A Day in the Life of a Garden Consultant

Want to Know What It's Actually Like to Work as a Garden Consultant?

Garden consulting is a fairly new concept that addresses an old problem: there's tons of people out there who want to garden but who need guidance from a knowledgeable person in their own community. I'm on a mission to train garden coaches to work all over the country and, eventually, all over the world so that every interested individual can find a gardening mentor.

But because this type of work is so new, you might have a lot of questions about what becoming a garden coach would even look like both day to day and in the long term. I mean, you probably didn't have a garden coach come to your career fair at school. You probably didn't grow up seeing a parent happily leave their 9-to-5 job and start their own garden consulting business.

With that in mind, we asked some of our Gardenary-trained garden consultants to tell us what a day in their life looks like.

Reading through their schedules, you'll notice that many of them begin their mornings in their own gardens for inspiration and then set their own unique hours throughout the day. Garden consultants work for themselves, so they can dictate their own hours, spending as much or as little time per week working with clients and creating products as they'd like.

This was the big appeal to me when I was looking for work outside of the home but didn't want to sacrifice time with my children. Like many of these coaches, I built my schedule when I started my own garden consulting business around family time.

You'll also notice that coaches build in plenty of time tending and harvesting from their own gardens and for continuing education. They understand that investing time in themselves and their own happiness is just as important as investing in their business.

Without further ado, let's take a peak into a day in the life of a garden consultant!

(Photo above taken by Jennifer Nesbit Holt and used with permission from Crystal Jarvis)

Abby Works as a Full-Time Edible Garden Consultant

Saturday:

8:00AM

Walk through my garden to feel centered and find inspiration for the day.

9:00AM

Prepare for my upcoming Edible Gardening Consultation. Double check my consultation bag has everything I need. Don’t forget that measuring tape!

10:00AM

Arrive at my client’s home for their consultation. Walk through their space and determine the best location for their beautiful garden. Discuss edible garden designs that would help them achieve their gardening goals.

1:00PM

Take down notes from the consultation. Start dreaming up a design package based on my client’s goals, dreams, and aspirations for their gardening space. Write a thank you note to my client and pop it in the mail.

2:00PM

Time to take a break! Off to the treehouse to play with my son.

4:00PM

Pick fresh vegetables & herbs from the garden for dinner. Maybe a lemon verbena lemon drizzle cake for dessert?

7:00PM

Grab a cup of tea and slice of cake and settle in to create my lovely Sunday Gardening Newsletter. This is one of my favorite times of the week. I get to reflect on the week and share my gardening journey with the Acorn Hill Gardens gardening community.

Busiest time of year:

Springtime is an exciting time at Acorn Hill Gardens. Ashland is waking up from its winter slumber, and everyone is dreaming about starting a garden. April, May, and June are filled with consultations, workshops, and events!

Tammy Works as a Part-Time Garden Coach

Friday:

6AM

Chickens are up at sunrise.

Work full-time job in healthcare. I take planting/tending breaks every couple of hours—small time periods where I might start seeds, pull some weeds, let chickens out, harvest food or eggs. I also like to listen to YouTube videos for problem solving or to get ideas. 

2PM

Nap time.

3PM

I'm usually making content, doing client work, or gardening at my homestead.

Dark

The chickens go to bed at sunset.

Early bedtime so I can do outside garden activities at sunrise tomorrow, plus client work, content creation, and/or plant shopping.

Busiest time of year:

March, April, and May for the homestead; May and June for clients of The Lazy Northern Gardener.

Katrina Uses Evenings to Build Her Community

6am

Wake up, catch up on emails and admin till breakfast, and plan the day ahead (outdoor work is weather dependent, especially now in winter). As a biodynamic practitioner, I see it as important to have an active practice of artwork, meditation, journalling, study, and nature communication. Even as a businessperson (especially as an entrepreneur), it's crucial to stay heart-centered and purpose-driven. 

9am

Available for compost consultations, in-person meetings, Zoom meetings, and other errands. A workplace edible garden course has a lot of materials to prepare ahead of time. Consultations can mean a lot of driving, so wherever possible a single car trip has multiple purposes. When there are no consultations or other errands, it can become what I call a "farm day"—walking the talk of the methods I teach, and creating content for social media and teaching material. I live on a small farm that is in the process of becoming self-sufficient, so there's always a lot of work creating new garden beds, planting trees, and learning various homestead skills.

I would ideally spend thee hours a day making compost, tending my multiple worm farms, and making/using biodynamic preparations.

4pm

Home cooking, doing more admin, networking on social media, and spending quiet time put aside to meet deadlines for articles and guest blogs. There aren't many compost coaches or biodynamic solopreneurs, and I value my global network of like-minded colleagues.

6-9pm

Available for evening events or Zoom calls. I do voluntary work for a few organic and biodynamic related organizations and projects, and these meetings and events are often my social time.

Busiest time of year:

New Zealand's spring (August through November) and autumn (March through May). 

Dani Spends a Lot of Her Time Working with Clients One on One

Morning

I start my day early with a walk throughout my own garden, to assess needs and look for any problem areas. I enjoy the early quiet time to myself to get inspired for my work. 

After I get my kiddos settled for the day, I usually either have a consult appointment or a coaching session. For consults, we walk through the client's yard and discuss their wants, needs, and dreams for their area, and then I go over the seasonal planting calendar as well as my gardening guides I provide. For coaching sessions, I typically spend a few hours with my client at their home working on areas such as pruning, changing out plants, trellising, answering questions, etc. I love these 1:1 sessions where we can chat about all things gardening, and I really get to know my clients this way. 

Mid-day

After I am done with my work, I return home to eat lunch and work on my follow-up design, plan, or coaching information while my youngest daughter naps. My goal is to have my coaching follow-up information sent that evening and the consult design/plan sent within 72 hours. Then I spend the rest of the day with my family. 

Evening

I am outside in the garden or working on content for my blog, YouTube channel, website, and social media. 

Jennifer Works as a Garden Coach and Photographer

Morning

Garden walkabout: harvesting, tending, pruning, feeding, propagating, drying herbs, observing nature at its best... Journaling my garden findings, capturing the beauty through my lens.

Mid-day

Client support, website maintenance, social media shares or client site consultations, installs, designs, etc.

Evening

Garden walkthrough: sitting and enjoying the beauty of the garden, performing any organic pest control at dusk, and documenting my daily garden discoveries.

Tish Runs Her Small Business Outside of Her Full-Time Job

I offer in-person consultations once a week from 10am to 3pm. If an install is requested, I make time twice a week (depending on everyone's availability). In the interim, besides my day job, I focus on promoting my workshops and making tweaks to my website, social media, and physical hand-outs for my classes. 

Busiest Time of Year: 

November and March.

Tazim Saves 2 Hours Each Day for Her Own Garden

8am

Tend to my indoor seedlings and houseplants

9am

Admin and social media scheduling.

10am-12pm

Client work: creating planting plans and estimates.

1pm

Education and research.

3pm

Consultations with new clients or online coaching with existing clients.

5:30pm - 6:30pm

Tend to and harvest from my garden

Busiest time of year:

April through the end of June. 

Stacey Works While Her Kids Are in School

I always start my day by checking in on my own garden to feel inspired. I try to only work Tuesday through Thursday from 10am to 2pm.

10am

I generally meet with my clients virtually to design their gardens or offer 1:1 garden coaching.

11am

I try to work on my admin stuff (emails, social media, and content) and jot down any to-do's for the next day.

12pm

I take a lunch break, pick some fresh items from the garden to eat, and get some chores done around the house

1pm - 2pm

I use this time to design and sketch gardens and finish up any research or further my education, like watching missed Garden Coach Society Lives, before picking up the kids from school.

Callie Is Setting Work/Life Boundaries

Still working on this! Especially feels crazy juggling kids and their schedules with summer break. I try to visit clients before 9am and after 6pm with the heat [during Houston's summer]. I set aside 2 hours to do computer-ish work in the afternoons. But I need more boundaries with answering texts and emails all day.

Busiest time of year:

My busiest time is between January and March.

Are You Interested in Becoming a Garden Consultant?

Now that you've seen what working as a garden consultant looks like from day to day, check out our reasons why we think working as a garden consultant is the best way to earn a living as a gardener.

In addition to being in charge of how you spend your time, you get to work with plants! You get to create something beautiful, cultivate a community of gardeners around you, and teach others how to develop their gardening skills.

If that sounds like the right career move for you, read over the qualifications to become a garden consultant or coach.

There are lots of ways you can grow your gardening career, and we'd love to help you get started today!