Kiwi Gardener

Unfortunately I have to give Monique a poor review, mainly for wasting my time about her ability to help with our garden. I was pretty clear in my email to her about the large size of our backyard and that our needs included some planting, trimming grass and bushes out front, as well as the usual weeding and pruning. She told me she was interested in the work and then I spent an entire morning going through what we wanted done in the backyard. A week later I hadn’t heard back so emailed her again about dates she could begin the work, and then she informed me she could not take the job because she no longer does any heavy work like lifting, digging or mowing grass. I’m not sure what that leaves, except the most basic weeding and pruning work — if you have a larger backyard and also need planting or mowing grass, she is not the person for the job.

I have to admit that I’m puzzled. I was very interested in meeting Monique, given the reviews mentioning that she’s great about giving guidance if you if you’re interested in doing some gardening work yourself, and particularly because I’d like to learn about how to grow vegetables in the kinds of microclimates we get. Unfortunately, despite 2 voicemails and an email, I’ve had no response, and I’m left wondering if she’s no longer taking new jobs, fallen under something heavy, simultaneously lost her internet connection and phone in a freak accident, or off on vacation or something. Any of those alternatives are perfectly reasonable of course; it would just be nice to know.

I’m not a big contributor to the Unilocal world. You have to either really impress me or really disappoint me for me to jump online and write something up.
I wish I had before and after photos to show you but suffice it to say my backyard was a wreck. I haven’t done anything with it in over a year, the dog pretty much pooped everywhere, there were weeds, trees, you name it.
I normally would try to do the fix up myself but this was beyond the beyond. I knew I needed a pro. So I jumped on Unilocal and looked her up and the reviews were good so I thought I’d give her a shot.
She surpassed my expectations. My backyard isn’t just livable it’s actually nice. She was quick, she was easy, her prices were reasonable for the job done. She did great work and I’d totally recommend her to anyone who needs a helping hand in the garden.

Monique worked her tail off cleaning up our yard to help us prep our place for sale. She is meticulous and does excellent work. Great rates and a good person to work with.

Monique did an amazing job with our back deck. The weeds from our neighbor’s yard were way overgrown and she did a heroic job of getting into tight spots and completely fixing things up. Also took care of weeding our sorry-​looking potted plants and getting us back on track. Good suggestions for products to feed the plants and keep the weeds away. She has a very nice and easy presence. Thanks, Monique.

If I could give Monique ten stars, I would. I cannot say enough about this lovely, sweet, talented woman. Our backyard in the Richmond was kind of a disaster after many years of neglect from previous owners. I really do not know much about gardening, and usually kill every expensive plant I buy from Sloat. So I decided that I needed to ask for help. I found Monique on Unilocal,and I could not be happier. First of all –she KNOWS her stuff — and equally as important as knowing her stuff — she is a true DELIGHT to talk to and learn from. She really taught me so many basics and made my yard look incredible. I feel like I have a new lease on life! No more walking by beautiful gardens and feeling envy… because I know that either I can try to do it or have Monique help me out. She has so many great ideas — ones I really would have never thought of. She literally went shopping with me at Sloat and helped me pick out what she thought would look nice — she was right on with everything — b/​c our back yard gets so little sun, she picked out some brighter shades of green and man did it make a difference –see? I would have never thought of that — I could go on and on but you get the gist. Monique is great — you will not regret hiring her!!! I am so glad I found her as I develop my garden:)

My boyfriend and I are moving into a house with a real backyard! Although the space came beautifully landscaped, it had clearly not been cared for in at least a year. Plants needed deadheading, shrubs needed pruning and shaping, and there was a solid bit of weeding to do.
Since I have no gardening experience but am really excited to learn, we decided to hire a gardener whom I can work alongside and learn from. I scoured Unilocal for some leads and ended up choosing Monique, «the Kiwi Gardener,» based on her reviews and availability.
She has been working with me since July, and I’m thrilled. She has taught me to prune roses (my favorite garden activity so far), introduced me to plants in the yard (who knew we had a papaya tree and a huge rosemary bush!), and has been really effective in cleaning and clearing dead leaves and weeds.
What’s best about working with Monique, however, is that she clearly loves what she is doing and is not in this for the money: she started off with a free consultation and refuses to charge me her full rate since I am down there working with her. She’s super punctual and communicative, especially by email, and even accepts payment through PayPal. Her rates are also among the most competitive around: generally $ 45/​hour. We started off with four 1.5hr sessions just to get the garden in good shape, and now she’ll be coming by for 1.5hrs of monthly maintenance.
Monique is also super helpful about providing direction regarding gardening tool/​material purchases in the city: because of her, we’re no familiar with gems like the Japanese hardware store in Japantown, Urban Farmer, and the Sloat Garden Center. In anticipation of our upcoming October 1^st session, I’ve been emailing with her about preparing the garden for some fall food planting: artichokes, garlic, and snap peas!

After reading Lisa’s original review, I decided to give «the Kiwi Gardener» a call. Garden care and landscaping was just the tip of the iceberg for me. It was also imperative to manage the client… in this case, my 88 year old friend Ilse who has been living in her house almost since coming to SF after WWII.
Monique does a *GREAT* job of communicating by phone, email and even in person. Ilse has been so happy to have the Kiwi Gardener take care of her backyard and keep everything in pristine condition. Monique does a stellar job in the garden and she’s also very patient and caring – so important since trust is absolutely essential in this situation.
I would unflinchingly recommend Monique to anyone searching for garden care.

monique is awesome!!! i almost hesitate to write this review because i want to keep her awesomenss on the downlow, but she’s just so great how can i not Unilocal her!?!
i originally found her on craigslist and am delighted to have hired her! she is a classic old-​style gardener who knows the good plants from the bad ones and does all of her gardening by hand with real care (not a single power tool — every single weed by hand, no joke). i was happy that she could name almost every plant in my very large and overgrown yard and even happier that within 6hrs she took it from looking like a natural disaster to looking like it was regularly tended. you should’ve seen the before, but let me tell you, the after is impressive!
monique is very responsible about responding to emails (critical for me) and was affordable, flexible and punctual. on top of that she’s just a sweet woman who i felt very comfortable talking to and entrusting my garden to. i look forward to hiring her again many times and recommending her around profusely!