and small) to business parks and public spaces. 

Two gardeners at work

What has your career path been?

I was born and grew up in Poland, and I always loved the outdoors and helping at home in the garden rather than in the house!  I have childhood memories of loving the fragrances inside a greenhouse or in a florist shop. With this in mind, I decided to study Horticulture at University and completed a Master’s Degree.  During this 5-year course, I arranged to spend a placement year in England.  This was where I discovered ‘the English garden’. I loved being here so much that I extended my placement into an 18-month one.  After completing my Master’s degree, I moved with my husband to England. We both embarked on careers in garden and grounds maintenance.

I spent 9 years at a garden design, build and maintenance company in North West London. This is where I first progressed to a leadership role.  Following this, I was appointed by The Garden Company to manage and develop its professional gardening division.

What do you see as your main responsibilities and how do you spend your time?

I manage a number of gardening teams who are dedicated to clients’ sites. I am responsible for drawing up weekly and monthly  schedules that are tailored to every site, dealing daily with clients and their requirements.  My priority is to make sure that the right people, equipment, gardening products and new plants are in the right place at the right time every day.   I help clients to develop their gardens through additional projects (e.g. new fencing, new planting plans).  In addition to my own crew of team leaders and team members, I also handle enquiries from new potential clients. I work regularly with a close circle of specialists.  This incudes specialists in tree surgery, garden lighting and irrigation.

One of The Garden Company professional gardeners at work in a contemporary London garden
One of The Garden Company professional gardeners at work in a contemporary London garden

In terms of my time, I spend some time every day on scheduling (and re-scheduling!).  I like to visit every client site regularly.  This keeps me in touch with the clients and able to coach and support our staff. I also deal with garden design professionals. Our landscape teams build garden designed by our in-house designers. The Garden Company also builds for designers who don’t have their own landscaping teams. My gardening teams are  often appointed to look after and nurture the transformed gardens, as well as caring for well-established gardens of course. It’s really important that I know the gardening regime required and pass this on to my teams – that way the gardens develop as envisaged by the designer.

When I’m in the office, I have routine tasks such as invoicing and payroll.  In addition, I need to keep an eye on relevant Health and Safety legislation and statutory requirements, keep our ‘standard operating procedures’ up to date, stay in touch with our suppliers and take part in company management meetings. Over the year, as the seasons change, different operational tasks will keep me busy – organising for bedding plants in spring, bulbs in autumn etc.

What skills and experience do you think help you most in your job?

I believe that the job requires a combination of solid horticultural knowledge with years of practical experience. It is the latter that helps you to know what to expect (not that you can ever predict exactly what will happen!).  Of course, there’s always more to learn too and taking time out to visit RHS Shows and other industry events is very important.

Garden Company team at RHS Chelsea
Joanna with colleagues at RHS Chelsea
What do you enjoy most about your job?

Every day is different – in a good way!  Obviously, the seasons repeat themselves, but on a day to day basis there is a lot of variety in what I do and plenty of challenge.  Put simply, I never get bored.

I love being outdoors, with a lot of freedom in how I organise my day and where I spend my time. I love working with plants and enjoying  their colours and beauty.  It’s also a total pleasure to see our clients’ gardens develop and thrive over time. There’s a lot of job satisfaction to be gained from seeing our team members develop over time too.

A large garden in Kings Langley maintained by The Garden Company's professional gardeners.
A large garden in Kings Langley nurtured by The Garden Company’s professional gardeners
What’s difficult or challenging about your job?

I enjoy getting everything and everyone organised, but then sometimes it’s frustrating if the plan falls through.  Equipment can go wrong and of course the weather can be unpredictable. But failure to plan in the first place wouldn’t be very helpful to anyone!

Some of our clients are keen gardeners but many are not and sometimes this can be a bit of a challenge.  People see wonderful plants in the garden centre or in a friend’s garden, and may not realise that this sun-loving plant won’t work in their shady, woodland garden.  I try to take the opportunity to explain to clients what will work best and also why – that’s also why plant knowledge is such a huge part of my job.

What advice would you give to somebody who wanted to work in a similar role?

It’s important to love gardens and to love being outside.  It’s not a job for people who are too fond of being at their desks, you need to enjoy being ‘on the go’ and physically active.

© Clive Nichols

Building your plant knowledge is vital too.  It’s surprising how many people don’t know the basics (even inside our industry).  This is apparent quite often when we interview job applicants. We have regular plant identification sessions at work, not just to reinforce plant names but also to learn key facts such as the best growing conditions, plants of seasonal interest etc.

And as is true of any service industry, being able to communicate clearly and proactively with clients is essential.  We understand how important our clients’ gardens are to them; we genuinely welcome the opportunity to discuss their plans and dreams. We don’t see ourselves as simply ‘maintaining’ gardens and grounds.  Our role is one of nurturing and caring for gorgeous green spaces. In fact, the end of a landscape project is really only the beginning of creating a beautiful place.

Summary

Joanna’s reflections really highlight that garden and grounds maintenance is about far more than mowing grass and weeding borders.  Professional gardening services are based on a highly skilled process of nurturing and guiding a garden or outdoor space with foresight as it develops. Put another way, ‘Gardens are a process not a product’ –  wise words from a former Head of Gardens at the National Trust, John Sales.

Next steps

Joanna’s passion for plants and beautiful gardens together with her in-depth knowledge and skills means that she can add huge value for our clients and – importantly for us! – also coach and mentor her teams to do the same.  If you are interested in working with Joanna and her team, please send your CV with covering email to hello@thegardenco.co.uk.  If you have a garden that needs nurturing in our part of the country (Hertfordshire, Bedfordshire, Buckinghamshire and North London), please give us a call on 01442 832666.

And if you are thinking about a career change into horticulture and related industries (or have a family member or friend exploring their career options!), then take a look at GoLandscape.  This is a careers initiative from BALI (the British Association of Landscape Industries), designed to inspire and educate new recruits.

For more reading on the world of professional gardening, you might like to get hold of a copy of Head Gardeners  by Ambra Edwards. Featuring interviews with 14 Head Gardeners, it is a fascinating book and won an Award from the Garden Media Guild for Inspirational Book of the Year.

We’d love to hear your thoughts on any aspect of this post, please add your comments above.

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