MiddleClassWorld: Does anybody have a Gardener?

I’m not talking about a full time gardener to supplement ones manservant. I am thinking more like a morning or afternoon one day a week.

We live pretty hectic lives and have a reasonably sized quite mature garden that I just don’t have the time to look after. I’m just wondering what sort of cost I should expect before I start getting people out to give me quotes etc.

Thanks.

We did for a bit.
Young lad, came recommended, had all the kit, trailer, 4×4 etc.
Took 4 hours to weed a 3m length of ‘typical’ border.

Gave him the boot….

Now I rope the family in and ply them with BBQ meat…

DrP

Depends where you are, what your gardens like and how well you want it maintained. I’ve seen some places where the gardener just trimmed everything to the same dumpling shape irrespective of the plants habit or horticultural needs, and others where the place is managed sympatheticially and with a quieter hand. The latter were properly qualified and cost a bit more than your regular jobbing gardener.

£15 for a decent size lawn and general tidy up of garden

Takes about an hour or so.

Once you start looking for companies and/or getting ‘quotes’ it’ll be dear. Ask around, someone will know someone who’ll do it for cash (and it’s only 6 months a year really).

And £10 ph here – self-employed chap who uses our tools/mower etc.

Don’t even have a garden. 😥

my mum does, one morning a week I think

I did, just sacked him though as he spent way too much time doing bugger all. Cost is a difficult one as it depends on where you live and what you need done.

posh bastard 😆

My missus has a gardener ,me !I appear to be her bitch as I do most of the cooking as well .!

3hr a week cleaner and 1hr a week gardener 🙁

I’m busy and my fiancé is lazy (ill)

Don’t have a regular one but we get two guys in twice a year for ‘jungle control’ we have an Edwardian house with pretty big ‘traditional’ garden. Quite a few shaped bushes etc. those guys have all the tools and can shape them up, cur back other stuff and tidy up after in half a day. Would take us ages and look terrible!

Money well spend I think!

I think going for an older chap that is just doing it for beer money is probably the best bet.

All I need doing is the grass cutting, the weeding done and the bushes kept in good order. I’m not wanting it to look like a show garden. I guess it needs a bit of a tidy up all round then maintaining at that level. There isn’t loads to do I just don’t have the time or inclination.

patriotpro – Member
posh bastard

And proud.

gsp1984 – Member
3hr a week cleaner and 1hr a week gardener

I’m busy and my fiancé is lazy (ill)

We got a cleaner when my wife went back to work full time. Its great.

No.

DIY FTW.

My wife wants to get a cleaner in.
Would anyone like to guess what my wife’s business is?

Is that Meconopsis napaulensis mcmoonter?

Very exotic! Plus the rest looks great as well.

OP – my Mum does a few hours a week for the village garage owner. She is an experienced gardener, but not sure how much she earns an hour. I am sure it won’t be loads.

My parents used to have one, then he started dating my sister (getting on for 10 years now!), so now he does it free 🙂

Last owners of my house did for seventeen years (they were proud of it). They were clearly of the hack’n-burn type as the ground is rock solid and and all the bushes are woody and nasty. It’s going to take a power of work to remove the neglect of the previous “gardener”.

Is that Meconopsis napaulensis mcmoonter?

Ho Hum wins the coconut. They are supposed to be very difficult to grow but they thrive here. Our Himalayan Lillies (Cardiocrinum Giganteum) do well too. We thought the frost had wiped them out, but they are doing well this year.

My mate has a gardener that comes in two/three days a week (8am – 4pm) to work in the walled garden and house grounds, the walled garden has a few large veg beds and a lot of fruit trees and large central grassy area, The gardener has worked the house and grounds for 40 yrs so he knows what he’s doing and is a helluva good worker. I think he gets paid £14hr?.

The walled garden is 220ft square so it’s a decent size and the grounds round the house must be a couple of acres, my mate does cut the grass lawns though as he likes pootering about on his honda ride-on lawn mower 😀

When the gardener goes on holiday it soon becomes apparent just how much work it takes to look after a large garden, especially when you don’t usually do it and have poor gardening techniques 😉

Yes. About £15 an hour in Surrey.

Two factors, one is time the other is expertease and having the right equipment. About 4-6 hours a week.

I’ve been after a gardener for a while…

I’ve responded to cards popped through the door, arranged for them to come round but nobody ever showed up, 2 cards, 2 companies

I’ve called a phone number on a van I saw locally to me, arranged for someone to come round but they didn’t

If they can’t even keep an appointment for more work, how can they even be relied upon to do a garden?

I’m guessing its me then.

I don’t but there’s a lad in the village that seems to do loads in the afternoon/ evenings after school and weekends. Seems to do a storming trade with the old dears. He rides up and down past my place several times a week with a trailer on his bike with a petrol lawn mower strimmer and tools, looks heavy and he’s not a big lad either early teens I’d say.

Good on him,

I am said gardener…

http://www.gardenchief.co.uk

Anyone want a quote within 15 miles of Cannock feel free to call.

Gardenchief are based in Cannock, and cover the whole of Staffordshire and the West Midlands.

that more than a 15 miles of Cannock

Neat website flip

I have started to do private garden work, mostly hedge cutting, from word of mouth. I work full time as a parkie, but have thought about going self employed.

Flip would be interested in how you got started and any advice about keeping the work going all year round.

Email is in my profile if you can spare some advice, thanks.

that more than a 15 miles of Cannock

I will travel if the price is right, but i have more work than i can handle just round here, had to take two men on this year.

Have a guy who mows the grass every couple of weeks, mainly so I can get into the garden in the summer without feeling I need to mow the grass.

12 pounds front and back in Cheshire.

i used to do the gardening side of things for about 6 years with the family business

would go back to it if i lost my job

– the reason you cant get anyone to come round is likely because they are all busy as hell … i know we never ever had to look for custom and very rarely had new starts.

flip – Member
I am said gardener…

Home

Anyone want a quote within 15 miles of Cannock feel free to call.

I guess Four Oaks is too far if your that busy.

I do a bit of gardening on the side and charge between £12 & £15 per hour, try and avoid grass cutting but do seasonal jobs eg spring planting, autumn clear-ups etc. always quiz any potential gardener on their knowledge, plant names, common pests and diseases (trouble is you’ll need to know a bit yourself to see through any bull)

I’ve got a gardener, and a cleaner and a pool boy 😀
I’ve got better things to be doing with my time than cleaning my house, pool or doing the **** garden and I like to think I am contributing to the economy. We have a small baby and for the sake of marital harmony it keeps my wife away from having to do anything other then look after the bairn and keep herself amused. Not that expensive either from memory – $50 a week for the cleaners same a $100 a month for the gardener and can’t remember about the pool chap but pales into insignificance compared with the running costs of the pool !

I wish it was a good idea to have a pool in the West Midlands! I also wish we had the terrain of New Zealand but thanks another story

12 pounds front and back in Cheshire.

😯

Yes, I use a guy who’s fully employed in the week working on the gardens of one house, but at the weekends does whatever you need (this weekend it’s decking assault!) for £12/hr. It’s a fair wage as the guy works like a madman, and is damn good.

My gardener charges £10 for any job. Lawns a tenner, felling a tree a tenner, painting a fence, etc.. I like his pricing policy.

mcnultycop – be careful to never get bored with any loose change in your pocket.

I need one in Edinburgh if anyone can suggest.
Weeding, tidying, flame throwing and general ability to make excess green go away.

We’ve got a nephew 🙂