Cost of gardener 200 foot garden

[Jacketandbeans]

We have fallen in love with a property with a 200 foot garden. Neither of us have ever owned a garden of any kind and are clueless. My DH is adamant he doesn't want a garden that big and that if I want one I need to look after it, he said he has memories of his dad spending all weekend gardening when he was a kid and we like to be out and about with the kids at the weekends. He would rather buy somewhere with a very small low maintenance garden, but I love the idea of all that space for the kids and the potential to put outhouses in as they get older etc.
Anyway, I'm wondering how much it would cost to pay someone to look after it?! I'm really clueless as i don't have any sense of how long it takes to mow or what other jobs would need doing that I haven't thought of.
Thanks!

Agree with this. The bit nearest the house looks great and you can let the further area be a bit wild/wildlife friendly until you need it.

The kids can help, I should think, in age-appropriate ways.

We’ve got a man who comes and does our 100 foot of hedges twice a year, costs about £200 p.a, but he is quite reasonable. Friends have a huge garden and have a robot mower that quietly purrs around. They largely ignore the rest.

it’s not a huge amount of work unless you let it get out of hand ….or want something fancy. I love gardening and spend days in mine.

Excellent idea about the mowed pathways; my dad used to do this decades ago when we were young.

One can also purchase mixed wildflower/pollinator seeds. And keep some water bowls out there for wildlife, or bird baths. Really it could be a lovely sanctuary for humans and animals alike.

People spend all weekend gardening if they enjoy it and growing plants, flowers, fruit and veg has become their hobby.

You don't have to go to all that trouble. If the garden is mostly grass it would take about an hour a fortnight to keep it tidy, and maybe a weekend once a year trimming any bushes into shape. No garden is 'no maintenance' but you can get by with the bare minimum.

As another poster said, just get a robot mower for the first bit and wild flier meadow for the rest. It doesn't look like that much effort.

It looks amazing in those pics! It's already well-planned and laid out which is a great start. I'm jealous!

Wow that's massive! Lovely garden. I like gardens but I hate gardening. If you could go for shrubs and lawn with a few pots near the house you would be surprised how much you can neglect the garden. We have a much smaller garden but it's lawn and mature shrubs / trees and I only garden three times a year. In-between we mow the lawn. Mind you cutting back in winter can take a day or two. Ideally I'd do more but there's not the time. It looks fine. Not RHS fine but fine. It's flower beds that need attention and new shrubs bedding in take time. We have no flower beds.

I positively yearn for a garden that size.

I have a similar sized garden and other than initial outlay of petrol powered tools as our little electric Flymo wasn't going to cut it anymore 😆 I pay nothing as I really enjoy gardening so I couldn't imagine paying someone to look after it. We've paid once to have the hedge boundaries cut back as it was left for a long time but now DIY.

Like a PP I do think carefully about what I'm planting with shrubs and plenty of perennials to minimise work/maximise appearance.

You will get great value out if it.

Buy a mower you sit on.

Keep the landscaping very simple - grass, tough plants like ornamental grasses, hostas, irises that require almost no upkeep. Pave a nice area for a good patio. Your boys can play ball to their hearts' content.

My dad was an avid gardener who spent almost all his spare time growing veggies, a gorgeous flowerbed, tending fruit trees and currant bushes, etc. A large garden doesn't have to be that time consuming. It will absorb whatever attention you are willing to give it. Choose your plants wisely.

I love your garden. It’s fairly low maintenance as big gardens go.

I agree the further half of the garden could be a wildflower meadow with just a mown path.

Large garden great when kids ar primary school but mine really stopped using it when started secondary. As long as you mow the lawn a big garden can be very forgiving. However, I’m looking forward to downsizing when the kids leave home and having a small garden. Me and DH decided we are just not that interested. i like not being overlooked that’s also an advantage.

I found gardeners just didn’t make much of an impact in 2-3 hours a week. Keep planting simple and low maintenance.

At secondary school age you could drop an office pod at the end of the garden and either the teens use it as a play room and keep their noise there, or you use it to get away from the teens.

We have a garden similar size, but sectioned with patio near back doors then a large decking area at back. Lots of big trees/ shrubs and hedges. We love it, but my dh (mostly) will spend a few hours a week maintaining, so mowing lawn, cutting: / trimming hedges, brushing/ raking up fallen leaves. It's so worth it though and dh enjoys it. Can't comment on price of gardener, sorry.

Also the benefit is that the end of the garden (where we get most sun) is so private! If we have family over you can't hear them from the house so makes entertaining great. We back on to the other equally large gardens, but as they're south facing the do their entertaining near the house.