Cincy Posted March 24, 2017 Report Share Posted March 24, 2017 I think I need a gardening consultant to talk to our gardener (he speaks no English) about the watering schedule during the dry season. Currently, it takes him 3+ hours, 3 times a week to water just 1/2 of our garden. I do the other half in 40 minutes! We have a good Rain Bird sprinkler system which I have programmed to run 3 times a week in the morning before the he arrives at 9:00 AM. Some plant pots and certain areas must be manually hand watered so we have 4 retractable, 20 meter hose reels to cover every point in the garden. I turned up the water pressure by approx. 25% a few days ago to make the watering go faster but all that's done has made him clamp the hose more to restrict the water flow. Some days water flows freely down the street at noon. It's too much water being wasted... I speak virtually no Spanish except through the google translate app on my iphone but this app struggles to translate the gardener's dialect so communication is very difficult. I don't want to lose this guy because of his extensive knowledge of the house from the time it was built, which was long before we arrived in Ajijic. Any recommendations? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ComputerGuy Posted March 24, 2017 Report Share Posted March 24, 2017 Extensive knowledge of the house or not, he is not a gardener: he is a waterer. There are lots of these around, far too many in fact. With your RainBird system I am not even sure why he thinks he has to water... except that's what waterers do. My gardener does it, but he is paid by the rental agency. A friend won't allow her gardener to water at all. Also, not to put too fine a point on it, but it is illegal to waste water in Mexico. Not that that stops anyone who does it knowingly. Half the potholes in Riberas were cause by leaks, bad plumbing, and pool drainage. When the new gas station was built, they had a leak that went on so long, there are now dozens of potholes down the east side of the street. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nothernewbie Posted March 24, 2017 Report Share Posted March 24, 2017 54 minutes ago, Cincy said: I think I need a gardening consultant to talk to our gardener (he speaks no English) about the watering schedule during the dry season. Currently, it takes him 3+ hours, 3 times a week to water just 1/2 of our garden. I do the other half in 40 minutes! We have a good Rain Bird sprinkler system which I have programmed to run 3 times a week in the morning before the he arrives at 9:00 AM. Some plant pots and certain areas must be manually hand watered so we have 4 retractable, 20 meter hose reels to cover every point in the garden. I turned up the water pressure by approx. 25% a few days ago to make the watering go faster but all that's done has made him clamp the hose more to restrict the water flow. Some days water flows freely down the street at noon. It's too much water being wasted... I speak virtually no Spanish except through the google translate app on my iphone but this app struggles to translate the gardener's dialect so communication is very difficult. I don't want to lose this guy because of his extensive knowledge of the house from the time it was built, which was long before we arrived in Ajijic. Any recommendations? I posted this elsewhere on this board but will probably help your needs. We have recently used a service that others might be interested in. Vivero Plaza next to Telecable sent a crew to enhance our soil, spray for fungus, trim everything and have also recommended other plants to fill in where needed. They are very knowledgeable and efficient. Goes without saying that it is a family operation but one sister, Raquel, is fluent in English so the whole transaction is easy. For us they will make a wonderful occasional supplement to our gardener. If you have a mower and waterer and need someone to properly manage your plants, shrubs and trees call Raquel at 33 3901 9766 or better yet stop by and meet her. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bdmowers Posted March 25, 2017 Report Share Posted March 25, 2017 I recommend Francisco Nava, native English AND Spanish speaker, teaches the gardening classes at LCS, is developing a class for Mexican gardeners and expat garden owners on how to communicate, fcorrc@gmail.com. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cincy Posted March 25, 2017 Author Report Share Posted March 25, 2017 Thank you bdmowers! Francisco may be at good starting point... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gogirl Posted April 12, 2017 Report Share Posted April 12, 2017 On 3/24/2017 at 0:00 PM, nothernewbie said: I posted this elsewhere on this board but will probably help your needs. We have recently used a service that others might be interested in. Vivero Plaza next to Telecable sent a crew to enhance our soil, spray for fungus, trim everything and have also recommended other plants to fill in where needed. They are very knowledgeable and efficient. Goes without saying that it is a family operation but one sister, Raquel, is fluent in English so the whole transaction is easy. For us they will make a wonderful occasional supplement to our gardener. If you have a mower and waterer and need someone to properly manage your plants, shrubs and trees call Raquel at 33 3901 9766 or better yet stop by and meet her. We took norternewbie's advice and contacted Raquel. She came today with her crew and did a wonderful job.Today was a big job for them since the garden needed some TLC. They really know all about gardening. They will be doing maintenance once or twice a month. We will be keeping our regular gardener as well. So happy to have found them. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gogirl Posted April 12, 2017 Report Share Posted April 12, 2017 norternewbie Thank you so much for this recommendation. They are exactly what we were looking for. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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