What's it like being a gardener?

People often ask me this. "What's it like being a gardener?"

The short answer is: great, and tiring. 

The long answer is: I have spent a huge amount of my adult life sat at a desk, staring at a computer screen under strip lighting, in corporate conditions, groaning at emails going round the office about missing teaspoons. It's what a hell of a lot of us have to do to have a mortgage or rent a nice home, and pay the electricity bill. You might be the same. You MIGHT be the kind of person who sends the emails about missing teaspoons. (I hope you're not)

Gardening could not be more different. You've got the open sky above you, not a blinking strip light. That's one of the lovely things. My days are immensely varied. I am some people's regular gardener. I pitch up each week with my tools and sensible shoes on, in either hot-weather or wet-weather gear, and I do either what they tell me, or what I tell them. Some of my clients know exactly what they'd like me to tackle that week, and give me a list; some gesture vaguely at the garden with panic-eyes and I suggest where to start, to their relief. 

This work is hard. It's hot (no matter the weather), it's dirty, it's tiring. I have thorn scratches all over me at all times. Bruises, dirt, broken nails. It's not glamorous. I get through pairs of gardening gloves like you wouldn't believe. My face is often slicked with spider webs (and I am TERRIFIED of spiders). My boots are muddy and I've lost several pairs of jeans to the job, from grass stains and deeply embedded mud that even a TV detergent ad couldn't shift, to some unfortunate tearing. 

But I love it. I have a LOT of showers between jobs, and eat a LOT of high-protein, filling food between jobs too. I learnt the hard way that grabbing Meal Deals is not good for you! (Amazingly, two shop-bought sandwiches a day isn't healthy.) I also get some lovely cups of tea and coffee from my clients. Some make me sandwiches. One client once made me and my work mate a breakfast of coffee, juice, fresh fruit and croissants. That was a good day. One served me an ice cold glass of kombucha after I'd shifted a tonne of gravel. One client, I won't say who, makes the best coffee. Even if I don't want a coffee, I say yes anyway. It's that good. 

For others, I design their planting. I love meeting clients for these chats. This is less sensible-shoe wearing, it's more a cup of coffee in their garden and a good old chat about what they do and don't like - what they might or might not want. Even these are always different. Some of my clients have no idea about gardens and are fine with that - that's what I'm there for. They say: just make it look nice. We trust you. No yellow. 

Once I've grilled someone about what they would like ("A cottage garden" or "a Mediterranean courtyard!") I go home and I get scribbling and drawing and all excited about plants. My head is often spinning, and I have mad notepads everywhere that say things like HIBISCUS?? 

Sometimes I get up early and am out before 8am, on my way to clients. Sometimes I work late, writing my planting plans on my laptop with a glass of wine. I am often found in gardens, on my hands and knees, listening to Radio 4. And sometimes, when I'm really lucky, I get to actually work on my own garden...

So there you go. That's what it's like. Never boring, always great (and tiring). x