Does anyone have a gardener?

[katkinn]

And if so how much do you pay them? (if you don't mind me asking!!)

We have a fairly large garden now and personally I know diddly squat about gardening and more importantly have neither the time nor the inclination to learn (the thought utterly bores me to tears )

The previous owners of the house clearly felt the same way as it's a very very low maintenance garden (apparently, I wouldn't have a clue!)

Now the idea WAS that my DH would enjoy pottering around on the sit on mower at the weekend but in reality that is just never going to happen

So I think that we may look into getting a gardener but have no idea how much they cost!

Thanks in advance!

katkinn
xxx

[Princess Fiona]

When we were renting this house we used to have a gardner although i'm guessing he was very cheap and that where you are and the sheer size of your garden is going to mean getting a gardner is more expensive, however if you literally just have lawns, a few shrubs and beds and hedges to be trimmed maybe i can't see it being over the top.

Our garden WAS full of trees, plants, flowers and a lawn. VERY high maintenance IMO and on occasion our gardner would spend a FULL day just in the back garden (he has been known to spend 5 hours on the front and its literally JUST lawn (just big enough to park a small car on) and then beds with plants all around it. A FULL day on the back garden would be from 9am-6pm and he wouldn't stop ALL day, however he is ancient and works VERY slowy and very throuroughly IMO so maybe thats why he used to be here for so long.

We used to pay our Landlady and she paid him, i never saw one of his Bills but we would pay the LL £15 a month on top of the rent. However he didn't come ONCE a month in fact the last time he came, and considering we completed on 31 January was the 1st week in October last year, and even if we hadn't bought the property i'd only have been expecting him this month cause there isn't a fat lot he can do when the weather is pants.

Could you ask some of your Mummy friends in your new town whether they use a gardner, i'd think it would be better to go on a recommendation. You'll probably find it will be a retired person earning some pennies unless you go for a hightech modern gardnening company in which case it probably WILL cost you a fortune.

IMO though its WELL WORTH it, i mean have you SEEN my garden since he stopped coming

[schnapps]

We have a gardener. He has done quite a few major things in the garden but over the summer months (he's back again in April) he cuts the grass for us. We pay £20 a time for this. He also does all our hedges at the beginning and end of the 'season' and charges about £40 for this. He also cuts our leylandii - think this was about £200 last year as he needed to get some scaffolding for it.

I *think* he is quite cheap and am not sure what the actual going rate is. Also, I'm up north so I'm sure that makes a difference.

He is worth every penny though as it was always annoying me when DH didn't get round to cutting the grass and the only times I ever did he criticised how I did it!!

HTH

[Mrs Chu]

We have a gardner, we pay a set amount and will tell them what to do when they arrive.

I believe we pay £50 a week (this is divided between us and the other flats)

The regular jobs are to mow the lawn,prune the bush's etc.

We have just asked them to do something with the trellis,flowers,hangings baskets whatever, that seperates us from the next door neighbours.

I think we are getting a compost bin soon as the gardners have said this will

a) help the garden and
b) reduce our bill as they have to pay to take the grass cuttings away.

[noo noo]

I'd guess Book Lover has

[Booh]

My dad runs his own landscape gardening business and I know that he charges £45 per hour for 'maintenance' of a garden - grass cutting / wedding etc to keep it looking tidy.

But he is mainly based around Richmond way!

You must have a local parish mag or something, would a local one not be advertised in there? Or ask at toddlers for someone - you know an old chap in a van!

[bernardeena]

I don't personally have a gardener, but the people I nanny for do, and they pay £16 an hour. He normally comes once a week and does a couple of hours or so. More in Summer, less in winter. He is very good and the garden looks great so I think they can be worth it

[Azana]

Have you checked out your local netmums site to see if anyone has recommended one?

DH is talking about getting a precision engineered push mower or something - if and when we actually get a lawn I'll be amazed it he does cut it...

[redhed]

We have a very enterprising couple of kids in our road that run a "company" they call "garden gnome" and they cut both lawns for £13 a time. They also do hedge trimming etc. That is a waaaaay less skilled job than eg pruning for which I think you would have to pay more money, I'd talk to a couple of firms in the back of the parish mag for that.

My thinking would be that if you have a "low maintenance" garden, most of the regular work will be the lawns stuff: get someone in once a week over the summer for that. If you have hedges that's a once a year job (note it is illegal in the nesting season which I think is March-Sept but someone who knows please correct me!) and then you can get someone in to do specific planting jobs and pruning at the appropriate times.

I think (mind you, I know feck about this, too) that now is a good time for pruning. We tend to do the hedges at the end of the season to keep them looking tidy over the winter.

[book_lover]

yes noo noo is right, I have one

seriously though, I think they charge somewhere between £15 and £20 an hour. They aren't cowboys though, I know some gardeners take the p*ss. (For example they now garden for an elderly guy with learning disabilities who was paying the last lot about £80 a week for an hours work ). I think you're less likely to get ripped off though, of course.

DH is popping back in a minute to get his lunch - will ask him for more info then

xxx

[clowe74]

My brother is a gardener. He does my friends house which sounds very like yours Kat and does a full day (8 hours) once a week amd he charges her £10 an hour.

Do you have a local paper?? you will find gardeners advertising in there who will be cheaper than a big company but be quick as its getting to the time of year everyone wants a gardener

[Adelelee]

I'd guess Book Lover has

[katkinn]

Thanks girls!

Well my Dh has just informed me that our next door neighbours actually have a gardening company although they do contract and company maintenance mostly. However the previous owner him said they did a once over in this garden once a year, hedges and baskets etc like people have said.

I'll pop round and see them later and see what they say (I have noticed they have some strapping sons so wonder if they'd like to do the lawn every other week!! pretty please )

My concern is that because they're pros they'll no doubt charge loads!

Will let you know how I get on!

thanks again

katkinn
xxx

eta - I really don't mind paying proper guys to do the proper gardening obviously! But just mowing the lawn - like schapps says, the thought of nagging my DH to do it just makes me want to cry!!! It SO won't ever get done!!

[~Twiggy~]

My old Dad does our and loves helping.
He also makes up hanging baskets for us and has made bird tables and nesting boxes plus planter boxes too. He is a retired farmer you see and they never retire.

[book_lover]

right I've asked him, they charge £14 an hour (but some of that is invisible to the client - travel to and from, emptying trailers etc.).

DH thinks it's never illegal to prune a hedge (perhaps environmental groups encourage you don't prune during nesting season? not sure how long it is but DH thought not as long as 7 months....). But redhed he also said he may be wrong and if this is true he'd like to know more, as it's something as a gardener that he should know. Do you have a link to that info or an idea where I could find it?

He says though that if you have a sit on mower already, you could pay less to someone without overheads (e.g. a retired person) because they won't need vans, trailers, mowers etc. And you could start a compost heap for the cuttings.

HTH

xxx

[redhed]

DH thinks it's never illegal to prune a hedge (perhaps environmental groups encourage you don't prune during nesting season? not sure how long it is but DH thought not as long as 7 months....). But redhed he also said he may be wrong and if this is true he'd like to know more, as it's something as a gardener that he should know. Do you have a link to that info or an idea where I could find it?

Now, I got this from RHS at Wisley. I think the actual law is that it is illegal to disturb a nesting bird by trimming a hedge. This is a quote from the RHS site advisory on hedge trimming:
"Hedges and nesting birds

When undertaking work on garden hedges check that there are no birds nesting as it is an offence under the Wildlife & Countryside Act 1981 to damage or destroy the nest of any wild bird while it is in use or being built."

And this is from the RSPB page on the same subject:
"If you are aware of hedge cutting or removal work going on during the breeding season, and you know birds are nesting in the hedge, you should inform the contractors of the presence of nesting birds. If work continues, immediately contact your nearest Police Wildlife Liaison Officer, who would have the powers to stop the work. " I suspect you'd only get arrests and fines and stuff if it's a genuinely rare bird, though there is some guff in the act about if you know or could reasonably know the birds are there it's effectively deliberate which is taken much more seriously.



I dimly remember the RHS guy saying in practice all this made it illegal to hedge trim between March and August or maybe September because you could never be sure there was nothing nesting, and could easily be reported to the police by a neighbour - it was just less hassle to leave it.

[book_lover]

Now, I got this from RHS at Wisley. I think the actual law is that it is illegal to disturb a nesting bird by trimming a hedge.
.

aye this makes sense. there's no way it could be illegal to trim hedges for half or more of the year, but this makes sense. DH and his bunch check as a matter of course - hopefully most gardeners do - it's integral to the job I think. Most gardeners are fond of nature

I dimly remember the RHS guy saying in practice all this made it illegal to hedge trim between March and August or maybe September because you could never be sure there was nothing nesting, and could easily be reported to the police by a neighbour - it was just less hassle to leave it.

I think he was exagerating the truth here but this is a very interesting issue - will get DH to ask his older colleague who is heavily involved in the RHS.

xxx

[Tigerpants]

I don't have anything of value to add to this BUT I did want to say that I am so tempted to hire a gardener after this morning

I was talking to my friend and the most gorgeous man walked past into her next door neighbour's house and I mean he was and it was the gardener!!!

OHMYGOD! unbloodybelievable - he looks like that and he works outside and he's good with his hands

I really should get out more

[book_lover]

Man I'm so glad my DH isn't gardening for you bunch of Gabrielles

xxx

[Blonde Girl]

I was talking to my friend and the most gorgeous man walked past into her next door neighbour's house and I mean he was and it was the gardener!!!

PMSL - my friend has a gardener coming round to quote this afternoon and me and Dan are going round at the same time in case he looks like Jesse Metcalfe

Also one of my best friends from school is a landscape gardener and he is apparently - but I have known him since he was 11 and had a sun in streaked mullet so I can't quite see it!!!

Anyway in answer to your Q, we have one for the bungalow we rent out and he charges a tenner an hour for basic lawnmowing, etc - he is a bit of a jack of all trades 'no job is too small' type. Wouldn't use him for garden planning or developing type work though.