AI prompts for gardeners

Act as an experienced gardener writing a quote for a regular maintenance client.
Turn what I dictated at the kerb into a clear, professional quote in plain English.
Client: [client name]. Address: [address].
What I said: [dictated notes, e.g. standard suburban block, front and back, roughly 400 square, ride-on fits through the side gate, edges and blow-down, clippings away, fortnightly].
Set it out as TWO separate lines: (1) the first catch-up visit to get it back under control, and (2) the ongoing fortnightly rate from then on. Never merge them into one number.
Say plainly what a standard visit includes (mow, edges, blow-down, clippings taken away) and what it doesn't.
Leave both prices blank for me to fill in. Australian spelling.

Two lines, always. A single number is how a catch-up visit quietly turns into a cheap fortnightly forever.

A prospect sent me [number] photos and called it a "small tidy-up". Job: [address].
What I can see in the photos: [describe, e.g. grass past knee height, hedges two years unclipped, no clear path to the back].
Before I put a price on it, list what these photos DON'T show and what I have to ask or check — access and side-gate width for the ride-on, whether it's a mower job or a brushcutter job, how many trailer loads of green waste, tip fees, anything over head height, whether there's anything a certified arborist should look at.
Then draft the message asking them for the missing photos and answers.
Don't guess a price. Don't tell me what's safe to cut.

The jungle priced off one flattering photo from the back step is the classic: a whole day, three trailer loads and a blown belt, for the price of a mow.

Write a quote for grounds maintenance at a strata block for [strata manager name] at [managing agency].
Block: [address], [number] units, [what's there, e.g. lawns front and rear, garden beds along the driveway, hedge to the street boundary, common bin area].
Set out the scope per visit, the frequency, and price it as a schedule they can take to a committee.
Include the bits strata actually asks for: a PO number field, 30-day terms, my certificate of currency, and a line offering a quarterly site report with photos.
Keep the dollar figures blank for me. Businesslike, not chatty — this gets read by a committee, not a homeowner.

I've got an existing fortnightly client at [address] and I said "I'll get you a price for the hedges by Thursday". It's now [when].
Hedge details: [e.g. 12 metres of lilly pilly along the fence line, about head height, last done maybe 18 months ago, green waste to go].
Draft a short message with the price framed as an add-on to their regular visit, not a separate job — and offer to keep it on a [frequency] cycle so it never gets away again.
Leave the price blank. Two short paragraphs, friendly, no apology for taking a while.

Act as a senior gardener reviewing a maintenance quote before I send it.
Job: [address]. My scope per visit: [paste it]. My rate per stop: [rate]. Frequency: [e.g. fortnightly].
List the "did you allow for..." questions I should answer before I lock in a rate that I'm stuck with for years: travel from the previous stop, green-waste volume and tip fees, tip run time, whether the ride-on fits or it's all push mower, edges and blow-down time, seasonal growth swing, whether the client wants beds and weeding too.
Just a checklist of questions. Don't invent prices.

Write a friendly, professional reply to a new enquiry for regular garden maintenance.
They wrote: "[paste their message, e.g. our lawn's got away from us over summer, do you take on new clients]".
I'm a gardener working [area]. Thank them, say I've got room on the round, and ask the 3-4 things I need to price it ([e.g. address, photos of front and back including the worst corner, is there side access and how wide, what they want done — just mow and edges or beds too]).
Explain in one line that the first catch-up visit and the ongoing fortnightly are priced separately, so they aren't surprised.
Keep it short and easy to read on a phone.

It's rained for [how long] and I've had to push the round. Write ONE short message I can send to every client I'm missing today.
Details: today was [day]'s stops, I'm now getting to them [when], and the wet weather means [e.g. the ground's too soft for the ride-on and I'd tear the lawn up].
Explain why in one line (a gardener who mows a sodden lawn does damage), give them the new day, and say they don't need to do anything.
No grovelling. It rained. Same message has to work for a $70 fortnightly and a strata block.

Three days of rain is the difference between one text and twenty-two texts you send at 9pm. Write it once.

A prospective client at [address] has asked why my first visit is [amount] but the fortnightly is only [amount].
Write a short, confident explanation in plain English: the first visit is dragging it back from [state it's in], and the ongoing rate is keeping it there once it's under control. That's why one's a day and one's under an hour.
Use a simple everyday comparison. End with the fortnightly rate, so the number they remember is the small one. Friendly, no jargon, don't be defensive about it.

Write a short, straight message to [client name] at [address] about [the tree / limb, e.g. the big gum overhanging the back deck with the dead limb in it].
I maintain their garden but this is beyond what I do. Say plainly that this one belongs with a certified arborist, that I'm not going to make a call on whether a limb is safe to drop, and offer to keep the rest of the garden ticking over as normal in the meantime.
Don't cite any regulation, licence code or standard. Don't assess the tree. Don't say it's dangerous or that it's fine — just that it's an arborist's call, not mine.
Two short paragraphs. Straight, not alarming.

The AI never makes the horticultural call. What's safe to spray, safe to cut, or belongs to an arborist stays with you, your licence and your training.

A client at [address] says my fortnightly rate is more than the last gardener charged. Help me write a polite, confident reply.
What they get from me: [e.g. same day every fortnight, mow, edges, blow-down, clippings taken away and disposed of, I turn up when I say, I'm insured, I tell them before anything changes].
Don't be defensive and don't drop the rate. Point out — without slagging anyone off — that the last bloke's price is why he isn't coming anymore. Offer to walk them through what a visit includes. Leave the door open.
Short and respectful.

Rain has cost me [number] days and I need to rebuild the round without losing anyone.
Here's what's stacked up: [list each stop: client, suburb, normal day, how overdue it now is, e.g. Henley - Tue fortnightly, now 5 days over; the corner block - Wed, monthly through winter, due; the strata at Marden - Thu, quarterly report due with it].
Suggest an order across the next [number] days that cuts driving between suburbs, puts the most overdue and the fastest-growing ones first, and flags anyone I should message because they'll be waiting an extra week.
Simple day-by-day list. Tell me what won't fit rather than pretending it will.

Write a short confirmation text I can adapt for each of tomorrow's stops.
Include: I'm at [address] on [day] between [time window], roughly [how long] on site, and what they need to do first ([e.g. leave the side gate unlocked, dog inside, cars off the verge, bins in]).
Add one line saying they don't need to be home, and my number if anything changes.
Clear and friendly. Short enough that they actually read it.

A client at [address] asked to skip a fortnight back in [month] and never came back on the round. They didn't cancel — they just went quiet, and I only noticed [when].
Write a short, warm, no-guilt message: I've got a spot on [day], I'm in their street anyway, and I can get it back under control.
Don't ask why they stopped. Don't mention the gap in a way that makes them defensive. Make saying yes the easiest thing they do today.
2-3 sentences. Sounds like a real person, not a win-back campaign.

This is the leak nobody sees. Nobody fires you — they skip one fortnight and never come back on, and you don’t notice for six months.

Write a message to [client name] at [address] about changing their frequency for the season.
Now: [current, e.g. fortnightly]. Proposed: [e.g. monthly through the cold months, back to fortnightly from when it takes off again].
Explain it honestly — the grass isn't growing, so I'm not going to charge them to look at it — and give the month it goes back up so it isn't a fresh conversation later.
Make clear they stay on the round either way, same day, same gardener. Short and matter-of-fact.

Here are tomorrow's stops: [list each with suburb, what's involved and rough time, e.g. Henley - fortnightly mow and edges (45 min); the corner block - mow, edges, hedge trim (1.5 hr); Marden strata - lawns and common beds (2 hr); ...].
I'm losing [how long] driving between them. Suggest an order that cuts the driving, group anything in the same suburb, and tell me honestly how many stops fit in [number] hours including a tip run for the green waste.
Flag any stop I should move to another day to make the rest of the run work. Simple list, no waffle.

Write a short, warm message asking [client name] for a Google review.
Timing: I've been doing their place at [address] [how long, e.g. every fortnight since March] and [what just happened, e.g. I got the hedges back to square this week].
Thank them, say it genuinely helps a small local gardening business, and make it easy: mention I'll send the review link.
Humble, no pressure. 2-3 sentences.

Ask a regular after something they actually noticed — the hedges done, the jungle beaten — not after the four-hundredth routine mow.

Write a genuine, friendly reply to this 5-star review for my gardening business: "[paste review]".
Thank them by name if given, mention something specific from their place (e.g. getting the back yard back under control, or the hedges), and keep it warm and human. Don't sound copy-pasted.

Help me reply to a negative review for my gardening business. The review says: "[paste review]".
My side / what actually happened: [your notes].
Write a calm, professional public reply: acknowledge their experience, don't get defensive or argue details publicly, and invite them to contact me directly to sort it. Short and level-headed.

Write a short, businesslike message to [strata manager name] at [managing agency].
I've been maintaining [block address] for [how long] — [what's gone well, e.g. same day every fortnight, quarterly reports on time, no complaints to the committee].
Ask whether they've got other blocks in [area] that need a contractor, and say I've got capacity for [number] more.
Confident, not pushy, no discount gimmicks. This is a professional buyer with a portfolio, not a homeowner — write it like one.

Write a short message to [client name] at [address] moving them onto automatic billing for their regular visits.
Details: [rate] per visit, [frequency], invoice goes out automatically the day of the visit, paid by [saved card / direct debit].
Frame it as less hassle for both of us — they stop getting a bill to remember, I stop chasing. Say plainly they can stop it any time and that nothing changes about the visits.
Warm and easy. Two short paragraphs, no finance-department tone.

Write a friendly reminder to [client name] about [amount, e.g. $90] outstanding for their visit at [address] on [date].
It's now [how many fortnights] behind, and I've kept mowing the whole time.
Assume it's an honest oversight — nobody's dodging $90, they just never opened the email. Keep it light, restate how to pay, and finish by offering to put them on a saved card so it never comes up again.
Don't make it a debt letter. It's smaller than the phone call it would take to chase it — the message has to cost me nothing to send.

This is the trade’s real leak. A trade sitting on one big invoice will ring about it, because it’s worth the call. Nobody rings about $90 — so it just quietly stays unpaid.

Draft a quarterly site report for [strata manager name] at [managing agency] for the block at [address].
My notes from the quarter: [paste rough notes, e.g. lawns mowed fortnightly all quarter, hedge to the street done in [month], irrigation to the front bed dripping, retaining bed near unit 4 needs mulch, the gum by the carport has a limb I want an arborist to look at].
Set it out as: what was done, what I've noticed, and what I'd recommend the committee consider — each as short bullets a busy manager reads in ninety seconds.
Where something needs a specialist, say so and say who (e.g. an arborist) — don't assess it and don't recommend a treatment.
Note where photos go. Leave any pricing out; I'll quote separately.

I'll list what a day on the round actually cost me and I want to know what a stop really earns.
Day: [date]. Stops: [number] at [rate] each. Costs: [list each item and amount, e.g. tip fees for two trailer loads $48, fuel $65, trimmer line and blades $32, ride-on service put aside $20/day].
Group them (tip / fuel / consumables / plant), total each group, subtract from the day's takings, and show me what's actually left per stop.
Format it so I can drop it straight into my records. Don't guess at anything I haven't given you.

Don’t paste anything you wouldn’t want stored — keep client bank details and the like out of it.

Write a polite but firm email to [supplier name] chasing an order.
Order: [what you ordered, e.g. twenty bags of mulch and two rolls of trimmer line] placed on [date], order ref [number].
It was due [date] and I've got it going in at a client's on [day], which is the only day I'm in that suburb for a fortnight.
Ask for a firm pickup or delivery time and to be called if there's a delay. Professional and to the point.

Draft a starting-point safe work method statement for [task, e.g. hedge trimming above head height off a platform ladder on a sloping block / clearing an overgrown block with a brushcutter].
List the main hazards, the controls I should have in place, and the PPE required, as a simple checklist.
Note that I need to review it against the actual site and my own training before using it, and that it isn't final or compliant on its own.
Do not tell me what chemical to use, what mix, or whether a limb is safe to drop — that stays with my own training, and an arborist's judgement where it's their call. Don't cite any regulation or standard.

Always have a qualified person check safety documents against the actual site and current requirements.