Gardening: a guide for pros

What customers ask, how to win the job, and what to put on your profile.

Offering gardening

Gardening is a repeat service where the plan for each season keeps customers coming back. Your value is in matching plants to light and soil, keeping beds clean, and giving the customer a schedule they can follow between visits.

What customers ask

  • What should I plant where, and why?
  • Will my vegetables get enough sun?
  • How often do you visit, and what do you do each time?
  • Do you use chemicals, and are they safe for my pets?
  • Who waters the garden when you are not here?
  • Can you grow vegetables and flowers in the same bed?

How to win the job

  • On the first call, ask what the customer wants from the garden, such as flowers for cutting, vegetables or a low-care border, then look at sun and soil on site.
  • Walk each bed with the customer and note the light, drainage, existing plants and any pest or disease signs before you propose a plan.
  • Put the bed list, the plant list with sizes, the soil work, the watering responsibility and the visit schedule in the written quote.
  • Show a simple planting sketch with spacing and sun zones, so the customer can see the layout before anything goes in the ground.
  • Explain in writing what to water, when, and what to watch for, so the new plants get a fair start.
  • Leave a short note after each visit listing what you did and what needs attention next time.

What to put on your profile

  • Photos of beds before and after, taken from the same angle
  • The plant types and garden styles you work with, such as cottage beds or vegetable rows
  • Your soil and planting method, including how you amend and mulch
  • The seasons you plant and the care you provide in each one

Follow-up that helps the customer

  • Offer a seasonal refresh to replace spent annuals or plant for the next season, and let the customer choose
  • Suggest a soil test if plants keep struggling, and explain what it will show
  • Recommend mulch or a drip line in beds where watering is a problem, and explain the benefit

Licenses and permits

Gardening and planting are commonly not licensed; pesticide application for pay, tree pruning at height and any irrigation work may need separate licenses in many areas. Check with your state or local licensing agency before you offer those services.

Questions

Do I need a license to garden for customers?

Planting and general garden care are commonly not licensed. Pesticide use for pay and some tree or irrigation work may need separate licenses. Check with your state or local licensing agency.

How do I choose plants for a shady yard?

Start by checking how much direct light each bed gets across the day, then pick plants labeled for that light level. Explain the choice to the customer so they know why each plant is where it is.

How do I keep a customer's garden going between visits?

Send a short written care plan with the watering, deadheading and pruning steps, and tell the customer what to watch for. Check in at set points in the season.

About this guide

This national guide is written and checked by infinibell. Rules and conditions differ by place, so local pros are credited on guides for the cities they serve, not on national ones.

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