. You need a full time gardener to maintain a garden of an acre, especially if it involves complicated planting. This also holds true if organic methods are employed. Its best to ask the landscaper if your garden needs full time maintenance schedule or not.
If you are about to get a new garden created at your premises, you should plan it by factoring in the available labor. Its very important or else you may end up with something which you cant maintain later. Remember bigger schemes need bigger manpower.
Be conversant with the laws of the land as regards hiring a gardener. Apart from someone who is out and out self-employed, every employee including part timers may be entitled to employee rights which may include right to paid holiday, maternity leave etc. The landscaper may also be covered under the employee protection policies about sudden termination of job and the like.
Rates of landscapers may vary according to their expertise. Location and perks provided play a role in deciding the rates as well. Someone adept in amenity horticulture will definitely be costlier than others.
Now given so many factors as discussed aforesaid, the million dollar question is how you can find a suitable gardener . Well the best solution can be the job sites where you can find rated workmen or handymen or tradesmen. There are many such sites in the US but its better to opt for a reputable site like Rushjob.com.
You can register in one such site for free. Then you post your requirement of a gardener, which is free as well. Then you may have to describe your job in detail. Its very important to describe your job in as much detail as possible. Or else you may receive many irrelevant quotes. A detailed job description attracts more quotes from handymen. It will be very effective if you upload photographs of your premises. That will give a better idea to the landscapers quoting for your job.
While picking up a handyman do not just go for the lowest quote. Consider the ratings as well. Reputable sites have a system of feedback. You should refer to feedbacks of other users on landscapers before deciding to avail of someones services. After you avail of services you can leave a feedback yourself which can be viewed by other users.