Any tips on gardener in South West London (Streatham)?

[TTCsince2024]

We just took over a new house in Streatham and the garden is really overgrown. We are looking for a gardener to come to get it under control (cut grass, trim bushes, weeding). However the first quote we got was £900 which seems really overpriced! We were thinking 100-200 might be more reasonable (but we've never paid for a gardener before so not sure). Any experience with this kind of service or tips for gardening services in this area?

Without seeing the garden and the scope of the work I don't think you will get much done for £100-£200. Are you wanting the green waste taken away as this is expensive for gardeners to dispose of. Do check your professional has a waste licence. In your area I would expect you to be paying upwards of £40 an hour. You could look on The Gardener's Guild for qualified gardeners.

I live in South Wales and recently paid about £700 to have my postage stamp garden de-jungled. You’re hopelessly optimistic with that budget.

100-200??? That can’t seriously be what you thought.

how many days work would it be?

Dimensions of the garden and an idea of how much work it involves, how much waster there will be. As a guide we pay about 550 per half day.

If you think it's doable for £100/£200 surely it's a small enough job to tackle on a Sunday morning.

I've just paid £1,500 to have my garden cleared (SE London)

Post a photo and people can probably tell you how many hours that would take.

Perhaps you'd be better off buying a lawnmower and some loppers?

£100-£200 is just a very few hours work ?

I think I pay that for the gardener to tidy up/do a bit of weeding!

Yep - we pay £140 every two weeks to have the lawns cut. 1/2 acre. It's a good price.

Are you expecting a clearance job with waste removal for that price? Unless the garden itself is a window box you are not being realistic - are you aware of your borough's charges for commercial waste disposal of garden waste? It can be quite an eye opener.

Even if you are going to dispose of the waste yourselves, £200 will not cover many hours of labour for a clearance job.

Wow thanks everyone, this is helpful! I guess i dont know much about gardening (or pricing) but I thought it would just be a few hours work. It's a big garden for London but not a big garden for the UK. But yes maybe we should just do it ourselves if the prices are that high. Here are some photos.

Is that photo with the guy bindweed or ivy? Either is an absolutely arse to completely remove. If ivy and you want a blank wall, cut roots at the bottom then leave it to die back for a few months. You can fairly easily peel it off by then.

The other two photos are from early spring, judging by the lack of leaves? I think you're better off getting a lawnmower, hedge cutter and a spade for the time being. Learn what your plants are and what they need to flower next year before randomly cutting stuff.

Gardens need love, not being razed to the ground. Maybe watch Wallace & Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl for inspiration.