Elimination Theory: Gardening Without a Truck

The logistics of professional gardening on a bicycle...
(Remarkable, really. You just can't see it in this picture.)


----An Interlude----

A recent exchange with a woman who runs a plant nursery in South Burnaby:

"I hear you garden on a bicycle!" she announces gaily.
"Yes!" I answer gaily.
"Well!" she quips merrily, "You must have a very big basket!"
"Well!" I say wryly, "That's the first time someone's said that!"
"I mean," she says with sudden hand motions describing handlebars and rectangles, "A basket on your bike!"
I realize the woman has mistaken wryly for suggestively.
"What else would that mean?" I exclaim, in sudden confusion.
"I don't know!" she stares at me. "What do you mean?"
We stare at each other in ecstatic horror. Did we just say something dirty?

This is why I work with plants. People confuse me.
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So. Gardening Without a Truck.
Like most things in life, necessity breeds invention and I am never more adaptable and innovative than when I have to be. I tend to think this is a good thing, and with the recent manifestations of environmental long-time-comin realities, it gives me hope for humanity. We can land on our feet when we have to.

I, like most people, harboured a mental block about the viability of a bicycle-business. Necessity made me figure out how to do it, and it eventually occurred to me that I preferred it. Meanwhile, people in other places have probably been doing it all along.

It may be important to note that I have always kept one or two days a week for "other interests"--like tutoring, workshopping, painting, contracting with friends' companies, weaving big baskets--as part of my general life mandate. Shake it up. Also, because of the way I've set up my gardening schedule (i.e.; it doesn't have to be this way) the planning side can be time-consuming and so I give myself a break. I don't go to any of my gardens more than every two weeks on a regular schedule--this leaves a lot of room for plugging in projects, once-a-month visits etc. I find weekly schedules too...predictable. To each their own. Currently, I'm bicycle-gardening four days a week. So I am presenting this enterprise as something very adaptable, providing a balance to other forms of employment/studies etc.

On to the feature presentation:

Things You "Need" a Truck For, and the Bicycle-Gardening Equivalent

1. Getting around.

I am a big fan of the Bus/Bike Combo for long-distance clients: cycle in the morning and take advantage of those nifty bus bike-racks on the way home. True, I have been the recipient of the "What kind of bicycle-gardener are you?" phone call when a friend recognizes my somewhat recognizable bike floating by on a bus-rack. C'mon. I'm not a fanatic. And the bus ride is an opportunity for a little book-keeping/a bit of a read perhaps.

I also rationalize that while gardening can be hard work if you are digging/wheelbarrowing etc. all day it is not consistently a Cardio Work-out. Cycling is a heart work-out and if I didn't get a few good hills in a week I'd have to do something like jogging which is just a shame. Whenever I see people working out in gyms/running about I lament that they aren't hooked up to battery chargers or blenders or something. What an untapped source of energy. There's a business idea for someone.

A natural occurrence, the Garden Pod evolves when word-of-mouth encourages friends & neighbours to hire the bicycle-gardener. That is, gardens in close proximity or en route to each other are almost essential for efficiency. This way, I can visit one in the morning and another in the afternoon. I am reluctant to arrange more than two visits per day because travel-time eats into billable hours. This concept also pertains to truck-gardeners, but their undeniable tendency is to do a lot more to-and-fro-ing because it's easy. I tend to be more strident--and efficient--when the motor is me.

Another phenomenon is the Day-Long Garden. Many people are open to full days of work, obviously less frequently, but the monthly bill remains the same. This has happened when it's clear that these clients are off the beaten track, their gardens are big enough to need a gardener all day, and I don't have a Garden Pod to make things work. Then, commuting is simple: get there, go home.

2. Hauling Tools

Even when I had a truck I didn't do lawncare, which already eliminated mowers, trimmers, gas cans--and I've also never used a blower. Yes, there's a few rants in there re: polluting two-stroke engines, how we do not have to eat off our driveways (we're outside, yay nature!) etc. I also solemnly swore that I didn't become a gardener to use, or be in the vicinity of raging belching motors all day, every day. See the July 6th entry-- "What About Tools?"-- for details on what I do take with me.

3. Hauling Plants

The one thing I do miss is driving down the road, loaded with gorgeous nursery stock like a float in a parade. However, I compensate by winding fake flowers around my handlebars.

The number-one easiest thing to involve clients in a project is plant-shopping. Yes folks: plant shopping is fun!

For smaller plantings, I either meet clients at garden centres and generally restrain them to things that will work, or go myself and put items on hold for them to pick up. Alternatively, the garden centres will deliver.

For larger designs, wholesale is the key. When I had a truck, I did explore wholesale nurseries so have since relied on those contacts and their annual catalogues. Many nurseries have since gone on-line and even send out weekly availability lists on request. Word-of-mouth from other landscapers is also useful for finding good plant sources. It's also relatively easy to arrange an off-hours scouting mission with clients/friends. Because plant-shopping is fun.

4. Hauling Soil

It doesn't make economic sense to order one or two yards of anything (mulch/amender/soil etc.) The delivery charge is more, or the same, as the cost of the product. A pick-up truck will carry a maximum of two yards. So I have at least three yards delivered. Gardens around here always always need at least three yards--for new beds and top-ups. It's just a gardening fact.

5. Hauling Away Debris

All garden debris can be left on the curb (in paper yard waste bags, labeled regulation-sized greenwaste bins, or tied up in three-foot bundles) and will be taken away for FREE by the municipality, twelve months of the year. Another gardening fact. So why even consider the alternative: paying someone's hourly rate, plus vehicle costs, plus the dump fee (which, incidently, has also just gone up). Carbon footprint, carbon footprint. Even better, bicycle-gardeners are in favour of onsite greenwaste piles/composts.

And on a final note:

Things That Make You Happy You Are a Bicycle-Gardener
1. Traffic jams
2. The Parking Goddess (fooling yourself there is one)
3. Sitting in dump line-ups (especially during the '07 garbage strike)
4. People who mistake truck-owners for Got Junk? franchisers
5. Hitchhikers wanting to catch a ride to the Merrit Mountain Music Festival
6. Glorious morning bike-rides with coffee-shop instead of gas-station pit-stops
7. The Taylor-Way traffic-light back-up
8. See the latter bits of "The Bloody Beginnings" section