A Garden Consultant Is...
A garden consultant is someone who not only has a passion for gardening, but also feels motivated to help other beginner and intermediate gardeners discover the pure and simple joy of picking a little bit of food or cut flowers from their own backyard daily. Working as a garden consultant is one way to earn money as a gardener.
One of the issues with big box stores is that people who want to build a garden or revitalize an existing space start their garden venture at the store, where they might quickly become overwhelmed with products and options, instead of building a strong foundation of knowledge with the help of experienced professionals.
Cue garden consultants. Garden consultants aim to reverse this process. Instead of buying lots of products, they encourage beginners to start with the people who know how to garden, particularly in their area.
With the help of a garden consultant, you can find more garden success sooner than if you were to just dive in without a design or plan. They'll help you figure out your main goals, your why in the garden, to set you up to achieve those goals before you even start buying plants and digging up grass.
A garden consultant offers expert advice professionally
A garden consultant helps people within their communities design, install, plan, plant, and grow their very own garden spaces, providing tips, tricks, and garden coaching along the way to help their clients find easy garden success.
Local Knowledge
One of the most important aspects of a garden consultant is their local knowledge. While there are general principles for people who live in all different kinds of climates (principles that I shared in my book Kitchen Garden Revival), there's no substitute for getting a person who gardens in your town to help you. A garden consultant who gardens in your exact same climate has the same amount of rain, the same amount of sunshine, the same amount of storms, the same amount of frost as you, and that person will be able to best help you.
It's easy to become overwhelmed by planting possibilities from commercials, gardening blogs, and social media posts that are geared for nationwide appeal. A garden consultant narrows those possibilities to your specific region, even your county or city, based on your climate and surroundings, and breaks them down month by month. By being familiar with the growing seasons of their area, including the first and last average frost date, a garden consultant can advise gardeners on what to plant when for ideal growing conditions. In some cases, a client's eyes might be opened to plants they'd never considered before. That's why local is always best.
Personal Experience
When a garden consultant visits a client's space (either in person or virtually), they will consider the amount of sunlight, the distance from the house and water sources, and aesthetics to determine the ideal location and layout for a garden. Using all of their personal experience, garden consultants can step back and say, "I would prioritize this over that," or "I would start small." They then submit a design for the client's approval. Most garden consultants offer turnkey installations (which means they oversee all the heavy lifting of the garden's installation, from leveling the bed to adding plants and trellises) or design assistance and planting plans.
A garden consultant offers expert advice for beginner gardeners
Beginner gardeners often find themselves overwhelmed with all of the advice on the internet. Or they might get a little too ambitious and dream of growing 100 square feet of plants in one raised bed.
A garden consultant can act as a mentor and provide advice based on the beginner gardener's unique growing location and garden setup. They might recommend easy plants to grow and plants that prefer certain light or soil conditions. Sometimes, they might rein in expectations based on the client's particular space and what other clients are able to do in the area.
For those who want mentoring and more hands-on experience, a garden consultant offers one-on-one coaching sessions and video workshops. Garden consultants have helped others learn to be successful in the garden. They're not just bringing their own practical experience and wisdom to the table—they're also offering everything that's ever helped other clients and students in their gardens. That experience allows them to create a comprehensive step-by-step plan for beginner gardeners to follow.
Find a garden consultant near me
You can find all of the garden consultants who have been trained by Gardenary and are registered in our directory on our Consultants page. Search by map or pick a state to find the consultant closest to you.
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Key tasks of a garden consultant
The work of a garden consultant can be boiled down to five key tasks.
design
Garden consultants use the possibilities in the outdoor space, the primary goals of the client in starting a garden, the style of the house, and their experience to design the ideal garden layout.
install
Garden consultants perform the heavy lifting themselves or connect with key professionals to construct the raised bed, clear the space, fill the bed with their preferred soil blend, install irrigation, and more.
plant/maintain
Garden consultants can fill the garden with seeds and plants based on the client's wishes and the current growing conditions. They can return to perform regular or periodic maintenance.
coach/advise
Garden consultants can advise on what to plant each month in the area, how to manage garden pests, and when to perform certain garden tasks. Not everyone who has had success in the garden will be good at clearly conveying how to be successful to others, but garden consultants are people who enjoy coaching others and teaching skills.
share successes and joys of gardening
Consultants who share their wins and successes can help reveal possibilities for other gardeners in their community, giving them an idea of what their future could entail as they grow their own knowledge and experience. They can help others see gardening as a skill that can be slowly acquired (not something you're born with or not) and capture the joy of learning new things, celebrating small successes, and making healthier lifestyle choices.
Become a Garden Consultant
Job opportunities for a garden consultant
Garden consultants can work for another garden consultant or start their own garden consulting business. In addition to private gardens at clients' homes, a garden consultant could work with restaurants, schools, and retailers to design inviting garden spaces for public enjoyment or educational needs.
Garden consultants might specialize in raised bed kitchen gardens, landscape design, native plants, organic planting, cut flower gardens, permaculture design, and more.
Qualifications to become a garden consultant
While some garden consultants majored in biology or horticulture, others came into the profession from careers in teaching, marketing, and even the law and relied on personal gardening experience. Some take programs to become certified landscape designers and partner with local nurseries.
The most important qualification to become a garden consultant is the desire to help others grow themselves through gardening.
Learn more about the qualifications to become a successful garden consultant.
How to get started as a garden consultant
Let's say you've built up your gardening knowledge and feel an urge to help others grow, feel more connected to their food source, and create beautiful spaces in their own backyards. You have a passion for gardening that you want to share and earn money as you do so. Now what?
To get started, you could work for another garden consultant, take a landscape design course, become an apprentice for a local nursery or landscaper, or check to see if we're gearing up to host a free workshop.
My mission is to make gardening less product-based and more about the people who have knowledge to share with others.
Learn about some of our talented garden consultants and how they grew their own successful garden coaching business:
- Lindsay Graves of Fourth Street Farm in Eagle County, Colorado
- Crystal Jarvis of Lettuce Grow Something in Austin, Texas
- Katie Oglesby, the Garden Girl, in Walworth County, Wisconsin
- Sheridan Boyle of Dweller’s Place in Tampa, Florida
- NaTasha McDonald of 31 Eden in Fayetteville, North Carolina
- Annie Chubbuck of Seed and Vine in Columbus, Ohio
- Steve, the Optimistic Gardener, in Novia Scotia, Canada
- Sara Cory of Revival Garden Co in Grass Valley, California
- Courtney Johnson of The Kitchen Garten in Kinston, North Carolina