After being in the family grocery business for more than 20 years, Jeff Gardner awoke one morning and said to his wife Tracy, “I want to maintain lawns.” Just like that, he turned in his apron and started down a new career path. Jeff made that decision three years ago.
Today, the owner of Gardner’s Irrigation and Landscaping Co. located in Corinth, Mississippi, delivers maintenance and installation services to 20 customers, many of whom reside in spectacular antebellum homes.
How does one go from selling groceries one day to maintaining high-profile properties the next? Jeff took his cue from his father-in-law who maintained a couple of large properties in town. One was an 80- plus-acre contract, the other a 12- acre hospital. After spending a summer working on these properties and gaining both experience and exposure, Gardner launched his business the following spring. “I put a sign on the side of my truck that first summer,” says Gardner, noting how that effort was, and still is, the extent of his advertising. “People in town saw the sign and my work, and service requests followed.”
Dad, It's Not A Toy!
Gardner says his motto has always been to have the right tool for the job. So when he decided to get into lawn maintenance, one of the first things he did was drive to his friend’s outdoor power equipment store. “If you were going to mow for a living, what kind of mower would you buy?” he asked Brian Ferrell, owner of Ferrell’s Home & Outdoor in Corinth. “That depends on the application,” his friend replied. “But if you want your lawns to look good, I would suggest that you buy a Walker Mower.” Gardner took Ferrell’s advice to heart, and took a demonstration unit home. Within 15 minutes he had mowed his entire yard. Shortly thereafter, he purchased a 20-hp model with two decks, a 62-inch side-discharge deck and a 48-inch GHS deck.
“I brought the new Walker to the hospital property around lunch time and my father-in-law thought it was a toy,” remembers Gardner. “He went to lunch and by the time he returned I had completed the mowing. All he could say was, ‘It’s not a toy, after all.’” Gardner admits that was an understatement. “He soon discovered I could mow the entire 12-acre facility in five hours with the Walker. In the process, I cut string trimming time to a fraction of what it was previously.”
The following year was Gardner’s first official year in business. He purchased another Walker, this one a 26-hp fuel-injected model that he fitted with his large deck. With two mowers and part-time help, he was able to expand his maintenance business and, at the same time, develop his penchant for design and installation. “I’ve always had a knack for design,” says Gardner, who with Auto CAD on his home computer enjoys the challenges associated with designing exterior landscapes befitting the town’s antebellum and Victorian architecture.
Several of these properties participate in the town’s annual Christmas Walk tour. Gardner spends four weeks prior to the event just keeping the lawns looking nice. “That’s where the Walkers are truly handy,” he adds. “My two Walkers not only do a quality job mowing like my dealer friend said, they also excel with the cleanup.”
Gardner demonstrates by giving a leaf-matted property a “once-over” with his GHS deck. He vacuums the leaves into the mower’s large 9.5- bushel catcher, and then dumps them into disposable plastic bags that are left street-side for the city to pick up.
On larger properties, he saves time by employing a leaf blower attachment for his Walker. The attachment blows leaves several mower widths away, significantly reducing the number of passes required to clear leaves. When the leaves are “lined up,” Gardner simply vacuums them with his GHS deck.
Going back to his “right-tool” motto, Gardner employs the sidedischarge deck on large properties where a groomed look isn’t a requisite. He also makes optimum use of a Walker sprayer attachment for spot spraying. Instead of taking the sprayer on and off the mower deck, Gardner has it permanently mounted on a Walker carrier frame. When he wants to spray, he simply removes the deck and installs the carrier frame. A foot-activated switch on the frame engages the sprayer.
Quiet Time
Gardner’s Irrigation and Landscaping properties range anywhere in size from a half acre to 15 acres. Depending on the properties, Gardner mows them every week during the growing season and maintains them through the last week in November. Generally, mild Mississippi winters allow him to stay busy during the off-season installing sod and plants.
Company revenue is divided equally between maintenance and installation. Employee rolls include a volunteer fireman and college students who work throughout the summer. The grocer-turned-landscaper tries to divide his time equally between the two disciplines.
Gardner tells, “I may have an installation project that will monopolize my time for a couple of weeks. Then, I will spend a few days on one of my Walkers. My Walker time is my quiet time when I get an opportunity to relax and think about other designs.”
Does Gardner regret leaving the grocery business behind? “Operating a grocery is a seven-day-a-week business,” he emphasizes. “My two brothers employ 120 people between two stores, and communicate with 15,000 to 20,000 customers every week.” Gardner, on the other hand, sees 20 customers a week, and can count his people on one hand during the busy season. Selling groceries is a high-volume, low-margin business, he adds. Worse yet, groceries are sold indoors where quiet time on his Walker would not be viewed as quiet time at all.
The answer to the question is no. This entrepreneur doesn’t regret the career change. Tracy, he says, never gave it a second thought, either. Gardner says, “She knew I wouldn’t make the change unless I was confident that I could be successful at it.” Good thing she didn’t know what Gardner didn’t know at the time. He made his decision before being introduced to Walker Mowers.
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