Monica Hemingway - Garden Coach
About Me
As a garden coach, I help you create a peaceful outdoor space that fits your lifestyle. Gardening is a joy - it shouldn't be a burden. Working together, we design, install, and/or improve your garden so that you can truly enjoy your time outdoors.
I've been gardening in one form or another for 30 years, including at community garden plots and in my neighbors' yards. Although I'm an Industrial/Organizational Psychologist by training, my passion is gardening, so after 15 years in the corporate world I finally decided to follow my passion. Gardening is a process of continual learning - about yourself, your environment, and how to best create harmony between the two. I've learned the "technical" aspects of gardening from some of the best (e.g., completing certificate courses at the New York Botanical Garden, the Chicago Botanical Garden, and Morton Arboretum) but I'm still discovering what "gardening" really means...
My Garden Coaching Clients
There really is no such thing as a "typical" garden coaching client. I work with everyone from novice gardeners who've never planted anything before, to new homeowners trying to identify what's growing in their back yard, to experienced gardeners looking for some advice or ideas to help take their garden to the next level. The one thing I find is that my garden coaching clients all have a desire to learn and to improve their gardening skills so that they can create and/or maintain a garden that makes them happy.
A Hands-On Approach
As a garden coach, my goal is to help you become confident and self-sufficient in working with your own garden. The best way to do this is through a hands-on approach to learning. So while I don't "do the work" for you, I do provide guidance and demonstrate gardening techniques so that you will feel comfortable with a wide range of gardening and maintenance tasks.
Typical Garden Coaching Activities
What I do depends on what you want or need. In most cases I come to your house, although I do offer lessons in my own garden (which is particularly nice for those who don't yet have a garden of their own). In some cases, I simply help identify plants, pests, or diseases and help you develop a maintenance or treatment plan. That often takes only one or two garden coaching sessions. In other cases, we work together over the course of several garden coaching sessions to complete a specific project, such as designing, building, planting, and maintaining a vegetable garden or a new flower bed. I also offer regular sessions to teach general gardening techniques (such as pruning, transplanting, composting, etc.), compile plant 'shopping lists' (or shop for plants with the client), provide garden design ideas, and the list goes on... It really depends on you.
Let's Get Started!
To get started, simply send me an email or give me a call at 203-252-7456. Once we agree to work together, I'll ask you to fill out a brief survey about your experience, existing garden, tools, time availability, etc. That way, when we have our first in-person session we'll be able to get started right away without spending time going over all the preliminary information.