How much time per week to care for a medium size garden, mostly perennials, some veg?

[Sadik]

Trying to figure out how much time my dad actually needs from a gardener to care for his garden properly.
It's a fairly typical garden for a mid-century semi, no lawn (thankfully), mostly planted up with perennials & shrubs. He's also got two quite large raised beds for veg, plus loads of flowers in pots.

Interested to know what others would expect for that sort of area. He can't do anything at all on it himself now, but definitely wants it well cared for (and can definitely afford to pay for the time needed!).

..

If he can't do it at all is he prepared to compromise?

Pots and veg will need a lot of watering so even with a gardener may not be feasible.

It is a bit of a ‘how long is a piece of string’ question, as different people have different ideas of what ‘well cared for’ means in terms of level of perfectionism. The most time consuming aspect sounds like the pots, which in hot weather would need to be watered daily. The veg area will depend on what you grow, but probably no more than a couple hours a week. The rest sounds pretty low maintenance- a prune once or twice a year and a bit of general weeding on a weekly or bi-weekly basis.

Is there a neighbour who would be interested in doing his raised beds?

My DM can do v little in her garden now but it was her pride and joy so has 2 greenhouses and a big veg area. She's got a neighbour now who loves his gardening but doesn't have as big a garden as her to use it, effectively as a free allotment.

She's happy someone is using it and appreciating the greenhouses.

I should say, he can (and does) water the pots himself, and for the moment that I don't mind picking up on the odd day he's not up to it.

My thought was something like 4 hours a fortnight, to look after the veg & do general weeding & tidying. I'm mostly just cross because I thought we'd agreed that he was having someone come in fortnightly, and he just arranged their next visit for 5 weeks time. So wanted to make sure I wasn't being unreasonable!

And then asked me where his chives were because he couldn't find them - well, that would be because the herb bed is completely overgrown with oregano & gardener hasn't had time to get to it!

I would say weekly at peak growth times.

I agree with this (not counting watering) as I just took on a mid century semi with two large veg beds that I'm growing in, the rest shrubs and perennials and potted flowers. I do have a couple of fruit trees but not had to do anything with them yet.

I'd be more inclined to go with 2hrs a week, a shorter burst but more frequent. Although with your latest post I dont think your father will go for it.
With fortnightly visits to veg it's likely some will go over and spoil, or at this time of year grow so vigorously as to overwhelm others in a mixed bed.

Is your father struggling with giving it up, acknowledging quite how much time he spent on it and although he has the money, not wanting to spend it?

He must know that he didn't spend a couple of hours on it every 5 weeks. All his pots and most of his veg will be dead by then.

Unfortunately weekly isn't an option - gardeners are seriously hard to come by here, & the one I've found comes from some distance away & has to fit around school hours for little ones. I'm hoping that he can be persuaded to a regular 4 hours fortnightly, though even that may be optimistic.

Really, my mum did the vast majority of the gardening, and for several years after she died my dd did a lot of day to day maintenance for my dad. She moved away a couple of years back, and I'm now putting my foot down about the amount that I've ended up doing (particularly given the state of my own garden, which gets the absolute bare minimum if that). I am happy to do veg harvesting for dad, I'm there every day anyway, & that's easy enough.

We've Had Words this afternoon (including establishing that my mum used to work in the garden most days in the week over the summer!!), & I think part of the problem is that dad feels that he has to tell the gardener what tasks to do & give him a list. Since he has very little sight, and didn't ever really do most of the gardening anyway, that's not really working well. I have pointed out forcibly that one can employ a gardener for a regular number of hours per week/fortnight and let them use their skills and knowledge to decide what needs doing....

@AnnaMagnani you've nailed it at a broader level - he very much isn't willing to accept that he could really do with (and totally afford) a carer coming in daily. He'd really like me to support him in to be sowing veg plants at his house / watering them daily / tying up tomatoes along with an awful lot of other day to day tasks but he isn't any longer able to do that. I have realised that I need to draw hard boundaries around what I'm able to do without burning out (I work full time, & particularly long hours over the spring / summer). The joys of elderly parents!!

I would suggest someone 3 to 4 hours fortnightly to get it under control. Once its more manageable you can then re assess. I think it's okay for your dad to say he wants a certain area to be concentrated on that week but then he needs to leave them to it. That would equate to him saying he wants the cleaner to concentrate on the bathroom that day rather than a general hoover/mop iyswim.

Although, how much of those 3-4 hours would be your dad chatting to them? 😂

Can the stuff come out of pots? They're so labour intensive, especially in the summer. Planted in a bed they'd not need as much watering.

Or if that's a no, can they be limited, and grouped together and put on drip irrigation?

Has he pots as he wants something up close as his vision is declining?

I think the pots are actually ok - one of the few things dad can do in the garden is walk round with a hose & water his pots, & it's something he likes to do. Also, if they do get neglected (or more likely overwatered) & things die, it's not a big deal.

I agree @PurpleSparkledPixie - just highlighting any particular areas (like the herb bed!) & then leaving him to get on with it is really all that needs doing.

In fact, dad does have a cleaner, and absolutely lets her decide what needs doing. Which maybe is a good sign that we can get there, once gardener is established & dad gets used to him coming regularly & just getting on with things.