19 Jan 2022

Gardening business goes wheelie, wheelie green

From Summer Times, 9:30 am on 19 January 2022

A wellington gardener takes a green approach to his trade in more ways than one, managing to successfully run his business using a bike and trailer for transport.

Clive Goodger and the cargo e-bike set-up he uses for his gardening business Wheelie Green Gardening

Clive Goodger and the cargo e-bike set-up he uses for his gardening business Wheelie Green Gardening Photo: supplied

Clive Goodger has been running a small gardening business in the northern Wellington suburbs for the past four years.

But it's not your everyday gardening business - at least in terms of how he carts his lawnmower around. He rebranded this year to Wheelie Green Gardening because he's upgraded to an electric cargo bike with the help of Bicycle Junction.

He gets around on an eBike and trailer.

“It started off my gardening as a hobby. I answered a request on a local Facebook group that somebody wanted some work done," he tells Summer Report.

“I started and walked to that job and then I gained some more interest in that. I ended up walking up and down Newlands, pushing my mover and carrying my weed eater. Then I got to 40 and realised I should probably get a bit cleverer and invest somehow and the eBike was the best option.”

The eBike has a tow bar like a car to accommodate a trailer, which houses everything he needs to do the job.

“It’s like the mini-version of a proper road trailer really," he says. "There’s a company in Wellington that specialises in eBikes and cargo bikes and trailers for bikes so I went to them with my requirements and they came up with what they came up with.”

The trailer tows about 40kg of his equipment, but has the capacity to hold up to 100kg.

It keeps him incredibly fit and healthy. He can get through an impressive 10 to 12 jobs in one day, whereas he was only able to do half of that before investing in the eBike and trailer 

“I think that’s one of the advantages of gardening my way. I can run my business and become fit as well.”