General gardening and tidy up.

Iam64

If Iran the country, I’d ban leylandi in suburban gardens. I have ‘discussions’ every year with my neighbours about their hideous leylandi at the bottom of my garden. I end up paying but last year they decided to let it grow 😵‍💫

Totally agree. Also bamboo. My neighbour's bamboo took out part of my fence - the fencers cut it right back and dug up the roots on our side when the fence was replaced but we know it will reappear.

Someone in our road has just had a tree taken out of their smallish back garden. The roots were growing into their drains. They said they got carried away with the 'plant a tree in your garden' thing some years ago and didn't really pay attention to how big the tree would grow. Cost them a small fortune to have it removed not to mention 6 months of arguing with the Council.

I must be lucky as my” jobbing “ gardener charges £17.50 / hour. He is not that knowledgable re plants but good at heavier things. I am in south where things are dear.

I love my garden too much to entrust it to anyone, for now ;) One day, I will need help, but I cannot envisage employing anyone who does not have a really good knowledge of gardening and horticulture.

Just a gentle reminder not to chop down everything. Insects overwinter in stems and under leaves so an untidy garden is, you can tell yourself, good for our wildlife. I leave the grasses, they look lovely with the frost on them and always trim shrubs after flowering, not in the autumn. Rudbekias remain and anything with biggish stems.
I pay my gardener £25an hour for four hours a month and I thought that was a lot. She is knowledgeable though but finds my garden a challenge as it is quite large and full of stuff including bind weed!

It depends upon where you live. Here in the rural West Midlands, £30 per hour is average, but bear in mind that most gardeners want to work for 2 hours at a time (with petrol costs, etc, it's hardly worth their while coming out for only an hour). You may find someone cheaper in the newsagents window, but in my experience cheap gardeners don't last very long and then you're back in the same position again.

So pleased for you MayBee, what a relief it must be to get all that garden work done.

Celieanne; that’s how I feel about the guy who knocked on my door the other day asking if I wanted my garden tidying up. I was so impressed by his knowledge of the plants trees and shrubs in my garden that I let him do the work. He phoned his brother who drove over and between them they did an amazing job. Took down shabby old trellis that had ivy holding it down etc. Removed small trees that were growing over the water pipes. Re shaped a large holly tree that was covering a lot of the back garden.They weren’t cheap but the amount of work they did was unbelievable. I wouldn’t usually give work to someone just driving around looking for work but I’m no longer looking out of my front and back windows worrying about how I can get on top of everything.You’ve really struck lucky with your two who seem to have a genuine love of gardening.

A very heart warming story Celieanne. I would love to have your gardening couple to work in my garden. What a lovely tribute to your husband.

That's a lovely story Celieanne, thank you for sharing.

Sorry pressed post …

It’s been lovely sharing my garden story and I wanted to make the point that if your garden does give you pleasure it’s well worth paying to keep it nice, it’s now my tribute to my husband who I’m sure is as pleased as I am. ❤️

My garden had been very neglected while my husbsnd was ill and the man I had always used retired and so for months nothing had been done not even watering as I am disabled and too old now. I asked around and was given a name and told he was expensive but was very good and did was what was asked. I discussed hourly rate with him it was £25 an hour and he had his girlfriend with him also £25 an hour. I gulped, it did sound a lot but I gave it a try, and I’m so glad I did. The first session was 4 hours and I couldn’t believe what they achieved The front and back lawns mowed, moss removed and treated. Borders weeded, shrubs trimmed and shaped, rhododendron which I thought were dead were re vitalised same with fuschias and peonies and a wonderful flaming forest bush bought back to life.
On the next visit Bedding plants and geraniums were bought from the local nursery and pots were filled and put on the front steps and by the back door where I could see them. Lily of the Valley from my late sisters garden was discovered hidden under wild geraniums which were taking over the garden,
Next the fence front and back was painted, the patio area was jet washed to an inch of its life and some over hanging hedges from next door was with their permission cut back.
So far I have paid £600 and today they have called to do a general tidy up, plant daffodil bulbs sweep up all the leaves and cleaned the guttering and fix a date to put some Christmas lights up on the front where my husband always liked them. (He would be very cross with me if I didn’t do that)
Best of all as I was having a few problems with my iPad the lovely young lady had a look at it for me and fixed it in five minutes. Perhaps it does sound expensive I gave them £100 but they were here for well over three refused to have any more.
I’m sorry I’ve gone on a bit longer than I intended to but it’s been lovem

If Iran the country, I’d ban leylandi in suburban gardens. I have ‘discussions’ every year with my neighbours about their hideous leylandi at the bottom of my garden. I end up paying but last year they decided to let it grow 😵‍💫

Sincere sympathies if your Polymyalgia tests are positive.
It took me 2years to get over it and even now (year3) I don’t have the full strength I used to have and some joints still ache from time to time.
Do protect yourself from garden tasks that take their toll on your back, hips, shoulders and wrists.
My advice would be to find a good knowledgeable but attentive person who will take care of your garden so that you can continue to enjoy it without the hard work.

I pay mine £25 for 1.5 hours. That sounds like 2 hours of work.

A proper gardener or tidy upper, two very different grades. I could tidy up and weed but not prune trees properly, I'm a widow who likes gardening , good at it but would never call myself a gardener.

Check if the price being quoted includes taking weeds etc away, or not. If not included, you may need to factor in paying someone else to take it away it.
Price per hour in East Midlands seems to be around £25 an hour, minimum 4 hours, but that does not include taking anything away, nor does it include any 'real' gardening knowledge, IMO.

£200

I saw an advert recently for a gardener that does autumn tidy ups as a one off. Not sure how much they charge but they obviously realise there’s a market for it. Most people in my street employ a gardener now as we’re all getting old. I asked one of them how much he charges as I need a lot of trees and shrubs cutting back and she said it’s £35 per hour! I can’t afford that, not for the amount of work that needs doing. On top of that the council are only going to collect the brown bin once a month throughout the winter, as they say people don’t use them as much, but I do because of falling leaves, pruning etc. And it means food waste will be lying in the bin for weeks. I’ve got moss growing everywhere, too, because of the shade caused by the trees.

Our back garden has tall Leylandii that badly need cutting down. They seem to need doing every year. We used to have an "odd job man" do it but there are none left around here, so last year it cost about £400 for two men with an electric saw who simply chopped the tops off and took the debris away. We have no borders (too overgrown by the hedge!) and so far DH can manage to mow the lawns - very slowly.

The garden is never really "tidy" and I don't enjoy being in it any more. Plus the patio and paths are all old and dirty, the front drive is full of weeds and basically none of it is neat at all.

It's not a big garden - but too big for us to look after.

You might try Age Concern - some areas have gardeners on their volunteer lists.
Hope you feel better soon.

ExDancer. It might be worthwhile asking at your local nursery/garden centre if they could recommend someone.

We live in Kent. My gardener charges £25 an hour, but I only need him every 4/6 weeks and it’s normally for 4 hours. I would guess the work you require should only take a couple of hours and cost £50.

West Wales - and I've just had in someone (again) for a bit of work in my garden (trimming small trees and shrubs and digging out a couple of plants I don't have the strength to dig out myself).

Basically he seems to reckon on being here for a half day (which seems to equate to about 3 hours) = £100. Or a full day (which seems to equate to about 6 hours) = £200. He takes away all the "trimmings" (branches, etc) with him.

I pay mine £20 an hour. He's not skilled but he does what I tell him.

I cannot find a gardener, I can find 'gardeners' who mow lawns and trim hedges but the three I have tried so far have not known the difference between plants and weeds and looked at me as though I was out of my senses when I asked them to tidy a border.
They all charged £20+ an hour, I'm in rural Cumbria.