dirt / By Amy Stewart

Yes, Coach!

Special events: A garden wedding, a family reunion, a holiday gathering — these kinds of outdoor events are a good excuse to give the garden a quick tune-up. A professional can give you some advice about where to focus your efforts and what kind of plants to buy to make sure you’ll have plenty of blooms on the big day.

Referrals: There is nothing I dread more than opening the phone book and calling around to find somebody to do the irritating little job I can’t get done myself. Garden coaches usually aren’t contractors, but they make referrals to a network of professionals. Genevieve helps match her clients with tree services, lawn care services, irrigation installers, and so on. “I really try to match personalities, too,” she said. “I know these people personally, so I can be pretty sure that they’re somebody my clients will get along with.”

Test-driving tools: Okay, I’ve saved the best for last. It has never occurred to me that I could try out a tool in my own garden before I bought it. When I think of all the money I’ve spent on tools that fall apart, don’t fit in my small hands, or don’t accomplish the job I’d hoped they would accomplish, I realize that I’ve probably wasted hundreds of dollars over the years.

But when Genevieve came to my house, she brought a tub of her favorite tools and let me play with all of them. She had a pair of pruning shears from Bahco that she swears are better than Felcos (gasp!); a groovy little sharpener called a Speedy Sharp, available at garden centers and hardware stores, that fits in the pocket and easily sharpens any kind of tool; and a very lightweight soil knife that she found at Garden Gate. I didn’t even know I need a soil knife, but I’m all over it now.

Genevieve emphasized that most garden coaches are really landscape and design professionals who have added coaching the other kinds of services they offer. It’s a very egalitarian way for garden professionals to work with their clients, one that is based on sharing knowledge and empowering gardeners to do their own thing. “I see so much potential in this town,” Genevieve said. “I drive around and see these gardens in dire need of just a little attention. If I can get people out in their gardens, having some success, everybody wins.”

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