Perfect retirement
The Globe and Mail newspaper publishes stories about people’s retirements every Saturday and this week’s article showed what I consider to be perfect retirement: starting a gardening business! The lady, who also lives in British Columbia, spent her career working in corrections. After she retired she had an accident and required back surgery.
While recovering on her back porch one spring, she hired someone to pull weeds out of her garden because she couldn’t bend over. Later, she made the shocking discovery that with her weeds many of her other treasured plants also went missing. How could they not know the difference between weeds and ornamental plants we obviously want to keep? Good question.
Now, if you read this blog regularly, you will know that I always tell people to keep up with their plaint identification skills. And it’s not just about plant names. Many plants look like weeds when they’re young. For example, baby Calendulas without flowers look like out-of-control weeds. The same goes for Acanthus; in early stages it just looks like a weed with prickles at leaf tips. It’s practically begging you to pull it. Don’t!
By the way, this also leads to gardening PTSD. Installing garden stakes as no-go zones is one way gardeners fight back, But if you can’t do the work yourself, then you’re stuck. You have to find a good company to help you. A great company like Green First! Landscaping.
Niche discovered
So, this is how our retiree discovered a nice gardening niche. Older people, struggling physically with gardening work, needed help; which also allowed them to stay in their homes longer. Our happy retiree openly admits that her gardening business is making money but it looks more like a hobby.
It also helps to have pension funds coming in. It takes the pressure off and allows her to pay helpers decent wages. The same goes for my side-hustle. Since I have a full-time job as a landscape manager, I’m literally making extra money. I would survive without the extra income.
The niche our retiree discovered is old news for me. I have several clients with health issues; sometimes both the wife and husband are struggling which means they really need my help. And I’m happy to do it. As we head toward March and spring, I expect to be busy spring cleaning gardens.
Conclusion
There are several lessons we can learn from this weekend’s Globe and Mail article. One, make a plan for your retirement and don’t be afraid to start a new business. If I live long enough, I will definitely offer gardening services after retirement. I’m already running a landscaping side-hustle so the jump should be easy. However, I won’t have access to a government pension so making money will be important.
Two, don’t stop learning about plants. There are many perennial species to know, and many look different in their early stages. Mistaking beautiful ornamental plants for weeds is embarrassing. Keep getting better.
Three, if you need help with your garden, ask around. There is good help available.
