I recommend this Gardener

THANK YOU MOL for helping me find a great gardener - a real GARDENER, not a lawn service/etc. Her name's Elaine Carro, and she is passionate about gardening. She cleaned out my totally neglected flower beds (a HUGE job), planted all my purchases from garden club sale and a shopping frenzy at H. Depot, trimmed pitiful shrubs, brought a ton of flowers/plants from her own yard (FOR FREE) and left everything looking great. Tell her Alan sent you. Did I mention she's REASONABLY PRICED too? Here's her info:
gardening.genie@yahoo.com, 908 418 8368 I found her right here on maplewoodonline.com:" For Sale" under "Lawn & Construction category"

Thanks!

Thanks, might need help for the backyard gardens!

Yes, she'll do as much or as little as you want/need. AND taught me a lot I didn't know about gardening.

High marks for Elaine. She shaped up the beds at my Moms house which had been neglected for at least 2 years, since Mom got sick.They are now looking fantastic and my Mom couldn't be happier.She made quick work out of a task that none of my sisters or I wanted to tackle. Very pleased with the results.

Does she help / advise at all with respect to lawns / grass? For 3 years now I have been spending too much time, labor and money (seed, fertilizer, etc) on trying to get a respectable-looking lawn.

Following

Well, my experience was negative {she didn't show up to an appointment that was confirmed more than once).

This has kind of screwed me for fall planting, so I'm really disappointed.

@mjh, in our region you can plant in the fall all the way up to November. So you fall planting may not have been screwed up yet.

I was going to call her...

dg64 said:
@mjh, in our region you can plant in the fall all the way up to November. So you fall planting may not have been screwed up yet.

Thanks. As dry as it is now, it's probably better to wait a bit anyway. Even the weeds are dying~