SW Landscaping is a licensed, bonded, and insured sole proprietorship owned and operated by Matt, with the goal of excellently serving a small number of Homo sapiens on South Whidbey Island to meet and hopefully exceed the goals they have for their garden.
I, Matt, see it as part of my ‘reason for being’ to offer my gardening services to those in need of them, for the sake of helping each life, in my little, yet far-reaching sphere of influence, live their best life.
Availability and Rates
Currently, I do not have the ability to take on jobs that exceed a few hours per month. Thank you for understanding.
Work compensation rates start at $35/hour plus 8.8% tax.
Specialties
Although I am comfortable taking on just about any gardening-related task, I believe my specialties fall under the following ‘orders of work:’
– Designing, establishing and maintaining a healthy and beautiful garden
– Proper pruning of all plants and trees 30′ tall and smaller
– Plant disease, weed, and plant “pests” management
– Drip irrigation
– Yard debris hauling
– Comosting / mulching
– Lawn service
Experience
I have learned much and continue to make new discoveries about what makes for a successful garden. My life path has always been most inspired by the natural world, and learning what makes it tick and glow like it does is a delight to my spirit. My contemplative mind likes to think critically about the things I experience in the garden, and I enjoy exploring both the wonders and the issues that nature presents.
I learned a lot about garden design by way of enrolling and fully participating in a semester of studying and building the most necessary skills that a real-world garden designer should have. The class was offered online by Ashworth College and I received a certificate for passing the class with an excellent grade.
Another semester alongside about 15 fellow learners at Edmonds Community College on why and how to prune trees and other plants, with in-class lectures as well as several days of hands-on training in nearby prominent parks, gave me the ability to start to feel more confident in this important, methodical, and as I find, therapeutic job. I also received high marks for my efforts in this class.
Other experience I’ve had includes:
– Growing up spending regular time on most summer days at home with my hands busy at work, helping keep our three acres of gardens and woodlands mostly very well maintained
– Past somewhat regular volunteer of ~3 years for The Meerkerk Gardens
– 2+ years of art and industrial design skill building at Western Washington University
– Island County Master Gardening involvement since 2015
– Seasonally active trail and trailside forest maintenance for the Whidbey Camano Land Trust
Ethics
I have been very fortunate to have had the opportunities to be able to study, practice, and otherwise develop a strong system of ethics around the following:
– Care for all life, a value system which fuels my curiosity and love of nature as well as my desire to serve and befriend others
– Observing gardens mindfully in order to explore good and reasonable possibilities that may benefit the life, longevity, function(s), and delight that gardens can bring us, while also purposing to minimize the energy and resources needed
– An honest, service-oriented, and dedicated soul, mind, body
Relationship with Clients
Typically, I work for an average of 2-4 clients most weeks (M-F, sometime between the hours of 8am and 3pm), a flow I have become comfortable with managing. I have come to greatly enjoy the variety of work I get to do, exercising skills I already have and always being open to new life and learning.
My clients are the most important aspect of my work and I strive to balance their needs with the experience / expertise I have. I have had highly agreeable and harmonious relationships with 96-98% of the 90+ clients who I have worked with since starting public service in 2015. I do not claim to have always acted in the best way in the slim minority of experiences that have not been easy, although I look back on these times with gratitude in my heart for what they taught me.
Blessings shower like rain on you
