Does anyone employ a gardener?

[AltheaVestr1t]

Having failed miserably to keep my rather wild garden in check for he last seven years, in preparation for putting my house on the market I have paid two gardeners to come and sort it out for me. It looks fantastic and I've enjoyed it so much since it was sorted out. The house we are hoping to move to has a beautifully maintained garden with lovely flower borders and an impeccable lawn. I'm determined not to let it degenerate into a state so I'm going to hire someone weekly this time to keep on top of it. I have no idea how much time we might need though. I am rubbish with sizes but it is a large city garden, maybe 30m long and 15/20 m wide?

Ha! I knew I was rubbish at sizes, I just found an online tool. It's actually 90m long, 10m wise 😆

We have a gardener one afternoon a fortnight during the spring and summer and monthly the rest of the year to keep on top of maintenance and tidying up.

Maybe about 2 hours a week through the spring and summer.

If you have time can’t you try gardening yourself, I spend hours! Try watching some garden programs, Gardner’s World has some lovely videos from viewers showing what they are doing and Monty gives everyone tips on how to do things.

I don't have time unfortunately! OH and I both work full time and have two kids, so it's pretty busy. I would love to do it myself, but never manage to fit it in, which is how I got into such a mess with my current garden!

Two hours a week/ 4 hours a fortnight sounds perfect.

Isn't this a bit of a "how long is a piece of string" question. Have you defined what the gardener is going to do: all of it including planning, doing it under instruction from you, the boring bits (lawn, hedges) so that you can do the fun bits, etc.
Will the price include materials (seeds, bedding plants, fertiliser).

I suppose the answer is to ask various gardeners and see what services they offer.
Who does the new garden? - the owner or do they have a gardener (if so, get the contact details!).

Going rates for maintenance are usually about fifteen quid an hour here in the south east.

I’d say two hours a week or four hours a fortnight and let them get on with it unless you see something you wish done. A decent gardener will know what to do.

I suspect you might need a bit more .... 90m is VERY long - are you sure??? And how gorgeous - lucky you!

But as others said depends what you actually want in it...

Our garden is about 100 feet x 40 feet. Lots of beds and a rectangle lawn. We have a gardener every week and have done now for 3+ years.

I took no interest whatsoever in the garden before she started coming, and it was very untended and overgrown with weeds. All we did was cut the grass.

Over time she has for it all under control, and I take a great interest in it. I understand so much more it too. She now comes for 3 hours a week and cuts the grass, plants, prunes, trains, weeds, puts supports in place, moves plants around etc. We pay £20/hour and she brings all her own tools but does not take away the waste. We have two council brown bins at a cost of £60 each per year which are collected fortnightly for six months of the year and monthly for the other six months. She is fantastic.

I feed and water the garden and do little things like weed now and again. DH pressure washes the patio and paths.

I am south east, by the way (inside the m25).

We have a gardener for half a day once a week. Just over half acre garden. We do lots ourselves too but he's great when we need special jobs like hedge cutting (high hedges so his long reach hedge cutter is better than ours) and he's very creative with planting and is can do fence repairs etc as well. My husband does loads and I do as much as I can, it's just a help to have an expert on hand!

My garden is nowhere near the same size as yours but I love my gardener, it's been a revelation. He has managed to turn my 8x6m council house garden from an unloved hovel to somewhere that is a total pleasure to be. He hasn't done much in the way of restructuring etc but he's been 6 times for 3 hours a go and I note have a border around my trees, some hebes , a very clear and weed free path. I've done lots of planting in pots and added a few small fruit trees . Just got a cheap gazebo and a new inflatable hot tub and some twinkly lights and I just love it. I can't afford landscaping etc plus it's not my house but it's as nice as it can possibly be so I'm happy.

My gardener is amazing. He comes once a fortnight and stays for 1 -2 hours. Admittedly I don't have any flowers so its just mowing the 3 large lawns and weeding the patio.

@loveyouradvice no, sorry - I have no sense of scale whatsoever. I've checked it again. Garden is 40m x10m so the perimeter is 100m. I think that's definitely right this time.

I'm going to go with an afternoon a fortnight and see how we get on - thanks for your help!