How much time do you spend gardening?

[crisscrosscranky]

We have a good size garden with a large decking area and lawn. I'm ashamed to admit that it's a mess; the grass is patchy and long, the beds are over growing with weeds and the dog has dug little holes all over it which are a nightmare.

I really want to make it nice- nothing special just tidy and safe for the kids to play with this spring/summer.

I work full time and my house is always tidy because I spend most of my 'free' time cleaning or tidying 🙄 I really don't have hours to spare in the garden every week - is it doable with just an hour or so every fair weekend? We've talked about getting a cleaner but I'm wondering if money would be better spent on a gardener!?

I think you'd need a bit more time than that. I'd want to cut the grass once a fortnight and weed the beds ditto. Little and regular is much better if you can manage it. I guess you'd be looking at a couple of hours each time, but that's very rough and ready without seeing your garden.

For me, the options are to get a cleaner - which is what I'd do, but I'm biased - and do the gardening yourself or get a gardener. A good one would lighten your load - I've known a couple of experienced professionals who really did work at the speed of light whilst barely breaking a sweat, but it really is up to you.

Either way, try to start ASAP. Gardeners will start to get booked up as we're getting into spring or, if you decide to DIY, it's time to get out and get on top of the weeds as much as possible before they take hold and the ground starts getting harder.

Either way - good luck and enjoy your garden!

I’d much rather get a cleaner and garden myself. Though we do have a lawn treatment company come 4x a year and put some kind of magic stuff on the lawn.

Pretty clear you like cleaning more than gardening, so get a gardener.

Op I’m the same as you, house is spotless garden is like something off shameless. I hate the garden, I hate gardening, if I had the money I’d replace the lot with plastic grass & plants and just give it a dust occasionally.
In my old house we had 2 blokes that came for an hour every fortnight, the garden wouldn’t have won any prizes but it was tidy (I’ve struggled to find a gardener in my new house) I would say if you can find someone it’s money well spent

nancy at least your garden is still photosynthesising, which is more than could be said for plastic! Please say you are joking :(

Peregrane, I hate the garden & I hate gardening but don’t worry I don’t have the spare thousands needed to turn it into a plastic planted heaven!

I'm only a fair weather gardener. So in the summer I probably spend about 1/2 an hour (or more?) A day just pottering, weeding, trimming, cutting grass (weekly). But I like doing it. I do little and often. When I worked full time it was an hour or two a week.

If I was you I would pay someone to come in and give it a once over so it isn't so overwhelming, then you will be able to just potter too.

I'm opposite to you, my house is a bit of a tip but the garden is lovely. I love being out there.

Once the house is decorated nothing apart from the light really changes season to season whereas in the garden, every day is different. My garden is lovely on late winter days with the early bulbs coming up, I have buds on the trees and bushes and the birds are chatting away to each other. I can wrap up, take a cup of tea and sit in the garden and feel instantly better. In the house, I have chores, in the garden I have joys.

I spend half an hour a day bar a couple of weeks in Dec and truly awful weather. I have a veg plot lawn beds front and back, a greenhouse and a covered nursery area carport In summer I might spend a couple of hours a day so for you I think a gardener would be money well spent. Expect to spend a bit more initially to get your garden set up for ease of maintenence.

@Enb76 yes! What a lovely way of thinking about it.

I think the thing with gardening that you have to get your head round, is that it is never finished. I have caught the gardening bug over the last couple of years, but before that, I used to get frustrated that I would have 'done the gardening' and yet a couple of weeks later, it needed doing again. I reckon half an hour a day is about right. The thing is, you need to enjoy that half an hour. If you don't - get a gardener!!