Gardening coach Susan Harris
© AFP/File Nicholas Kamm

TAKOMA PARK, United States (AFP) - Life coaches, who aim to guide soul searchers through the maze of marriage or daily well-being, are now branching out and getting down and dirty with advice and tips on how to make your garden grow.

"People are just overwhelmed, I hold their hand and it makes all the difference in the world," said gardening coach Susan Harris, who has been initiating clients into the mysteries of their backyards for the past three years.

"A lot of them are new home owners. They have no idea what is a weed. Others don't know where to start, how to prune the shrubs," said Harris, who lives in the lush green Washington suburb of Takoma Park, Maryland.

"They don't want spend a fortune, but they want be a part of it," she said.

Attorney Kirra Jarratt says her friends are puzzled when she owns up to investing in a garden coach to help whip her muddy strip of a back garden in her new Washington home into shape.

Gardening coach Susan Harris (L)
© AFP/File Nicholas Kamm

"My friends say, 'I can't believe you've got a coach.' I say, 'I think you'll have one too,'" she laughed.

For 75 dollars (55 euros) an hour, Harris has been showing the young lawyer what is a weed and what is not, how to shape her bushes, drawing up a seasonal plan, offering advice on what to plant and lobbying for organic lawn care.

"She was down in the dirt with me," said Jarratt, who has remodeled her backyard into a copy of a Japanese garden with a stone pathway and evergreen bushes.

A new-found concern for the environment is also fuelling the interest in hiring a garden coach as home-owners seek alternative ways to beat the bugs, and stave off the snails.

"What might be driving people now is that they want to get off the pesticide treadmill, and overfeeding the lawn," said Ted Steinberg, a specialist in environmental studies at Case Western Reserve University in Ohio, and author of "The Obsessive Quest for the Perfect Lawn."

Walk down any suburban street in a US town, and a carpet of green grass runs down to the road as far as the eye can see. Rarely does a property fence or wall mar the view as one front garden runs seamlessly into the next.

"The idea of a perfect lawn -- supergreen, weed free, monoculture, emerald green lawn if possible, Kentucky Blue grass basically -- reached its peak in the Sixties. It has now reached a vulnerable period in its history," said Steinberg.

Americans spend some 40 billion dollars a year on their gardens, which includes the upkeep of golf courses and cemeteries.

Gardening coach Susan Harris (L)
© AFP/File Nicholas Kamm

But now "green consumers are waking up" and asking "how can I do it more cheaply with fewer chemicals and less energy input," Steinberg said.

And with increasingly busy lives many homeowners want low-maintenance gardens, which are still pleasing to the eye, and call in the gardening coach for help.

"We start out talking about what they like. Lot of times, I'll ask them when you're driving up to your house, what would make you smile? What would make you feel like 'Oh I'm home,'" said Tennessee-based Terry Lea.

The young mother decided to start up her own business this year after realizing that neighbors were always turning to her for free advice.

"When you got a green thumb it seems like your friends and family and pretty soon strangers are asking you questions," she said.

She now has some 20 clients, and although many toy with doing something different, most eventually opt for a conventional look.

"I think it's great to have your own style, but at the same time most people don't want to get way out there beyond what the rest of their neighborhood is like," said Lea.

She also tries to persuade her clients to be environmentally friendly in their approach.

"If we can be gentle on this planet, it's usually a good thing. I'm concerned about the water run off and the use of fertilizers so I definitely coach my clients through the organic alternative," she said.

"You can have a beautiful landscape without throwing a thousand dollars of fertilizer additives in it."

©AFP