General Chat

I have a large garden... too big for me to manage at the moment.. I would like to get someone to help sort it out with me... there are loads of agencies out there that I can apply to... but does anyone know if it is still ok to do the old fashioned advert for *suit active retired person* thing???

I have a feeling it might be......:¬S

I've tried googling but that just gives me lists of gardening companies and landscapers etc.

Love

Daff xxxx

Edit... have loadsa stuff to play with now... Thank you everyone!!

UPDATE : Well, I have now got three prospective gardeners coming for interviews... one tomorrow, it is his own, newly started business.... and ditto the second, who will be with me on Thursday. The third didn't give a day when he could come... just a list of reasons he couldn't, but I have to say, they were all to do with children's sports days, finishing his mum's and his sister's garden before starting this...... At least with him I won't feel that he is disappearing to start someone elses' garden!! He has just handed in his notice in order to start up his own gardening company.

So... next lot of choices:

One, very expensive but qualifications falling out his ears, including tree surgery

two, middle priced, with lots of horticulturally based qualifications.... not long finished college and just starting up after working with someone else for a couple of years

Three, a talented amateur who is going to be going back to college part time to learn the trade!

I am still waiting to hear from Social Services etc..... but that can happen too, I am happy for people to gain experience...... whilst the heavy work would be done by the *professional*

One who arrived yesterday wanted to bulldoze what I have already achieved!!

So thank you everyone... your ideas were all great!! And the advice was valuable, too!

I'm sure it is Daff - one of my neighbours had a card up in the village advertising gardening jobs when he retired and he had been a policeman - not that that necessarily makes it kosher though I suppose

Thanks Ann.... I really need to get some help with it!! We spent the weekend sorting bits in the kitchen... so the lawn wasn't mown again, and I can't pull the cord thingy to get it going!! And the heavy digging work is too much for me at the moment..... I get so far and then my body gives up... I used to do it all, and in fact did most of what has been done, but I just need help getting it going, and then general help maintaining it.

I feel like such a frilly wuzz... but I know that I have to be sensible about it!

Love

Daff xxx

What a good idea, Jill... I never thought of that!! I'll go google the local colleges!

Gerald, thanks, that would normally be the way I would do things... but I haven't got to know many people in this area since I moved here.... My neighbours... most of whom I am on waving and smiling terms with, are not *bestest buddies*- I did something similar when I first moved in with regards getting in a tree surgeon and also a plumber. There are still recurring probs with one neighbour over the tree surgeon... and the plumber who was recommended was a bag of nails, and I asked him back to complete the work he was paid to do.... the neighbour who recommended him was a relative, and turns her back on me whenever she sees me, lol!! Not a problem... they are not close neighbours, they live around the corner, but it still smarts a bit!! I am, of course, the Villainess in this drama!!

Hence, wanting to keep it informal, but semi-professional!! And keeping neighbours out of it!

Love

Daff xxx

Daff,

If you are asking someone onto your property to work,,just make sure your house insurance is of good coverage,,accidents can and do happen,!!

Anyone who does this sort of work is resonsible for their own contributions,and declare it if need be,not you,,

Lots of retired people love to get ths sort of thing offered and you are not employing them,you are paying for their time and effort,good luck......

Thanks Kay.... lol.... I will even give them Health and Safety training, as that is one of my more dubious skills, lol!!

Yes, my insurance does cover it.... it is a clause we had included as I knew that we might need help and assistance from people on occasion...... we have had my nephew doing some jobs, such as the decking... and a wonderful job he made too... but he now has a full time job, and he hates gardening anyway, lol!

I think it was the declaration thing that I was probably worried about!

I am also quite happy for someone who wants to use a part of the garden to grow their own veg in as well... it is big enough!!

Love

Daff xxx

if someone is advertising as a gardener it is there responsibity to have insurance just make sure they are a registerd company

i have a gardener who comes and cuts my grass and trims hedges etc

£20 per fortnight which works out at £10 per hour

he cuts the grass in 10 mins with his 2 employees takes me 2 hours

trying to convince oh we need a cleaner too but he's not buying it.

lol Jill.... all the shrubs are in pots waiting for holes to be dug for them to be put in.... over a hundred of them!!

Love

Daff xxx

Lorraine that is great... it gives me an idea of prices, as well!! There is a bit more than mowing the grass needed here though, lol!!

Love

Daff xxxx


Off to google again!!

Daff here in the Boro there is a scheme called staying put its for the elderly and disabled you can phone them and they got bona finda people to come and do jobs at a cheaper rate ,,,worth asking your locol council if there is any scheme like that near you dear

Babs

my nan had gardeners at a cheap rate £3 for half an hour they where doing community work and did a very good job always polite and had a supervisor with them

we live in hampshire but it's worth checking if there is a scheme like that i your area

Oh Daff,

Go get that little hunky Irish man...:}}}

lol Kay,... who, you mean Paddy? Don't tell Eldrick, but he is my Guardian Angel..... and he is a leprechaun!! lol!! (erm, Paddy is me GA.... not Eldrick!! ;¬))

Jean that is a good idea, and I am open to that!

Wmsl at Marion!!! I am not elderly :¬D and not yet registered as disabled... I have rheumatoid arthritis, and am having tests done for other stuff, but I am not too bad at the moment, although that might come in the future... it is also why I want to get it sorted now, so that it is easier for me to maintain should the hurty bits get worse!! So as yet I don't qualify for any of that community aid! :¬DD Double edged sword, isn't it!!

I have just had a visitor... so I couldn't google.... how very inconsiderate of her, lol We had lunch, and now she is back off to college to learn something vital in the modern NHS..... all to do with finance and stuff... and she is only a student in her final year!! She'll be my third nursing sister (pun intentional, lol)..... now why couldn't she have chosen Gardening and lumberjacking instead... far more suitable for my current needs, lol!!

Love

Daff xxxxx

Daff - to go back to your original question, I'm almost sure you can't now advertise for a retired person but what you could do, is advertise for someone who just wants a few hours work.

Daff age concern usually have a list of helpers, we had a plumbing prob, and a guy came and tried to help,they are mostly volunteers, the shared gaden seems a good idea.Jean x

Daff
I wonder, if you advertised for 'somebody to help re--organise garden, Monday to friday, no weekends' you would rule out people who work so may automatically get somebody retired.
I can see you could also get somebody who is out of work but, if there is a lot of digging you need somebody who is fit. you could take them on for a 2 week trial at first. you are going to have to supervise anyway as you will have definite ideas where the plants have to go. state the maximum number of hours you are prepared to pay for a week.

By the way, our son used to do gardening jobs when he was 16/17 and people thought very highly of him. Just lawn mowing, weeding and digging.

You will need to ask for references and follow them up too.

I would lend you OH if we lived nearer!!!!

Ann
Glos

Jenny Wren... that is a suspicion I had...... lol!! I think it falls into the discrimination category, plus you have all the employment laws to contend with.... sigh, it's a bit of a minefield.... it seemed like a good idea when I discussed it with hubby over the weekend!

Ann.... I might just kidnap him next time I see you, lol!!

Jean, Age Concern only provided their list of volunteers to over 60's... do they have a list of retirees who would like to do odd jobs, now (I am not retired, yet, I have a few years to go, lol)

I have just had someone come to give me a quote... basically, he wants to bulldoze my entire garden, and start all over again,lol!!

I have someone coming on Wednesday as well.... but they are all landscaping firms, so I think it might be much of the same!

Oh dear, back to the drawing board!!

Love

Daff xxx

ps, Ann... I was just so geared up to borrowing your hubby that I forgot to say... I will put an advert in the local paper tomorrow, I think... it does sound like a good idea, but then I have to be a *proper employer* I think!! Will go and check.... oh for the good old days and less red tape!
xxxxxx

Funny you should ask Daff.....the old fellah across the road from me has volunteers from local handicap place who cut his trees etc....the other day he was asked if they could use part of his large garden to grow vegetables to sell or use for their local society....he is just looking into the legalities of it ( just in case he kicks the bucket and they want to claim his garden....one can't be too careful :-) )......worth looking into though.

Susan
x

Have you checked the small adds in the local paper or are there any pensioners clubs locally where youcould advertise or give the club secretary a ring

Susan that would be perfect... and with my background in that field I also have the skills and the necessary police checks to be able to work alongside them as well...... and communicate!.

I am even happy for them to have an area that they could call their own... I would will it to them, lol!!

I really miss my work in that field!

Love

Daff xxxx