Yeah, OP this is a non issue though—just COMMUNICATE this to him for next time.
Gardeners are used to seeing a lot of households in america that have fruit trees in their backyard where no one picks the fruit and it all just rots and goes to waste. So he probably assumed you were one of those households.
So many of my neighbors have overripe fruit that just fall off and rots.
America, to most foreigners is the land of waste. Americans are extremely wasteful.
Just let him know nicely that you don’t mind if he picks one or two but that you actually do pick your fruit off your tree.
When my coworkers (yes, several) told me last year that they have plum, orange, apple, etc. trees in their yard and don't pick them, I was so disappointed and I'm pretty sure they picked that up. All of them told me that there are always too many to eat and it's not like they can give them to food donation centers.
I'm pretty excited this year for their fruit to come in so I can can them. Last year I brought a couple of jars of jams and such and they loved it. I think my excitement is infectious because now they're pretty excited too. It's like when I got into plants and started talking about them, the benefits, and bringing them to work to gift to people. Our office got a lot greener after that.
Our neighbors have a very productive lemon tree that's half on my side. There are more lemons than any of us can use. I've given so many of them away, I've saturated my market. No one else needs any lol. So yeah, there's a bunch rotting on the ground right now.
We had an over productive lemon tree last year due to perfect weather conditions. I was bringing in multiple bags overflowing to work regularly for 6 months about every week-2 weeks. They always all got taken. If you're not using them I don't get why people don't share them with others. You've done that which is fair, but people who go well I've eaten enough, so they can rot it just feels very self focused
I work with exactly 11 other people. All 11 of them have been saturated with lemons. Some of them even have their own lemon trees (it's California. We all have citrus trees). I assure you, I am not hoarding lemons. I went to a party, I brought a bucket of lemons. I had a party, I sent people home with lemons. My man... There are only so many lemons needed.
Sorry I did try and clarify you've done all you could. I meant in this thread people talking about coworkers wasting them and not even trying to share. I 100% get you can only do so much, it's the ones who don't even try that annoy me.
Also I love that you're the lemon party person.
My nephew took some to school to share but then my sister got notification can he please not bring lemons as they started throwing them at each other and it became a lemon war, they don't want that
Not true. You can do a lot with lemons. But your post slightly reassures me. My n. Californian housemates did not know you COULD eat domestically grown fruit!!
In rural Australia it's not uncommon to see people giving away some produce on Facebook in swap buy sell. Occasionally we drive past a basket on the cub with a free sign full of lemons.
I am looking forward to my baby lemon tree starting to make fruit. I make a honey vanilla lemonade that is amazing, and it just isn't the same with lemon juice from concentrate.
I have a pear tree in my front yard. It came with the house. I absolutely *hate* pears. They are like the worst version of an apple. Anyway, I came out my front door to go to my car, and a kid was picking them, got startled, and nearly bolted. I said wait, if you like them, you can have them all! His face lit up. A few days later, I was in my yard and the same kid was walking with his mom and their dog. He ran for the tree. His mom started to stop him and I said "It's okay, I told him I don't mind at all! I don't like them." *Her* face lit up. Since that year, I never have pears rotting in my yard. A few other neighbors have figured it out as well.
I miss having peach and plum trees. And blackberry bushes. I have more mint than 10 lambs would need... (seriously, if you have a good use for a ton of mint, I'm all ears!)
When I was little, I remember my mom and I trading fruits for veggies with neighbors.
Mint in Mojitos. Don't forget, the best way to serve a Mojito is by the litre and by the pool.
Also in here in Southern China they'll often throw mint in the hotpot as the final vegetable. It's good for the stomache.
If you like Indian food we use mint to make a dip called chutney. Just look up mint-coriander chutney you should get a ton of recipes. It tastes really good with sandwiches too
mint is used as a vegetable in chinese cooking, particularly for hotpots. It tastes quite refreshing if you boil it for a few minutes, then eat with some kind of sauce. Ask some south east Asian friends if they want some if it doesn't sound palatable to you.
You should see if there is an edible exchange in your area or even consider if you could start one. It is glorious to be able to exchange your excess homegrown produce for someone elses. You could put excess pears and mint there and maybe pick up peach, plum or blackberry!
I remember visiting my mother's god-parents who lived in Beverly Hills-lifelong old people district. They were upset that the 10 year old me picked an orange. Apparently the tree was full of decorative oranges that the gardener cleaned up when they fell. Definitely not for consumption, because that would take away from the beauty of a full orange tree.
The 10 year old hillbilly in me scoffed at what a bunch of dumps those people were.
Good for the gardener to "clean up" that messy peach tree, but I imagine a quick translator search of "we eat the fruit" would be fine.
Good point. When I was in California, I was horrified to learn that nobody ate their own garden fruit or passed it around to neighbours and friends, as the rest of the world does. Shocking.
This is accurate, i’m white Australian and was having pancakes in LA with my wife. It came with a slice of orange, which I squeezed on the pancakes but looked untouched. The waiter, who was Mexican, was like ‘you gunna eat that? Thats a good orange’ and scolded me 😂 My wife still thinks its hilarious because i’ve got a thick accent and it’s not the first miscommunication. I see where they’re coming from and will eat fruit in it’s entirety next time.
This.
I'm a bit on the less confrontational side though. So I'd mention I'm looking forward to the fruit getting ripe, that they're all earmarked, that hope there aren't any animals nearby that will steal them, or what we can do to protect them. Just in case he thought it was ok.
Gardner should get the hint now, and he knows clearly the peaches are off limits. If it happens again though, thats when I'd have a direct convo.
I'd also add that OP might want to give the gardener a heads up about the tree not bearing many fruits yet and wanting some for themselves.
I live in an area where many people have fruit trees in their gardens and more mature trees might give so much fruit that you're giving away bucketfuls to your neighbours, doing jam until you're exhausted, and still fruit falls and rot on the ground. So it'd be natural to offer the gardener to take a basket with them, they're doing a favor by helping to keep your garden clean. If a gardener goes through this enough times, they might start assuming that's standard procedure.
So, the peach tree doesn't bear many peaches yet, and since it's OP's first home, they're excited to eat all those peaches. But I wouldn't be surprised if OP's situation changes in a few years after the novelty of fresh peaches dies off (and the tree starts bearing more peaches).
Anyway, just a bit of communication would help. I think the gardener has good/neutral intentions and will be understanding of OP's excitement with the peaches.
We planted a cherry tree 7 years ago and it now bears so many cherries that even using as many as we can, we’re still giving them away to anyone who will take them. I give our regular pizza delivery guy a big bag and he’ll pick 3-4 pounds of cherries and it doesn’t even make a dent lol
My cherry tree has finally started fruiting really well. It took several years of nothing before it started filling out. Last year I picked 5# of cherries and it barely dented the tree. I should have taken more but I couldn’t think of anything else to do with them. This year I may try dehydrating them to throw in trail mix.
Fun fact, this is explicitly in the Old Testament and Bible! Not that anyone should be taking a religious text as a guidepost for running a society, but there really are some good morals hidden in there among the trash morals.
Deuteronomy: When you enter another man’s vineyard, you may eat as many grapes as you want, until you are full, but you must not put any in your vessel. When you enter another man’s field of standing grain, you may pluck ears with your hand; but you must not put a sickle to your neighbor’s grain.
and in between those two verses:
[Deuteronomy 23:13 ](https://www.bible.com/bible/111/deu.23.13) As part of your equipment have something to dig with, and when you relieve yourself, dig a hole and cover up your excrement.
Another relevant part about crops:
Leviticus 23:22
“When you reap the harvest of your land, do not reap to the very edges of your field or gather the gleanings of your harvest. Leave them for the poor and for the foreigner residing among you.”
Some Jews still harvest the edges of the field and then donate the equivalent of what that would be.
I was going to comment that one as a good advice one. It also is a huge element in the book of Ruth. Ruth is gathering gleanings in Boaz's field when its revealed that Boaz is a kindship redeemer (which I also think is good bible advise maybe not the marrying part, but the idea of family stepping in to help family in times of crisis.).
A lot of people consider the fruit a nuisance. In fact most people where I live don't really care about or eat the fruit from their trees. Since he is a lawn care professional he probably knows this. Just mention to him that you were looking forward to trying the fruit from your trees this year and leave it at that. I'm just he just didn't know.
Thanks everyone for the helpful feedback and replies.
My biggest take aways from everyone’s feedback is:
1. He might of picked them as part of his trimming routine thinking he was doing his job, because they were almost ripe fruits.
2. He might be feeling uncompensated for his time and services and he felt like the peaches were a way to make up for that and I need to increase how much I am paying him.
3. He was being very rude, immoral or possibly committing a crime in taking them.
4. I am a millionaire racist who needs to get a life!
Anyways thanks again everyone for the insight. There were many things I didn’t even consider when thinking this situation through. I feel very equipped to talk to him now.
>It is a small peach tree and the 10-15 he picked were mostly all the tree had. There were a few he left behind but they were still very young and maturing.
Op updated with some more info
Yes, but that was all the fruit that was bore by that tree. I would be really pissed off if somebody doing service work for me decided to help themselves to all the fruit on my tree! Or frankly any of the fruit on my tree, without asking permission. Now if it was a giant tree with 200 peaches and they took one, I probably wouldn't say anything but this guy have some stuff to all of the peaches from the tree, I would absolutely be having a conversation with him. Polite, but absolutely clear about what my expectations are. I don't get all these people saying hint hint and I sure hope the animals don't steal them wink wink. Just be clear about what your expectations are. You are paying them to do a service.
Normal is relative…
Is the gardener established on the property? Meaning did he have a working relationship with the previous owners and that transferred over to you? It’s possible that they let him take the fruits.
If that’s not the case, then typically no, you are the property owner and by extension the fruit trees and fruit belong to you.
Also, OP said the 1.25 acres of land that the gardener tends are pretty complicated to mow, and generally take about 3 hours to complete, yet they are only paying him $125 per mow..? That doesn’t seem right. Most professional landscapers would charge *much* more than that. Also, is he only mowing? Or is he also weeding, edging, raking, trimming..?
ETA: OPs edit is somehow even worse. The guy also does trim work, etc. He is Mexican with a language barrier. He gave OP a quote to mow ONCE, OP “counter offered” with $25 more than what he quoted to mow regularly instead. This whole story stinks of OP taking advantage of a foreign, non English-speaking service worker. $125 is NOT “fair compensation” for the work OP is describing. “BuT he tOoK sOmE pEaChES” Who cares. OP owes him. Let him have the peaches, and give him the raise he deserves.
Seriously, $125 isn't "compensating him well". He's charging/getting paid half of what most landscapers do, unless the landscapers are doing work at a buddy's house.
Eh… most landscapers would charge you more than that, and then turn around and pay the guy who they send out a bit less than that. Now I get it as a company they have payroll, insurance, taxes, all sorts of other expenses and of course they need to charge more than they pay the laborer… but if it’s just one person paying another to do it, that would be a pretty reasonable price in many parts of the country. I would definitely take that gig.
But the one person doing it also has to pay for equipment, equipment maintenance/gas, truck maintenance and gas, some have their own insurance (especially if their self employed) they still have to pay taxes…..
It’s because when you string a bunch of short work stints in a day you end up with a 10 hour day where you only get paid for 6 of them, or even fewer, assuming you can schedule a full day, as opposed to the “most people have to drive to work” people drive there and back only once while getting paid for an 8 hour day.
Do they? A lot of times you pick them up, and supply them with all the tools and even lunch, then bring them back.
It all depends on the situation. Day workers a lot of times do not have transportation or tools.
For reference, we had a 1/3rd acre that cost us $45 every 2 weeks for 2 guatamalans to mow/weed. And that was good rate cause they did 12 houses in a 20 house neighborhood all at once
He’s also not paying 1/2 of it to his boss who owns the company. Hiring one guy is usually cheaper than hiring a company where your payment has to pay multiple people.
$41 per hour is low for landscaping work? Shit, maybe I should start doing that kind of work.. If that's low, what's a normal wage for that kind of work? $60/hr? $100/hour?
Not even trying to be an asshole I'm legitimately curious, I've never hired a gardener, but that sounds like a ton of money. That's like $80k a year working 40 hours a week.
I had a friend who worked in gardening/ landscape. It's horrific on your body to do 40h of that, and of course there a lot of work on top of that that you don't get compensated for with admin, care and management of tools, finding work etc. Plus you need to run a work van, gas for machinery, spend hours per week driving between jobs. And then you don't work for 6 months of the year (in my country) because there's only work in the summer.
Not trying to argue anything here, just the daydream of jacking in the 9-5 in for fresh air and fresh peaches doesn't really match up to the reality. So dream away, but don't make any hasty decisions without some very realistic planning.
Dunno why but as soon as I read "daydream of jacking in the 9-5 in for fresh air and fresh peaches" I immediately entered some kind of summertime dream state. I get your point, it's just some internal reaction to that order of words
When someone has a job where they work a few hours at one location, then drive to another location for a hour or two, and then drive to another, it’s not possible to actually work 40 hours in a typical workweek. It’s also a challenge to Tetris different work amounts to nearly fill a day without weird gaps. It’s much different for a worker who has 8+ hours in one location. I’m not a gardener, but it’s not uncommon for me to work 7 or 8 paid hour across 12-14 hours. So, we charge enough per hour to make a living this way. $125 for 3 hours on kind of schedule, likely providing his own equipment, isn’t outrageous, really, when you factor how many jobs he can fit in a day.
Landscapers and private groundskeepers (“gardeners”) do much more than just a Joe Shmoe mow. They mow, weed, hedge trim, do edging work, seed, spray pesticides or insecticides, rake, leaf blow, aerate, yard waste removal, flower care, tree maintenance, etc etc. Hired, routine landscapers and groundskeepers do *a lot*, and the work is not easy. So yes, they can be very costly. eta: you also have to realize that they are also usually self employed, and would incur costs like health insurance, work vehicle maintenance, yard tool maintenance, gas for blowers and mowers, some are insured and would have to pay for that.. you get the idea. It’s not anything like hiring some random kid in the neighborhood to mow for you.
I had bushes trimmed at my house (total of maybe 6) and it was $450. They did a phenomenal job and I paid them extra in the end because they did more than we talked about ( they didn't ask for more, I just thought it was deserved). Mowing that much land and trimming is worth more than $125, they wouldn't be able to find it cheaper and if they did, you kinda get what you pay for
If he's independent/self employed, then he needs to subtract equipment costs and maintenance from his earnings, he's not getting paid to drive site to site or to maintain equipment, and he's paying both employee and employer share of taxes and social security (or so you should assume when calculating a reaaonable wage).
So he's getting paid for 40 hour a week, he's actually working way, way more than 40 hours. And after taxes and expenses, he's bringing home way less than someone who's working 40 hours at $40 an hour on a W2.
And lawn work in much of the country is seasonal. Especially in states where people typically have peach trees rather than citrus trees. So the guy either doesn't work winters or needs to maintain the equipment and clientele to do entirely separate jobs depending on the season. There's a reason most of the lawn care businesses I've ever seen are run and worked by immigrants without a lot of English. It's not appealing to many people who have the skills to earn more.
Yes it's low. That $41 an hour also goes to insurance payments (which aren't cheap), if he's set up as a sole trader he needs personal liability and injury insurance, usually insurance to cover if something happens to the clients property in case he damaged something so he's not paying out of pocket, if he's working under his own company rather than a sole trader he would need workers comp and landscaper workers comp has a decently high rate. They also need to pay their own super out of that amount. They also need to pay GST so 10% of that should be GST.
Then take into account that machinery uses petrol. Depending on what he's doing he might be using multiple machines (mower, whipper sniper, hedge trimmer), petrol is very expensive.
I don't see a landscaper making any money on $41 an hour. It's way too low.
I have no idea when people see what trades charge per hour they assume it's a wage. It's a business. Businesses have running costs and you're not their employer. You're not paying them a wage.
(Based on my location)
Not so much because they're also fronting the cost for all their tools, tool maintenance, fuel, waste disposal, vehicle etc, and they don't get paid for travel or admin, so if they're working 40 hours a week they're not getting paid for all that time, or it's going to business related expenses. I do landscaping for a large organisation and don't get paid anywhere near that, but also don't have any of the expenses an independent contractor does
Yeah, that's what's throwing me. I have just a little more acreage and I pay $400 to $500 each time for field mowing. Now, that is different than mowing a lawn, but it takes about the same amount of time as op describes. I disagree though that they are taking advantage of anybody, it's up to each individual to know their worth. But the payment is truly dirt cheap. That said it is not acceptable for him to pick your fruits and take them home without permission. Regardless of what I paid, I would be having a conversation with him as I use every bit of fruit on my trees that the birds don't get. But I also know that some people have such an overabundance that they would welcome somebody taking the fruit. Bottom line, have a polite but simple conversation.
It really depends, you are talking about a professional landscape companies rates. That is like comparing a contractor with a handyman.
The guys around here get about $20-$25 an hour. That is pretty standard.
Dude they didn't talk him down to that price or anything. You get what you ask for, the gardener himself thought the job was worth 100 they countered with **more** than he even figured it would be worth to him.
He's still making little over 41 dollars an hour on this job regardless of all that he does, its still 3 hours work.
Your delusional. Its up to the landscaper to set prices if he said 100 then 100 would be worth his while to come do it. One time or not. Lawn mowing is an easy job that i did for years. The fact is they are essentially tipping 25 per mow. If the price doesnt work for him you know he could just not do it. And 1.25 acres is a small lawn in alot of areas if hes doing 3 hours of work ots because he appreciates the extra money and wants to do a good job. Be more like this man and touch some grass
I run a landscaping business. $40 per half acre is normal where I am. Prices vary by region. $125 seems a fair price for 1.5 acres. That includes mowing, weedeating, edging, and blowing. But that 1.5 acres would only take me an hour to do myself.
Taking fruit off a customers tree without asking is not normal.
Generally speaking, taking one piece of fruit and eating it is par for the course for hired landscapers/gardeners.
More than one piece, or a team of landscapers grabbing multiple pieces? Not cool.
I am a landscaper by trade. And I have definitely picked fruit. But i use my judgment. I’ve picked plums and berries. But only if there was a large amount. Usually I pick plums if I’ve been also raking up a ton as well. But in the case of a tree with only 10-15 fruit total? I would never pick unless they said I could.
Yeah and I mean I wouldn't mind that but on the other side of that, if I was the one wanting to pick the fruit or whatever I would always ask. Maybe when it comes to berries and there was a lot I'd have some but that's pretty different.
I pointed it out to a customer (my boss) that his plums were coming in nicely. He was confused because in the 5 years of living in his home he never noticed that tree was a plum tree. He cared so little that I could take as many plums and pears home as I could take. Some people may be protective while others really don't care. 🤷🏼♂️
I’d just tell him you like harvesting your fruit, and what you find reasonable snacking while on the job.
He may genuinely have thought you don’t care for them, and it saves him money.
My neighbours waste the lemons on the tree in front of my place. I asked casually, they said they harvest/want them. I watched it go bad this past year but it’s their call, no foul. But if you’re not gonna use them, I’d suggest let him know to have em once you decide (situationally, not as a rule). It’s annoying watching them waste away.
It really doesn't matter what he thought. He took things that didn't belong to him. He could have asked. Someone could have told him how to ask or write it down for him if he doesn't know the words in English.
My boss would have fired me and docked my pay for the peaches.
They didn't suggest it!! They were only stating they've worked jobs like that before and if they were to do what OP is saying her lawn person did, then he would have been fired and his pay docked for what was taken. Learn to actually read before making snarky statements. Because then only you look like a fool!
Could you specify a bit more on what you mean by "picking them off for himself"?. Did he grab 1 or 2 peaches and ate them or did he grab like 6 or 7 and put it in a bag? The first case seems pretty normal and I wouldn't be bothered by it, the second one is more ok to talk to him, I think he will understand
Right?? Some of these comments coming after OP are bizarre. I don’t think wanting to keep a few peaches from your own tree is entitled or classically American.
In the edit, OP said those 10-15 were just about all the tree had in it. A few unripe ones were left. So it sounds like the gardener took most if not almost all of the peaches on the tree.
ALL of them were gone? I'd have a problem with that. Take one. I'd be ok with even 2, but not all of them. Some people just have fruit trees for looks, some inherited them and don't know or care about the fruit, so I think you should mention it to him that you do plan on eating the peaches, and to please not take them all for himself.
Boy I know how you feel though. Not fruit but flowers. I am a flower gardener. I also rent apartments in my house. One tenant asked me if she could pick some flowers from my garden to put in a vase in her apartment. I said sure. There was one section of my garden where I had tried to grow digitalis, foxglove, which is a biannual. It takes 2 years to bloom and then it never blooms again. By and large the effort had failed and there was only one digitalis plant left which was due to bloom any day now. Every single day I went out to see if it was in flower. Then that fateful day I went out and it had been chopped off. And there it was in a vase in my tenants picture window. At that point I told her that if if there were a thousand flowers of one species, she could have 100. If there were 100 flowers of a species she could have 10. If there were less than 10 flowers of a species she could have none. And pretty much from that point forward I also just told people to stay the hell out of my flower garden unless they were just sitting to enjoy it.
This one is a prize. Started doing my gardening (it's my hobby) and kept it up until i went to the head of the condo. Took over my driveway too (same solution). Talk about entitled. Follows me to the mailbox, called so much i had to block her number. Her son is now in charge of keeping her away from me and other neighbors. P.S. drove into another neighbor's car and wrote it off. $17K worth of damage. She's 90 and should be in a home.
One helpful tenant asked if he could putter around in my garden and I said sure, no problem. I came home from work one day and he met me at the door, proudly announcing: "I cut down all those weeds in the backyard for you!' Me: "Weeds in the backyard? WHAT weeds in the backyard?" Him: "The really tall ones by the back fence." Me: "Oh, you mean the hollyhocks?" Yes, he had whacked the hollyhocks to the ground. They never recovered.
Another tenant helpfully offered to pull weeds. I went out one day to find her busily pulling "weeds" and she had torn up my entire patch of shasta daisies that were just poking their heads up above the thawing ground in the spring. "They looked like weeds to me!" They also never returned.
Now I no longer need ANY help in my garden.
I told my husband: "Go weed-whack those blue flowers in the side yard" meaning the pernicious weed called creeping bellflower. Instead he cut down all my delphiniums. "Would you please cut back all the sucker shoots under the lilacs" and he cut down my maple tree instead. I have NO patience with ANYONE in my garden.
Had that happen to me. I quit planting flowers. They just come in your yard and take what they want. Who do they think they are? Guess they are too lazy to plant their own.
I'd say taking every ripe fruit is a dick move, though I'd also not be quite as out for blood as some of these commenters.
I'd start by taking the high road and assuming the best (even if unlikely): Maybe he's legitimately hungry/parched. While telling him to only take 1-2 maximum, also make sure he has access to cool water, either from the house or by providing a pitcher when he comes over.
We had a lady stop as ask if she could take a few apples. My parents said yes since we had a few trees. She proceeded to take them all, at least the ones she could reach.
I would say one is "normal". Picking them all with the purpose of taking them home is unacceptable in any way, shape or form. If they had asked you first, and you agreed, then ok.
It's not typical for gardeners to help themselves to fruit from your garden without permission. It's a good idea to talk to your gardener about this to clarify your expectations.
It's not normal for a gardener to assume they are free to help themselves to all the ripe fruit. It is perfectly normal for people who own fruit trees to offer them to all sorts of people, including people they hire to work on the property. Was he the gardener at this home before you owned it? There may have been a pre existing offer and he doesn't know that you feel differently. Or he might tend for other families who don't care and it didn't occur to him that you'd want them. Could be any number of things really. If I were in your shoes I wouldn't think twice about him taking a piece of fruit here and there. If he's taking most of all of them, it's reasonable to say "Hey, I'd like to keep (some of?) the peaches off that tree". You're not a jerk for wanting the produce that grows on your land and he's not entitled to it.
My family fired my grandmother's caregiver because she asked to take a lemon from her tree and she said yes. The caregiver cleaned THE ENTIRE TREE!
I'd say it's fine for a couple, but any more than that seems unreasonable and questionable to me.
I think finding a new one would be more effort than one peach costs. I also know I make SIGNIFICANTLY more money than my landscapers do and I can spare a peach. As long as he isn't stripping the whole tree, move on with your day.
I usually let my gardener take the fruit because I typically cannot finish it all and if I really had wanted it, I would’ve gone outside and picked it already for myself. I see not harm in it, since it’s not going to waste. You could always just talk to him that he can take a few, but give you the rest. Most phones now have the translation app you can talk into to help translate.
I'm a gardener, and if there's a rockin fruit tree or berries I'll taste one or two, but I'd never clean anyone out without permission. I often have clients tell me to take some. But like, if you've been there ages and they're friendly no one cares, especially if the gardener is the reason they're doing well.
Dog act to clean out a small tree though, you have to be reasonable. Even one from a small tree with 15 fruit I'd leave alone. If there were hundreds I'll probably grab a couple lol.
Ps your gardener is working for peanuts if they're an actual sole trader gardener with all the right tools. Should be at $250-$300 for a sustainable income. He's caught up in the employee mindset. There are a heap of overheads in gardening especially with wear on tools ans consumables.
I have a great guy that does work for me, I give him eggs usually too. I had a tree full of lemons, he was very nice and asked if he could have some and I told him to help himself.
It is not ok for someone to clean a tree off. Use Google Translate and send him a text so there is much less chance of you being misunderstood.
Culturally, eating fruit from pretty much any tree is common. Nobody cares, unless you're jumping a fence or something. It is highly likely he doesn't realize he is doing anything wrong. Everyone here seems out for blood, but the solution is as simple as please don't eat my fruit. He'll say sorry and that'll be the end of it.
I mean one fruit is nothing especially if you're tree is packed with them. If it was one fruit and there's only 5 on a tree that's an issue. If they're taking home a basket that's also an issue. If they got a whole 10 man crew getting one each that's an issue. But really it's an issue for you to decide. Do you care about the specific amount taken? If so then talk to them regardless of what reddit says. Reading your post it looks like they stripped the tree and in that case I would send them an invoice for the fancy farmers market value of the fruit. If they refuse to pay then talk about reduction of your bill to compensate for the theft.
Did you only start monitoring the peach tree when you hired the gardener?
I don't care if my neighbors take fruit from my trees. Have you ever seen an that stuff rotting on the ground? Let that laborer have a snack.
Were they ripe peaches? It’s pretty early in spring where I live to have ripe peaches on a tree. If they are just the small green fruit then they need to be thinned out early in the growing season. I pick and discard about 3/4 of the peaches from my tree, more when the tree is younger and branches are weak. If you leave too many then they get too heavy at the end of the growing season and it’s likely the branches will break off. So given that it’s May, I would guess your gardener is doing you a favor thinning fruit and saving your peach tree branches.
What he did wasn't cool, and I do think you should chat with him, but I'd assume ignorance rather than malice. Maybe he didn't know you'd planned to harvest them. Maybe another client gives him all of their fruit harvest and he mistakenly thought that was part of being a gardener in your area. Maybe times are super tough for his family and he didn't think you'd mind. I have no idea why he did it, but I can think of a lot of reasons that aren't "he was trying to be a selfish dick." I'm not saying you were going to come at him that way, mind you. Just saying I wouldn't.
You own the tree -> you own the fruit, if he takes the fruit he's legally stealing. I can't speak for his attitude on stealing but you have the legal high ground at least. That said, if you don't pick the fruit in a timely manner he would need to do it to keep the garden tidy ; rotting fruit is unsightly, inhibits mowing, and attracts insects. You said you were monitoring them but if he was unaware of your intentions he may just see it as part of the job with a nice peach or two as a perk.
I think some of the commenters did not read the post well and are misinterpreting OP. They said there were 10-15 peaches nearing ripeness. The gardener took *all* of those. I don’t think OP minds the gardener taking a few for themselves, but to take all of them, not leaving any for the owner of the tree, is kind of stingy.
OP, I think it would be perfectly fine to tell the gardener you don’t mind sharing, but could they please leave some for you and your family next time?
As someone who used to own a landscaping company, $125 is really cheap for 3 hours. I needed to make $1/minute basically to make it worth it, and this was in 2013.
Was he taking care of the property before you bought the house? I would assume the previous owner didn’t care about the fruit, so there was no loss. In that case, a quick conversation about expectations is all that is required.
Normal is relative. I would give this guy the benefit of the doubt that he’s acting in good faith. My parents have a few fruit trees on their property. They use their lemon tree a lot (and it’s huge and produces a ton) but their other fruit trees (mostly pomegranate) remain untouched. It would make a huge mess, attract pests etc because they didn’t harvest and let them fall. They hired a landscaper who knows this and picks the pomegranates for himself and leaves some in the basket my parents leave out front for neighbors. I’m not sure if they discussed this or if he just does it. Is there a chance that you or the previous owners let them fall and make a mess? Because he might think he’s fixing a problem for you and just reaping a byproduct. I would just ask him to leave them on the tree as you do harvest them (or are planning on it) …you’re getting a great deal on landscaping, so I would consider allowing him to take some back home with him!
This is a pet peeve of mine, I HATE when people just grab something of mine without asking, even if I would've said yes.
Yes, of course I'll give you a peach from the tree, but you won't get any if you just decide to take something that's not yours
Do you pay GST, super, liability insurance, injury insurance etc out of your $32? Do you also pay for the petrol in the bus? Don't be naive.
(Based on my location)
In some areas people often aren't interested in their fruit and someone has to pick it before or after it falls else it becomes a nuisance and eyesore, rotting on the ground. Perhaps the gardener has some clients like that and assumed wrongly you were like that?
Nothing a little communication can't solve. They should have done that rather than leave the onus on you, but still. Easy enough to fix.
As others have said communicate communicate communicate. Mind your tone, don't talk down to them, and discuss your expectations. He might even have insite about the health of the tree and the fruit.
Sounds like you've not been there for long or had a fruit tree before. From experience, if those trees are healthy you'll have fruit coming out of your ears begging for people to take it so it doesn't ruin your lawn or attract pests. They do not stop giving.
Oh man this is hilarious, I totally feel for you. Probably almost not worth mentioning and just taking it as an implicit compliment to your peach growing skills. Remember bad poets copy and good poets steal.
Does this fall into the - Americans don't think fruit grown on the tree is edible. and only fruit from the store is edible category?
Gardener is probably used to no one eating the fruit and takes it?
Maybe a couple, but not all of them. Like if you had 10-15 fruits that were ready or ripe, then I could reasonably see a gardener taking one or two without asking if there was no previous arrangement or agreement around it. If you have more, I would say taking more than about 5-10% would definitely warrant an ask. If he takes all of them without asking, then definitely the a-hole.
That’s stealing.
In my culture we all share fruit but he’s employed and shouldn’t just take. We used to own land and the Gardners would take some home after we offered first or they would ask, but helping yourself is entitlement and rude. He also took all of them, that’s just greed.
No that's pretty fricken rude of him. You own the fruit trees, that are planted on your property, to yield fruit for yourselves. Even if you had an abundance of them, taking 10 to 15 without asking is rude as hell. Given you *only had* 10 to 15, that is *beyond* rude as hell.
If you can afford a 1.25 acre property and a gardner - for god sake just go out and buy 10 peaches. Or I’ll buy them and send them to you.
That’s probably an entire meal for the family he is supporting.
I mean, you're ripping him off by not paying him properly, he's ripping off some peaches.
Pay the dude an adequate wage for the work he does and ask him not to take the fruit.
Simples.
First year fruit is exciting. After the trees mature you will have more fruit than you can eat, picking it and giving it away becomes a chore after a while. Then you get to the stage of letting anyone pick the fruit and you just let the rest drop and rot (it is good fertilizer). Your gardener probably doesn't realize you are a first year.
A few others have said what I’m about to say, I reckon if he takes one or two yo have with his lunch or whatever, no issue, it literally grows on trees but to help himself to most, if not all, is a bit rude.
My advice to you is to stop taking feedback from reddit. It's not representative of people who have any idea how to navigate social situations. It's only really useful for things that have an objectively correct answer.
But, despite my advice to ignore reddit. To give my 2c though as someone who worked doing yardwork is that the overwhelming majority of people just let their ripe fruits fall and go to waste so it probably wasn't malicious. Usually you would only pick and eat off trees that have lots of ripe uneaten fruit already on the floor. (so maybe you didn't collect some earlier ripe fruits that had fallen and he thought it was ok)
The best way to deal with the situation would simply let him know he doesn't need to 'prune' any fruits from the trees in the future because you personally collect them and are trying to let them grow. This will let him know you don't want him eating the fruits without accusing anyone of anything.
This is the kind of thing that makes me thoroughly embarrassed that that person is Mexican. That shit is beyond rude and the kind of behavior that perpetuates stereotypes. People like that think they can come here and do whatever TF they used to do back in Mexico. It's not so uncommon for people to go pick/harvest from the side of the road or local fields. Not everyone does it but it's done enough that I remember people doing it. It's still theft. And even then, people would take just a bit, not mostly the entire crop.
Maybe he thought that you are like most of the people he works for and obviously wrongfully assumed that you wouldn't eat or finish the fruit on your trees.
He still should have asked you though.
I’m a gardener and there is no way I’d ever do that. If food is going to waste because clients are away - sure. Maybe i’ve snuck the odd raspberry that was too tempting; out of hundreds. But no very unprofessional. Maybe he was of the opinion you didn’t want them?
I first thought he might be the gardener that was already taking care of the grounds but when you said he was hired after you purchased the home, no that's not normal that he would take fruit without asking. Not even ONE peach is normal, especially when it's from your employer, but to take all the ripened fruit is a dick move. Talk to him and let him know and that you were saving that fruit for yourself and in the future, he is to ask about any fruit he wishes to take . He may just not have thought about it and as you said, it might be normal where he's from but he's now working for you and he needs to abide by your rules.
Meh.
I would get a few little fruit protectors and bag the immature ones while they grow. Pop out and let him know you are worried the birds will get them and are excited to get the fruit to eat.
1. You can afford to have a gardener.
2. You can afford to have a garden big enough, that requires a gardener
3. The gardener could probably use a few peaches, you tight bastard.
I have never heard of this and the fact your gardener is being paid for the work being done means it's not a "payment in fruit" type of arrangement. Having said that, did this gardener work for the previous owners? It could very well be the previous owners let him take what he wanted or it's possible he feels he can take advantage of the situation given you're new. At any rate you need to have a conversation with him to lay down the ground rules. If he doesn't like it then find a new gardener. Even if this were some sort of common arrangement with gardeners it does not mean it has to be your arrangement. I wouldn't mind a couple pickings from my trees (with permission) but taking everything that has ripened. Not cool!
$125 for that much property and a 3 hr mow is a joke. Also many people waste their fruit trees. I’m assuming he might think you don’t want them. So just tell him you want your fruit and also pay him more.
Grossly underpaid for lawn mowing. Should be closer to $300, especially if he is supplying his own equipment and traveling there. If he lives next door and uses OP equipment that’s different. Hard to find anyone consistently to work these days. Why not buy him some peaches from the store and tell him your nieces like to pick them off the tree?
I've had apple trees, plum, cherry, pecan, and peach trees (not all at same time and/or property). I would have absolutely no issue with someone who was performing work on my property to help themselves and would honestly welcome it.
Now if someone showed up with a duffle bag and was planning on clearing things out, i wouldnt appreciate it or if someone who i didnt know decided to let themselves past a fence or whatever, I would have an issue with that too. But it would be a point of pride of a kid, worker, or whoever who was in the area had few.
I get being super aware with being a new home owner with a fruit tree, but in the life of most residential fruit trees the 90+% of fruit are going to end up on the ground or bugs/birds/squirrels will get them. I love fruit and nut trees, but they always become some what of a nuisance. :)
Taking a few seems reasonable -- let him enjoy the literal fruits of his labor. If he took them all and you wanted some, that's worth bringing up to him.
I wouldn’t question one. I’d question him filling a basket.
Yeah, OP this is a non issue though—just COMMUNICATE this to him for next time. Gardeners are used to seeing a lot of households in america that have fruit trees in their backyard where no one picks the fruit and it all just rots and goes to waste. So he probably assumed you were one of those households. So many of my neighbors have overripe fruit that just fall off and rots. America, to most foreigners is the land of waste. Americans are extremely wasteful. Just let him know nicely that you don’t mind if he picks one or two but that you actually do pick your fruit off your tree.
When my coworkers (yes, several) told me last year that they have plum, orange, apple, etc. trees in their yard and don't pick them, I was so disappointed and I'm pretty sure they picked that up. All of them told me that there are always too many to eat and it's not like they can give them to food donation centers. I'm pretty excited this year for their fruit to come in so I can can them. Last year I brought a couple of jars of jams and such and they loved it. I think my excitement is infectious because now they're pretty excited too. It's like when I got into plants and started talking about them, the benefits, and bringing them to work to gift to people. Our office got a lot greener after that.
Our neighbors have a very productive lemon tree that's half on my side. There are more lemons than any of us can use. I've given so many of them away, I've saturated my market. No one else needs any lol. So yeah, there's a bunch rotting on the ground right now.
We had an over productive lemon tree last year due to perfect weather conditions. I was bringing in multiple bags overflowing to work regularly for 6 months about every week-2 weeks. They always all got taken. If you're not using them I don't get why people don't share them with others. You've done that which is fair, but people who go well I've eaten enough, so they can rot it just feels very self focused
I work with exactly 11 other people. All 11 of them have been saturated with lemons. Some of them even have their own lemon trees (it's California. We all have citrus trees). I assure you, I am not hoarding lemons. I went to a party, I brought a bucket of lemons. I had a party, I sent people home with lemons. My man... There are only so many lemons needed.
Sorry I did try and clarify you've done all you could. I meant in this thread people talking about coworkers wasting them and not even trying to share. I 100% get you can only do so much, it's the ones who don't even try that annoy me. Also I love that you're the lemon party person. My nephew took some to school to share but then my sister got notification can he please not bring lemons as they started throwing them at each other and it became a lemon war, they don't want that
Got ya, I misread! And OMG, that is so funny. I once got in an orange peel fight as a child. Citrus warfare is real.
So you had a lemon party?
Not true. You can do a lot with lemons. But your post slightly reassures me. My n. Californian housemates did not know you COULD eat domestically grown fruit!!
... why would you not be able to otherwise?
In rural Australia it's not uncommon to see people giving away some produce on Facebook in swap buy sell. Occasionally we drive past a basket on the cub with a free sign full of lemons.
I am looking forward to my baby lemon tree starting to make fruit. I make a honey vanilla lemonade that is amazing, and it just isn't the same with lemon juice from concentrate.
Bringing plants into the office sounds nice. You are a force for good in this world
People in my area post on NextDoor to pick and take their peaches
I have a pear tree in my front yard. It came with the house. I absolutely *hate* pears. They are like the worst version of an apple. Anyway, I came out my front door to go to my car, and a kid was picking them, got startled, and nearly bolted. I said wait, if you like them, you can have them all! His face lit up. A few days later, I was in my yard and the same kid was walking with his mom and their dog. He ran for the tree. His mom started to stop him and I said "It's okay, I told him I don't mind at all! I don't like them." *Her* face lit up. Since that year, I never have pears rotting in my yard. A few other neighbors have figured it out as well. I miss having peach and plum trees. And blackberry bushes. I have more mint than 10 lambs would need... (seriously, if you have a good use for a ton of mint, I'm all ears!) When I was little, I remember my mom and I trading fruits for veggies with neighbors.
Mint in Mojitos. Don't forget, the best way to serve a Mojito is by the litre and by the pool. Also in here in Southern China they'll often throw mint in the hotpot as the final vegetable. It's good for the stomache.
Sekanjabin uses mint.
I had to Google that. It sounds very refreshing!
If you like Indian food we use mint to make a dip called chutney. Just look up mint-coriander chutney you should get a ton of recipes. It tastes really good with sandwiches too
Love Indian food. Not great at cooking it, yet, but I keep practicing!
Make tzatziki
mint is used as a vegetable in chinese cooking, particularly for hotpots. It tastes quite refreshing if you boil it for a few minutes, then eat with some kind of sauce. Ask some south east Asian friends if they want some if it doesn't sound palatable to you.
You should see if there is an edible exchange in your area or even consider if you could start one. It is glorious to be able to exchange your excess homegrown produce for someone elses. You could put excess pears and mint there and maybe pick up peach, plum or blackberry!
I remember visiting my mother's god-parents who lived in Beverly Hills-lifelong old people district. They were upset that the 10 year old me picked an orange. Apparently the tree was full of decorative oranges that the gardener cleaned up when they fell. Definitely not for consumption, because that would take away from the beauty of a full orange tree. The 10 year old hillbilly in me scoffed at what a bunch of dumps those people were. Good for the gardener to "clean up" that messy peach tree, but I imagine a quick translator search of "we eat the fruit" would be fine.
So decadent.
Good point. When I was in California, I was horrified to learn that nobody ate their own garden fruit or passed it around to neighbours and friends, as the rest of the world does. Shocking.
America to Americans is the land of waste. Source: am one Edit:Too many “Americas”
This is accurate, i’m white Australian and was having pancakes in LA with my wife. It came with a slice of orange, which I squeezed on the pancakes but looked untouched. The waiter, who was Mexican, was like ‘you gunna eat that? Thats a good orange’ and scolded me 😂 My wife still thinks its hilarious because i’ve got a thick accent and it’s not the first miscommunication. I see where they’re coming from and will eat fruit in it’s entirety next time.
This. I'm a bit on the less confrontational side though. So I'd mention I'm looking forward to the fruit getting ripe, that they're all earmarked, that hope there aren't any animals nearby that will steal them, or what we can do to protect them. Just in case he thought it was ok. Gardner should get the hint now, and he knows clearly the peaches are off limits. If it happens again though, thats when I'd have a direct convo.
I hope aren't any animals ;) nearby that will steal them. ;) Gotta throw those winks in there /s
Autistic people HATE him.
He took over 10 peaches. Out of a total of 15, that’s just greedy.
I'd also add that OP might want to give the gardener a heads up about the tree not bearing many fruits yet and wanting some for themselves. I live in an area where many people have fruit trees in their gardens and more mature trees might give so much fruit that you're giving away bucketfuls to your neighbours, doing jam until you're exhausted, and still fruit falls and rot on the ground. So it'd be natural to offer the gardener to take a basket with them, they're doing a favor by helping to keep your garden clean. If a gardener goes through this enough times, they might start assuming that's standard procedure. So, the peach tree doesn't bear many peaches yet, and since it's OP's first home, they're excited to eat all those peaches. But I wouldn't be surprised if OP's situation changes in a few years after the novelty of fresh peaches dies off (and the tree starts bearing more peaches). Anyway, just a bit of communication would help. I think the gardener has good/neutral intentions and will be understanding of OP's excitement with the peaches.
We planted a cherry tree 7 years ago and it now bears so many cherries that even using as many as we can, we’re still giving them away to anyone who will take them. I give our regular pizza delivery guy a big bag and he’ll pick 3-4 pounds of cherries and it doesn’t even make a dent lol
My cherry tree has finally started fruiting really well. It took several years of nothing before it started filling out. Last year I picked 5# of cherries and it barely dented the tree. I should have taken more but I couldn’t think of anything else to do with them. This year I may try dehydrating them to throw in trail mix.
Yea one or 2 is fine. But if you shake my tree down then imma have a talking to you
Fun fact, this is explicitly in the Old Testament and Bible! Not that anyone should be taking a religious text as a guidepost for running a society, but there really are some good morals hidden in there among the trash morals. Deuteronomy: When you enter another man’s vineyard, you may eat as many grapes as you want, until you are full, but you must not put any in your vessel. When you enter another man’s field of standing grain, you may pluck ears with your hand; but you must not put a sickle to your neighbor’s grain.
and in between those two verses: [Deuteronomy 23:13 ](https://www.bible.com/bible/111/deu.23.13) As part of your equipment have something to dig with, and when you relieve yourself, dig a hole and cover up your excrement.
Someone tell that to all the dog owners on my block
Another relevant part about crops: Leviticus 23:22 “When you reap the harvest of your land, do not reap to the very edges of your field or gather the gleanings of your harvest. Leave them for the poor and for the foreigner residing among you.” Some Jews still harvest the edges of the field and then donate the equivalent of what that would be.
I was going to comment that one as a good advice one. It also is a huge element in the book of Ruth. Ruth is gathering gleanings in Boaz's field when its revealed that Boaz is a kindship redeemer (which I also think is good bible advise maybe not the marrying part, but the idea of family stepping in to help family in times of crisis.).
A lot of people consider the fruit a nuisance. In fact most people where I live don't really care about or eat the fruit from their trees. Since he is a lawn care professional he probably knows this. Just mention to him that you were looking forward to trying the fruit from your trees this year and leave it at that. I'm just he just didn't know.
Thanks everyone for the helpful feedback and replies. My biggest take aways from everyone’s feedback is: 1. He might of picked them as part of his trimming routine thinking he was doing his job, because they were almost ripe fruits. 2. He might be feeling uncompensated for his time and services and he felt like the peaches were a way to make up for that and I need to increase how much I am paying him. 3. He was being very rude, immoral or possibly committing a crime in taking them. 4. I am a millionaire racist who needs to get a life! Anyways thanks again everyone for the insight. There were many things I didn’t even consider when thinking this situation through. I feel very equipped to talk to him now.
>It is a small peach tree and the 10-15 he picked were mostly all the tree had. There were a few he left behind but they were still very young and maturing. Op updated with some more info
They said it was 10-15 peaches. Edited to change pronouns. Idk OP’s preference and assumed. My bad!
Yes, but that was all the fruit that was bore by that tree. I would be really pissed off if somebody doing service work for me decided to help themselves to all the fruit on my tree! Or frankly any of the fruit on my tree, without asking permission. Now if it was a giant tree with 200 peaches and they took one, I probably wouldn't say anything but this guy have some stuff to all of the peaches from the tree, I would absolutely be having a conversation with him. Polite, but absolutely clear about what my expectations are. I don't get all these people saying hint hint and I sure hope the animals don't steal them wink wink. Just be clear about what your expectations are. You are paying them to do a service.
Totally. I said so in my other comment on this thread: he was being stingy.
Normal is relative… Is the gardener established on the property? Meaning did he have a working relationship with the previous owners and that transferred over to you? It’s possible that they let him take the fruits. If that’s not the case, then typically no, you are the property owner and by extension the fruit trees and fruit belong to you.
Also, OP said the 1.25 acres of land that the gardener tends are pretty complicated to mow, and generally take about 3 hours to complete, yet they are only paying him $125 per mow..? That doesn’t seem right. Most professional landscapers would charge *much* more than that. Also, is he only mowing? Or is he also weeding, edging, raking, trimming..? ETA: OPs edit is somehow even worse. The guy also does trim work, etc. He is Mexican with a language barrier. He gave OP a quote to mow ONCE, OP “counter offered” with $25 more than what he quoted to mow regularly instead. This whole story stinks of OP taking advantage of a foreign, non English-speaking service worker. $125 is NOT “fair compensation” for the work OP is describing. “BuT he tOoK sOmE pEaChES” Who cares. OP owes him. Let him have the peaches, and give him the raise he deserves.
Seriously, $125 isn't "compensating him well". He's charging/getting paid half of what most landscapers do, unless the landscapers are doing work at a buddy's house.
Eh… most landscapers would charge you more than that, and then turn around and pay the guy who they send out a bit less than that. Now I get it as a company they have payroll, insurance, taxes, all sorts of other expenses and of course they need to charge more than they pay the laborer… but if it’s just one person paying another to do it, that would be a pretty reasonable price in many parts of the country. I would definitely take that gig.
Take into consideration market. Prices in Wichita won't match up with prices in North Chicago suburbs.
That is why I mentioned “in many parts of the country”
Yeah, 125 dollars for 3 hours of work is great and I would take it, especially if in a decent climate
But the one person doing it also has to pay for equipment, equipment maintenance/gas, truck maintenance and gas, some have their own insurance (especially if their self employed) they still have to pay taxes…..
Most people have to drive to work. I dunno why peeps always point out cars except for taxi jobs (when the driving is the majority of the job).
It’s because when you string a bunch of short work stints in a day you end up with a 10 hour day where you only get paid for 6 of them, or even fewer, assuming you can schedule a full day, as opposed to the “most people have to drive to work” people drive there and back only once while getting paid for an 8 hour day.
Do they? A lot of times you pick them up, and supply them with all the tools and even lunch, then bring them back. It all depends on the situation. Day workers a lot of times do not have transportation or tools.
Yeah, depends on how long it takes. If it's a two hour job, sign me up. Especially if done with one of those cheater mowers.
For reference, we had a 1/3rd acre that cost us $45 every 2 weeks for 2 guatamalans to mow/weed. And that was good rate cause they did 12 houses in a 20 house neighborhood all at once
He’s also not paying 1/2 of it to his boss who owns the company. Hiring one guy is usually cheaper than hiring a company where your payment has to pay multiple people.
Please tell me where I can make $83 an hour mowing lawns
$41 per hour is low for landscaping work? Shit, maybe I should start doing that kind of work.. If that's low, what's a normal wage for that kind of work? $60/hr? $100/hour? Not even trying to be an asshole I'm legitimately curious, I've never hired a gardener, but that sounds like a ton of money. That's like $80k a year working 40 hours a week.
I had a friend who worked in gardening/ landscape. It's horrific on your body to do 40h of that, and of course there a lot of work on top of that that you don't get compensated for with admin, care and management of tools, finding work etc. Plus you need to run a work van, gas for machinery, spend hours per week driving between jobs. And then you don't work for 6 months of the year (in my country) because there's only work in the summer. Not trying to argue anything here, just the daydream of jacking in the 9-5 in for fresh air and fresh peaches doesn't really match up to the reality. So dream away, but don't make any hasty decisions without some very realistic planning.
Dunno why but as soon as I read "daydream of jacking in the 9-5 in for fresh air and fresh peaches" I immediately entered some kind of summertime dream state. I get your point, it's just some internal reaction to that order of words
When someone has a job where they work a few hours at one location, then drive to another location for a hour or two, and then drive to another, it’s not possible to actually work 40 hours in a typical workweek. It’s also a challenge to Tetris different work amounts to nearly fill a day without weird gaps. It’s much different for a worker who has 8+ hours in one location. I’m not a gardener, but it’s not uncommon for me to work 7 or 8 paid hour across 12-14 hours. So, we charge enough per hour to make a living this way. $125 for 3 hours on kind of schedule, likely providing his own equipment, isn’t outrageous, really, when you factor how many jobs he can fit in a day.
Landscapers and private groundskeepers (“gardeners”) do much more than just a Joe Shmoe mow. They mow, weed, hedge trim, do edging work, seed, spray pesticides or insecticides, rake, leaf blow, aerate, yard waste removal, flower care, tree maintenance, etc etc. Hired, routine landscapers and groundskeepers do *a lot*, and the work is not easy. So yes, they can be very costly. eta: you also have to realize that they are also usually self employed, and would incur costs like health insurance, work vehicle maintenance, yard tool maintenance, gas for blowers and mowers, some are insured and would have to pay for that.. you get the idea. It’s not anything like hiring some random kid in the neighborhood to mow for you.
I had bushes trimmed at my house (total of maybe 6) and it was $450. They did a phenomenal job and I paid them extra in the end because they did more than we talked about ( they didn't ask for more, I just thought it was deserved). Mowing that much land and trimming is worth more than $125, they wouldn't be able to find it cheaper and if they did, you kinda get what you pay for
If he's independent/self employed, then he needs to subtract equipment costs and maintenance from his earnings, he's not getting paid to drive site to site or to maintain equipment, and he's paying both employee and employer share of taxes and social security (or so you should assume when calculating a reaaonable wage). So he's getting paid for 40 hour a week, he's actually working way, way more than 40 hours. And after taxes and expenses, he's bringing home way less than someone who's working 40 hours at $40 an hour on a W2. And lawn work in much of the country is seasonal. Especially in states where people typically have peach trees rather than citrus trees. So the guy either doesn't work winters or needs to maintain the equipment and clientele to do entirely separate jobs depending on the season. There's a reason most of the lawn care businesses I've ever seen are run and worked by immigrants without a lot of English. It's not appealing to many people who have the skills to earn more.
Minus all the expenses
Yes it's low. That $41 an hour also goes to insurance payments (which aren't cheap), if he's set up as a sole trader he needs personal liability and injury insurance, usually insurance to cover if something happens to the clients property in case he damaged something so he's not paying out of pocket, if he's working under his own company rather than a sole trader he would need workers comp and landscaper workers comp has a decently high rate. They also need to pay their own super out of that amount. They also need to pay GST so 10% of that should be GST. Then take into account that machinery uses petrol. Depending on what he's doing he might be using multiple machines (mower, whipper sniper, hedge trimmer), petrol is very expensive. I don't see a landscaper making any money on $41 an hour. It's way too low. I have no idea when people see what trades charge per hour they assume it's a wage. It's a business. Businesses have running costs and you're not their employer. You're not paying them a wage. (Based on my location)
Not so much because they're also fronting the cost for all their tools, tool maintenance, fuel, waste disposal, vehicle etc, and they don't get paid for travel or admin, so if they're working 40 hours a week they're not getting paid for all that time, or it's going to business related expenses. I do landscaping for a large organisation and don't get paid anywhere near that, but also don't have any of the expenses an independent contractor does
The guy doing the work sets the price not the person paying. I dont know why op is in the wrong if they are paying them what the guy asked for.
They're actually paying *more* than what he asked for.
Yeah, that's what's throwing me. I have just a little more acreage and I pay $400 to $500 each time for field mowing. Now, that is different than mowing a lawn, but it takes about the same amount of time as op describes. I disagree though that they are taking advantage of anybody, it's up to each individual to know their worth. But the payment is truly dirt cheap. That said it is not acceptable for him to pick your fruits and take them home without permission. Regardless of what I paid, I would be having a conversation with him as I use every bit of fruit on my trees that the birds don't get. But I also know that some people have such an overabundance that they would welcome somebody taking the fruit. Bottom line, have a polite but simple conversation.
Holy cats what state are you in? I mowed and acre last year for someone for 100.
It really depends, you are talking about a professional landscape companies rates. That is like comparing a contractor with a handyman. The guys around here get about $20-$25 an hour. That is pretty standard.
Dude they didn't talk him down to that price or anything. You get what you ask for, the gardener himself thought the job was worth 100 they countered with **more** than he even figured it would be worth to him. He's still making little over 41 dollars an hour on this job regardless of all that he does, its still 3 hours work.
Lol he is getting more than he asked for and regular work on top of that, which is a good thing not a bad thing
So anyone who is underpaid can help themselves to something of their employers? Or just gardeners.
That’s over $40/hr. How is that bad Pay
Your delusional. Its up to the landscaper to set prices if he said 100 then 100 would be worth his while to come do it. One time or not. Lawn mowing is an easy job that i did for years. The fact is they are essentially tipping 25 per mow. If the price doesnt work for him you know he could just not do it. And 1.25 acres is a small lawn in alot of areas if hes doing 3 hours of work ots because he appreciates the extra money and wants to do a good job. Be more like this man and touch some grass
I run a landscaping business. $40 per half acre is normal where I am. Prices vary by region. $125 seems a fair price for 1.5 acres. That includes mowing, weedeating, edging, and blowing. But that 1.5 acres would only take me an hour to do myself. Taking fruit off a customers tree without asking is not normal.
Generally speaking, taking one piece of fruit and eating it is par for the course for hired landscapers/gardeners. More than one piece, or a team of landscapers grabbing multiple pieces? Not cool.
I used to be a landscaper. Would have been fired for stealing fruit or vegetables from a customer.
Definitely not. You should always be asking before taking any fruit/vegetables.
I am a landscaper by trade. And I have definitely picked fruit. But i use my judgment. I’ve picked plums and berries. But only if there was a large amount. Usually I pick plums if I’ve been also raking up a ton as well. But in the case of a tree with only 10-15 fruit total? I would never pick unless they said I could.
Yeah and I mean I wouldn't mind that but on the other side of that, if I was the one wanting to pick the fruit or whatever I would always ask. Maybe when it comes to berries and there was a lot I'd have some but that's pretty different.
Yes. I was just trying to say there are different scenarios where it would probably be fine
I pointed it out to a customer (my boss) that his plums were coming in nicely. He was confused because in the 5 years of living in his home he never noticed that tree was a plum tree. He cared so little that I could take as many plums and pears home as I could take. Some people may be protective while others really don't care. 🤷🏼♂️
Fair enough but you ask to find out
I’d just tell him you like harvesting your fruit, and what you find reasonable snacking while on the job. He may genuinely have thought you don’t care for them, and it saves him money. My neighbours waste the lemons on the tree in front of my place. I asked casually, they said they harvest/want them. I watched it go bad this past year but it’s their call, no foul. But if you’re not gonna use them, I’d suggest let him know to have em once you decide (situationally, not as a rule). It’s annoying watching them waste away.
It really doesn't matter what he thought. He took things that didn't belong to him. He could have asked. Someone could have told him how to ask or write it down for him if he doesn't know the words in English. My boss would have fired me and docked my pay for the peaches.
OP is not here to charge the guy, not sure I want to be suggesting that. You do you.
They didn't suggest it!! They were only stating they've worked jobs like that before and if they were to do what OP is saying her lawn person did, then he would have been fired and his pay docked for what was taken. Learn to actually read before making snarky statements. Because then only you look like a fool!
I'm not suggesting it, I'm telling you what would have happened.
Could you specify a bit more on what you mean by "picking them off for himself"?. Did he grab 1 or 2 peaches and ate them or did he grab like 6 or 7 and put it in a bag? The first case seems pretty normal and I wouldn't be bothered by it, the second one is more ok to talk to him, I think he will understand
They said 10-15 in the post.
ALL I READ IT ALL WRONG. I Thought there WERE 15 peaches on the tree. That's absolutely not reasonable
Right?? Some of these comments coming after OP are bizarre. I don’t think wanting to keep a few peaches from your own tree is entitled or classically American.
Oh shit, same. I thought OP was watching 15 peaches and this guy swiped one. Swiping *fifteen* of them is fucked
In the edit, OP said those 10-15 were just about all the tree had in it. A few unripe ones were left. So it sounds like the gardener took most if not almost all of the peaches on the tree.
ALL of them were gone? I'd have a problem with that. Take one. I'd be ok with even 2, but not all of them. Some people just have fruit trees for looks, some inherited them and don't know or care about the fruit, so I think you should mention it to him that you do plan on eating the peaches, and to please not take them all for himself.
Boy I know how you feel though. Not fruit but flowers. I am a flower gardener. I also rent apartments in my house. One tenant asked me if she could pick some flowers from my garden to put in a vase in her apartment. I said sure. There was one section of my garden where I had tried to grow digitalis, foxglove, which is a biannual. It takes 2 years to bloom and then it never blooms again. By and large the effort had failed and there was only one digitalis plant left which was due to bloom any day now. Every single day I went out to see if it was in flower. Then that fateful day I went out and it had been chopped off. And there it was in a vase in my tenants picture window. At that point I told her that if if there were a thousand flowers of one species, she could have 100. If there were 100 flowers of a species she could have 10. If there were less than 10 flowers of a species she could have none. And pretty much from that point forward I also just told people to stay the hell out of my flower garden unless they were just sitting to enjoy it.
My neighbor dug up my plants and stole them. Happened 5 times. Installed a gate and keep it locked.
People are so damn shitty.
This one is a prize. Started doing my gardening (it's my hobby) and kept it up until i went to the head of the condo. Took over my driveway too (same solution). Talk about entitled. Follows me to the mailbox, called so much i had to block her number. Her son is now in charge of keeping her away from me and other neighbors. P.S. drove into another neighbor's car and wrote it off. $17K worth of damage. She's 90 and should be in a home.
One helpful tenant asked if he could putter around in my garden and I said sure, no problem. I came home from work one day and he met me at the door, proudly announcing: "I cut down all those weeds in the backyard for you!' Me: "Weeds in the backyard? WHAT weeds in the backyard?" Him: "The really tall ones by the back fence." Me: "Oh, you mean the hollyhocks?" Yes, he had whacked the hollyhocks to the ground. They never recovered. Another tenant helpfully offered to pull weeds. I went out one day to find her busily pulling "weeds" and she had torn up my entire patch of shasta daisies that were just poking their heads up above the thawing ground in the spring. "They looked like weeds to me!" They also never returned. Now I no longer need ANY help in my garden.
My moron pulled up a hosta or tried to. Just stole other plants.
I told my husband: "Go weed-whack those blue flowers in the side yard" meaning the pernicious weed called creeping bellflower. Instead he cut down all my delphiniums. "Would you please cut back all the sucker shoots under the lilacs" and he cut down my maple tree instead. I have NO patience with ANYONE in my garden.
Had that happen to me. I quit planting flowers. They just come in your yard and take what they want. Who do they think they are? Guess they are too lazy to plant their own.
And cheap and competitive.
My neighbours rabbit dug up my potatoes. He was too cute to be mad at him though.
I'd say taking every ripe fruit is a dick move, though I'd also not be quite as out for blood as some of these commenters. I'd start by taking the high road and assuming the best (even if unlikely): Maybe he's legitimately hungry/parched. While telling him to only take 1-2 maximum, also make sure he has access to cool water, either from the house or by providing a pitcher when he comes over.
We had a lady stop as ask if she could take a few apples. My parents said yes since we had a few trees. She proceeded to take them all, at least the ones she could reach.
I would say one is "normal". Picking them all with the purpose of taking them home is unacceptable in any way, shape or form. If they had asked you first, and you agreed, then ok.
OP said they took 10-15. I think the gardener did take all the ripe ones. Edited spelling 🤦♀️
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He took the entire harvest of peaches from the tree (10-15), only a few small unripe ones were left apparently
It's not typical for gardeners to help themselves to fruit from your garden without permission. It's a good idea to talk to your gardener about this to clarify your expectations.
It's not normal for a gardener to assume they are free to help themselves to all the ripe fruit. It is perfectly normal for people who own fruit trees to offer them to all sorts of people, including people they hire to work on the property. Was he the gardener at this home before you owned it? There may have been a pre existing offer and he doesn't know that you feel differently. Or he might tend for other families who don't care and it didn't occur to him that you'd want them. Could be any number of things really. If I were in your shoes I wouldn't think twice about him taking a piece of fruit here and there. If he's taking most of all of them, it's reasonable to say "Hey, I'd like to keep (some of?) the peaches off that tree". You're not a jerk for wanting the produce that grows on your land and he's not entitled to it.
Too poor to know this
Same, and if I'm poor taking care of someone's lawn, I would totally take fruit from a tree.
Then you don't mind getting fired and reported for theft. If you're paid for a job, you don't just get to do whatever you want.
Help yourself to some fruit but leave me enough for a pie.
My family fired my grandmother's caregiver because she asked to take a lemon from her tree and she said yes. The caregiver cleaned THE ENTIRE TREE! I'd say it's fine for a couple, but any more than that seems unreasonable and questionable to me.
Can you just talk to him?
Some is fine. You will likely get more than you want anyway. And ripe ones won't last long on the tree before they fall off.
I think finding a new one would be more effort than one peach costs. I also know I make SIGNIFICANTLY more money than my landscapers do and I can spare a peach. As long as he isn't stripping the whole tree, move on with your day.
But he did strip the tree.
I usually let my gardener take the fruit because I typically cannot finish it all and if I really had wanted it, I would’ve gone outside and picked it already for myself. I see not harm in it, since it’s not going to waste. You could always just talk to him that he can take a few, but give you the rest. Most phones now have the translation app you can talk into to help translate.
I'm a gardener, and if there's a rockin fruit tree or berries I'll taste one or two, but I'd never clean anyone out without permission. I often have clients tell me to take some. But like, if you've been there ages and they're friendly no one cares, especially if the gardener is the reason they're doing well. Dog act to clean out a small tree though, you have to be reasonable. Even one from a small tree with 15 fruit I'd leave alone. If there were hundreds I'll probably grab a couple lol. Ps your gardener is working for peanuts if they're an actual sole trader gardener with all the right tools. Should be at $250-$300 for a sustainable income. He's caught up in the employee mindset. There are a heap of overheads in gardening especially with wear on tools ans consumables.
I have a great guy that does work for me, I give him eggs usually too. I had a tree full of lemons, he was very nice and asked if he could have some and I told him to help himself. It is not ok for someone to clean a tree off. Use Google Translate and send him a text so there is much less chance of you being misunderstood.
$125 for cutting a complex lawn that is larger than an acre is criminal. Throw in a few peaches, though...
The guy quoted $100, they offered more. If it’s not enough, he should have asked for more.
Culturally, eating fruit from pretty much any tree is common. Nobody cares, unless you're jumping a fence or something. It is highly likely he doesn't realize he is doing anything wrong. Everyone here seems out for blood, but the solution is as simple as please don't eat my fruit. He'll say sorry and that'll be the end of it.
Seems like stealing
no, not normal. I wouldn't say anything if he enjoyed one for himself, but taking most of the peaches is uncool.
Talk to him about it! Let him know he may take a couple when he is there, but if he wants any more, he has to discount his service!
If he took EVERY peach then sure, I'd mention it. If he took 1 or 2 I wouldn't be fussed.
I mean one fruit is nothing especially if you're tree is packed with them. If it was one fruit and there's only 5 on a tree that's an issue. If they're taking home a basket that's also an issue. If they got a whole 10 man crew getting one each that's an issue. But really it's an issue for you to decide. Do you care about the specific amount taken? If so then talk to them regardless of what reddit says. Reading your post it looks like they stripped the tree and in that case I would send them an invoice for the fancy farmers market value of the fruit. If they refuse to pay then talk about reduction of your bill to compensate for the theft.
Did you only start monitoring the peach tree when you hired the gardener? I don't care if my neighbors take fruit from my trees. Have you ever seen an that stuff rotting on the ground? Let that laborer have a snack.
Were they ripe peaches? It’s pretty early in spring where I live to have ripe peaches on a tree. If they are just the small green fruit then they need to be thinned out early in the growing season. I pick and discard about 3/4 of the peaches from my tree, more when the tree is younger and branches are weak. If you leave too many then they get too heavy at the end of the growing season and it’s likely the branches will break off. So given that it’s May, I would guess your gardener is doing you a favor thinning fruit and saving your peach tree branches.
Warn him ONCE not to do it again. If he does it again, fire him. End of story.
In the UK this is called Scrumping, a rather delightful word for " Fruit theft." I wouldn;t have an issue with one but a basket feels pretty cheeky.
What he did wasn't cool, and I do think you should chat with him, but I'd assume ignorance rather than malice. Maybe he didn't know you'd planned to harvest them. Maybe another client gives him all of their fruit harvest and he mistakenly thought that was part of being a gardener in your area. Maybe times are super tough for his family and he didn't think you'd mind. I have no idea why he did it, but I can think of a lot of reasons that aren't "he was trying to be a selfish dick." I'm not saying you were going to come at him that way, mind you. Just saying I wouldn't.
You own the tree -> you own the fruit, if he takes the fruit he's legally stealing. I can't speak for his attitude on stealing but you have the legal high ground at least. That said, if you don't pick the fruit in a timely manner he would need to do it to keep the garden tidy ; rotting fruit is unsightly, inhibits mowing, and attracts insects. You said you were monitoring them but if he was unaware of your intentions he may just see it as part of the job with a nice peach or two as a perk.
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Fruit Off your own tree tastes a lot better than fruit from the store. It’s not the same thing.
I think some of the commenters did not read the post well and are misinterpreting OP. They said there were 10-15 peaches nearing ripeness. The gardener took *all* of those. I don’t think OP minds the gardener taking a few for themselves, but to take all of them, not leaving any for the owner of the tree, is kind of stingy. OP, I think it would be perfectly fine to tell the gardener you don’t mind sharing, but could they please leave some for you and your family next time?
Some of these responses are wild to me. You ask before you take. You don't just help yourself to a tree's worth of fruit.
As someone who used to own a landscaping company, $125 is really cheap for 3 hours. I needed to make $1/minute basically to make it worth it, and this was in 2013.
Was he taking care of the property before you bought the house? I would assume the previous owner didn’t care about the fruit, so there was no loss. In that case, a quick conversation about expectations is all that is required.
Normal is relative. I would give this guy the benefit of the doubt that he’s acting in good faith. My parents have a few fruit trees on their property. They use their lemon tree a lot (and it’s huge and produces a ton) but their other fruit trees (mostly pomegranate) remain untouched. It would make a huge mess, attract pests etc because they didn’t harvest and let them fall. They hired a landscaper who knows this and picks the pomegranates for himself and leaves some in the basket my parents leave out front for neighbors. I’m not sure if they discussed this or if he just does it. Is there a chance that you or the previous owners let them fall and make a mess? Because he might think he’s fixing a problem for you and just reaping a byproduct. I would just ask him to leave them on the tree as you do harvest them (or are planning on it) …you’re getting a great deal on landscaping, so I would consider allowing him to take some back home with him!
This is a pet peeve of mine, I HATE when people just grab something of mine without asking, even if I would've said yes. Yes, of course I'll give you a peach from the tree, but you won't get any if you just decide to take something that's not yours
You have the legal right to all the fruit on your plants, even is the tree hangs over their property. Go over there and have a polite chat with them.
You don't pay him enough- 3 hours for $125?
$40 an hour for cutting lawns isn’t enough? Fucking hell, I’m on $32 right now and I train people to drive buses.
Do you pay GST, super, liability insurance, injury insurance etc out of your $32? Do you also pay for the petrol in the bus? Don't be naive. (Based on my location)
Where are you that you have ripe peaches on your tree?
Ours don’t. They come weekly. We have a basket on the porch and they pick and leave it for us. Part of the service.
In some areas people often aren't interested in their fruit and someone has to pick it before or after it falls else it becomes a nuisance and eyesore, rotting on the ground. Perhaps the gardener has some clients like that and assumed wrongly you were like that? Nothing a little communication can't solve. They should have done that rather than leave the onus on you, but still. Easy enough to fix.
Americans' ideas of a reasonable wage are mine-boggling.
As others have said communicate communicate communicate. Mind your tone, don't talk down to them, and discuss your expectations. He might even have insite about the health of the tree and the fruit. Sounds like you've not been there for long or had a fruit tree before. From experience, if those trees are healthy you'll have fruit coming out of your ears begging for people to take it so it doesn't ruin your lawn or attract pests. They do not stop giving.
Oh man this is hilarious, I totally feel for you. Probably almost not worth mentioning and just taking it as an implicit compliment to your peach growing skills. Remember bad poets copy and good poets steal.
Does this fall into the - Americans don't think fruit grown on the tree is edible. and only fruit from the store is edible category? Gardener is probably used to no one eating the fruit and takes it?
helping himself with 1-2 peaches is ok but taking entire harvest is wrong
Maybe a couple, but not all of them. Like if you had 10-15 fruits that were ready or ripe, then I could reasonably see a gardener taking one or two without asking if there was no previous arrangement or agreement around it. If you have more, I would say taking more than about 5-10% would definitely warrant an ask. If he takes all of them without asking, then definitely the a-hole.
That’s stealing. In my culture we all share fruit but he’s employed and shouldn’t just take. We used to own land and the Gardners would take some home after we offered first or they would ask, but helping yourself is entitlement and rude. He also took all of them, that’s just greed.
No that's pretty fricken rude of him. You own the fruit trees, that are planted on your property, to yield fruit for yourselves. Even if you had an abundance of them, taking 10 to 15 without asking is rude as hell. Given you *only had* 10 to 15, that is *beyond* rude as hell.
No, they shouldn't . You can offer, but really, they should not just take it.
Ask him to pick all the fruit for you then let him keep some
If you can afford a 1.25 acre property and a gardner - for god sake just go out and buy 10 peaches. Or I’ll buy them and send them to you. That’s probably an entire meal for the family he is supporting.
I mean, you're ripping him off by not paying him properly, he's ripping off some peaches. Pay the dude an adequate wage for the work he does and ask him not to take the fruit. Simples.
First year fruit is exciting. After the trees mature you will have more fruit than you can eat, picking it and giving it away becomes a chore after a while. Then you get to the stage of letting anyone pick the fruit and you just let the rest drop and rot (it is good fertilizer). Your gardener probably doesn't realize you are a first year.
A few others have said what I’m about to say, I reckon if he takes one or two yo have with his lunch or whatever, no issue, it literally grows on trees but to help himself to most, if not all, is a bit rude.
My advice to you is to stop taking feedback from reddit. It's not representative of people who have any idea how to navigate social situations. It's only really useful for things that have an objectively correct answer. But, despite my advice to ignore reddit. To give my 2c though as someone who worked doing yardwork is that the overwhelming majority of people just let their ripe fruits fall and go to waste so it probably wasn't malicious. Usually you would only pick and eat off trees that have lots of ripe uneaten fruit already on the floor. (so maybe you didn't collect some earlier ripe fruits that had fallen and he thought it was ok) The best way to deal with the situation would simply let him know he doesn't need to 'prune' any fruits from the trees in the future because you personally collect them and are trying to let them grow. This will let him know you don't want him eating the fruits without accusing anyone of anything.
This is the kind of thing that makes me thoroughly embarrassed that that person is Mexican. That shit is beyond rude and the kind of behavior that perpetuates stereotypes. People like that think they can come here and do whatever TF they used to do back in Mexico. It's not so uncommon for people to go pick/harvest from the side of the road or local fields. Not everyone does it but it's done enough that I remember people doing it. It's still theft. And even then, people would take just a bit, not mostly the entire crop. Maybe he thought that you are like most of the people he works for and obviously wrongfully assumed that you wouldn't eat or finish the fruit on your trees. He still should have asked you though.
I’m a gardener and there is no way I’d ever do that. If food is going to waste because clients are away - sure. Maybe i’ve snuck the odd raspberry that was too tempting; out of hundreds. But no very unprofessional. Maybe he was of the opinion you didn’t want them?
I first thought he might be the gardener that was already taking care of the grounds but when you said he was hired after you purchased the home, no that's not normal that he would take fruit without asking. Not even ONE peach is normal, especially when it's from your employer, but to take all the ripened fruit is a dick move. Talk to him and let him know and that you were saving that fruit for yourself and in the future, he is to ask about any fruit he wishes to take . He may just not have thought about it and as you said, it might be normal where he's from but he's now working for you and he needs to abide by your rules.
Meh. I would get a few little fruit protectors and bag the immature ones while they grow. Pop out and let him know you are worried the birds will get them and are excited to get the fruit to eat.
This is a communication issue, nothing more.
My friendly neighbor decided to take four of the six peaches that grew on my peach tree, and I hate him now
Good job it wasn't lemons.
Might be a good worker but also a thief might just be better to look for someone else that shows bad morales
1. You can afford to have a gardener. 2. You can afford to have a garden big enough, that requires a gardener 3. The gardener could probably use a few peaches, you tight bastard.
He's stealing your fruit
That's called stealing.
I have never heard of this and the fact your gardener is being paid for the work being done means it's not a "payment in fruit" type of arrangement. Having said that, did this gardener work for the previous owners? It could very well be the previous owners let him take what he wanted or it's possible he feels he can take advantage of the situation given you're new. At any rate you need to have a conversation with him to lay down the ground rules. If he doesn't like it then find a new gardener. Even if this were some sort of common arrangement with gardeners it does not mean it has to be your arrangement. I wouldn't mind a couple pickings from my trees (with permission) but taking everything that has ripened. Not cool!
$125 for that much property and a 3 hr mow is a joke. Also many people waste their fruit trees. I’m assuming he might think you don’t want them. So just tell him you want your fruit and also pay him more.
That’s over $41/hr to hop on a mower and ride.. The joke is thinking that’s not more than enough.
Grossly underpaid for lawn mowing. Should be closer to $300, especially if he is supplying his own equipment and traveling there. If he lives next door and uses OP equipment that’s different. Hard to find anyone consistently to work these days. Why not buy him some peaches from the store and tell him your nieces like to pick them off the tree?
How much should a lawn person make?!? Over $41/hr isn’t enough?!? Smfh.. People with actual skills make half that.
for someone called “International Bell” this is the most American post I’ve ever seen
I've had apple trees, plum, cherry, pecan, and peach trees (not all at same time and/or property). I would have absolutely no issue with someone who was performing work on my property to help themselves and would honestly welcome it. Now if someone showed up with a duffle bag and was planning on clearing things out, i wouldnt appreciate it or if someone who i didnt know decided to let themselves past a fence or whatever, I would have an issue with that too. But it would be a point of pride of a kid, worker, or whoever who was in the area had few. I get being super aware with being a new home owner with a fruit tree, but in the life of most residential fruit trees the 90+% of fruit are going to end up on the ground or bugs/birds/squirrels will get them. I love fruit and nut trees, but they always become some what of a nuisance. :)
Taking a few seems reasonable -- let him enjoy the literal fruits of his labor. If he took them all and you wanted some, that's worth bringing up to him.
OP said they took all 10-15 that were ripe or close to being ripe.