Gardeners offer many services other than weeding; if you are thinking of employing a gardener, first consider what kind of gardening you need and how often. Here we look at a few easy-to-follow tips.
Depending on what kind of gardening work is needed and the size of your garden, your available budget will dictate how often your gardener will have to come to work. Typically, homeowners have a gardener come to work once a week.
This gardening work may include services like tidying up the garden, trimming, and tidying up hedges. Some people hire these tasks out once per year. However, you could have a gardener work every week or every second week for more regular services like lawns, weeding, and cutting.
Do you just need regular garden maintenance, or do you need a garden clean-up once a year? There are many different options to choose from for a gardening service. Don’t worry; we discuss everything here.
Decide what kind of gardening needs doing.
Gardening services offer many different options for gardening work. When deciding to employ a gardening service, one of the first steps to consider is what kind of work needs doing? It is important to think about how much work needs doing in your garden and how much you would like to do.
A reliable gardener can do the gardening work you can’t do, don’t want to, or just don’t have time to do. For example, mowing the lawn, raking up leaves, trimming hedges, or digging over beds are all work that a regular garden service can do.
If you are only looking for a gardener to come to plant new shrubs and flowers, it might be ok for them to come in temporarily until the work is done.
When hiring a gardener, they should cope with all the tasks needed to keep a garden under control like weeding, lawn mowing, trimming, mulching, planting, pruning, feeding, and spraying. A good gardener will know when to do these tasks as well.
Suppose you like your gardener to stay actively involved with the maintenance and updates of your garden. Then it is a good idea to make sure your gardener has a regular booked schedule coming to you once a week.
You may decide to increase this to twice a week in busy times like Autumn and spring. These are usually the most active times when seeds need to be planted and when there is lots of end-of-summer maintenance to be done. To keep your garden healthy and ready for the winter season.
However, if you have a sizeable garden or estate, you might require a gardener to come in more often. A full-time gardener working on a large estate would work around five days a week.
A reputable gardener will help you plan your garden, suggest and source plants for you, and if you want to learn more, be able to give you sound advice.
Hire a professional garden service.
Choosing a professional garden service is the most critical decision you will be making for your garden. To keep your garden looking beautiful all year round, you need someone to cut back, prune shrubs and roses, deadhead, prune shrubs, mulch, weed, plant bulbs, feed, and take care of the lawn, especially in spring and Autumn.
Another reason to get a professional gardening service is garden waste removal, which not every garden owner wants to handle. Having professionals deal with garden waste makes any homeowner’s life a lot less complicated.
A beautiful, well-kept garden is no accident in nature. It is a precise combination of technical knowledge and creativity required to create a stunning well-kept garden.
Every garden is physically different. The soil, wind exposure, water, and sunlight play a huge role in determining what will and won’t thrive in your garden.
For gardens to look good, a professional gardener requires a thorough knowledge of which shapes, colors, and textures work together to create a harmonious garden that pleases both the eye and the soul.
A qualified professional gardener brings you both elements: technical know-how to ensure your garden is full of healthy plants and a beautiful garden design.
A qualified gardener is essential to work with you to understand your aspirations for your garden.
Depending on the complexity and the size of your garden, you may need one or two gardeners taking care of your garden. Planting trees is always a 2-person job. More gardeners would be necessary for larger replanting or redesign work in your garden.
Professional tools and gardening equipment are needed.
Apart from the intensive labor, gardening will require some tools and equipment that not everyone will have on hand. The following garden tools would be needed to maintain your garden. Most professional garden services will provide their tools. Check with your garden service if they require you to provide any equipment before signing an agreement.
Power tools
- A leaf blower.
- A hedge trimmer.
- Lawnmower.
Long-handled professional tools.
- Telescopic pruning saw.
- Telescopic lopper.
- Rakes for leaves, lawn, and soil.
- Hoes narrow and wide and a long-handled tri-fork.
Hand tools
- Bulldog border fork and spade
- Lawn half-moon edger and lawn shears
- Loppers
- Shears – large, small, topiary
- Mattock
- Drain shovel – for deep planting holes and plant removal
- Selection of trowels, forks, scoops
- Rotary lawn spreader – for feeding, weed, and moss treatment
- Handpump and backpack sprayers
Tools available to hire per day.
- Lawn aerator
- Lawn scarifier
Plant foods, pest control, supplements. Fees apply.
Bonemeal, mycorrhizal fungi, balanced fertilizer, iron supplement, specialist feeds for palms, box, camellias, flowering shrubs, roses, and container plants. Specialist organic sprays for aphids, thrip, mealybug, and bay leaf sucker.
What time of year should you start gardening?
Most gardens are growing all year round. However, the growing season starts in earnest in February, when all plants respond to the lengthening of days. February is the best time to get out and start your weeding, pruning, and feeding the roses. Start cutting back any herbaceous plants that were not cut back in late Autumn. The only time of year to avoid walking on the soil or lawn is in January. The ground is soggy or still frozen in January.
What about your lawn?
Lawn treatments should start in early April and are, unfortunately, slightly dependent on the weather. Grass usually begins to grow at 9C during average springtime. Therefore, your Lawn’ weed and feed’ program should start in April, followed by scarification and aeration, then seeding bald patches.
This same program is repeated in the Autumn. This double program of spring and Autumn is crucial to create a healthy weed- and moss-free lawn. But, unfortunately, there are no shortcuts to a lush green lawn.
How often does your lawn need cutting?
During the growing season, cutting your lawn typically means every week. However, many factors go into determining the rate at which the grass blades grow.
The rate at which your lawn grows is determined by different climate factors, like the temperature, the amount of rainfall, and sunlight. Generally speaking, the growth will be slower in areas with less sunlight and temperatures are too hot or cold, and rain is limited.
It also depends on the type of grass you have. While most grass may look more or less the same, some kinds of grass prefer cool weather and will grow more rapidly when it’s cooler, while other grass responds to warmer temperatures.
Some grass loves to bathe in sunlight for most of the day and will respond with thick, lush, relatively fast growth, while other grass species prefer a shaded area and will not grow as fast in areas with lots of direct sunlight.
Rainfall is another factor that affects all grass types equally: While some grass varieties are more adapted and drought-tolerant, usually grass growth will slow when there is a water shortage.
Different types of grass each have an ideal height for growth. If you cut the grass too short to lengthen the time between mowing and you may find the grass may respond by actually growing faster to overcome the stress-induced damage caused by being mowed below its ideal height.
Because of this, it is always recommended to mow your lawn weekly. It is healthier for the grass; it is quicker to clean up afterward. This way, your garden service can efficiently keep up with the growth of weeds in your flower beds.
Hiring a professional gardener skilled in a wide variety of lawns in different climates is the best way to make sure your property looks its best.
How often do you need to trim your shrubs?
Pruning shrubs is an important task that will help keep your garden looking tidy and improve your plant’s overall health. Usually, most shrubs are pruned in the spring, some in fall, and others can be pruned any time of the year.
Most homeowners are unsure of how often or when to trim shrubs or bushes. Unfortunately, it is a little bit more complicated than people realize. Keeping your garden plants well-pruned is a lot more complex than just taking the hedge cutter out and trim whenever you think the plants are becoming unruly.
A mistake pruning your plants can cost you your valuable plant material. To give you a better idea of when to trim your shrubs, here are some tips.
The ideal timing is dependent mainly upon the kind of plants. There are usually certain times of the year that are best for certain plants to be trimmed.
Some plant varieties in the same category can have variations when it is ok to trim and cut back. For example, some types of Azaleas only bloom once, and the best time to trim them is as soon as possible after they flowered.
Generally, there is a six-week window of when trimming is ok. However, some of the newer varieties flower twice and can be pruned twice just after flowering.
Hydrangea shrubs also have a few variations. For example, with Hydrangeas, there are early blooming, mid blooming, and late blooming hydrangeas. The specific variety will determine when you should prune.
If you prune Azaleas or Hydrangeas too late, you could ruin the plant’s flowering ability for the next season. When you prune too close to the cold season, you can leave your plant at risk of damage.
Young tiny buds on a hydrangea are going to die at the first cold freeze. This kind of stress on your plant can lead to its ultimate demise. Therefore, it is essential to know which of your plants should be pruned and when to prune to avoid future problems.
When do you need to cut your hedges?
How often you need a gardener also depends on shrubs and hedges that need pruning in your garden.
Almost all hedges only need to be cut once or twice a year. However, there are certain varieties of hedges that require a little more maintenance. Because most hedges are made from different types of trees and shrubs, the best time of year to trim them will vary.
How often should you trim a Yew hedge?
- Once a year, in August or September. If it is getting too large, then also prune it back in April.
How often should you trim a Leyland cypress hedge?
- Up to three times a year April, July, and late August. It is fast-growing, and you should not cut back beyond the green growth, or the hedge won’t recover, and it will have bad spots. Trimming little and often is the best way to keep it under control and growing well.
How often should you trim a Beech hedge?
- Trim it once or twice a year, August and mid-winter. Beech and hornbeam hedges grow fast in the early part of the year but need time to develop a little after cutting to ensure there are no bare patches through the winter season. When the hedges have grown too large, cut back in mid-winter, avoiding freezing spells.
How often should you trim a Privet hedge?
- Trim it twice a year, between May and August. If necessary, prune it in April to reduce the size of the hedge. The more you trim it, the more it will form a thick, even hedge, and the easier it is to keep it to maintain its size.
How often should you trim a Laurel hedge?
- Trim once a year, July or August. This kind of hedge has tough, large leaves; hedge trimmers will make them look ragged. Remove damaged leaves with secateurs to keep the hedge looking healthy and attractive. Cut back in spring to reshape overgrown hedges.
How often should you trim a Hawthorn hedge?
- Once or twice a year. After flowering in June and trim again in Autumn if you want a formal-looking hedge. Alternatively, trim every few years and leave the berries for the birds if you like an informal-looking hedge. To reduce a large hedge, prune hard in winter.
How often should you trim a Holly hedge?
- Trim this hedge once a year during late summer. When your hedge gets overgrown, cut back hard in spring.
How often should you trim a Berberis hedge?
- Trim once a year after flowering. If you like an informal hedge with berries, trim it back every few years to stop it from getting too large.
How often should you trim an Escallonia hedge?
- Trim once or twice a year in May and late August. Escallonia should be trimmed in May and cut again in late August. For a formal hedge without flowers. For an informal flowering hedge, trim after flowering in June. Prune hard in the spring to reduce its size.
What does garden maintenance include?
- Lawn care. The service will include lawn mowing, feeding, edging, watering, clipping removal, and leaf blowing.
- Weeding. This includes the removal of weeds from lawns and flowerbeds and the application of weed killer.
- Trimming trees and hedges. Trimming to maintain the aesthetics of your hedges, shrubs, trees and keeping their shape in a presentable state. The removal of diseased foliage as well as cutting branches to stimulate growth.
- Other garden improvements. Additional jobs might include planting or replanting some plants, lawn repair, and more.
- Garden waste removal. Removal of dead branches and foliage and general garden waste.
Conclusion.
How often you need a gardener depends significantly on the size of your garden and what kind of plants are growing in your garden. Most people hire a gardening service to work once a week.
Persons who have more significant than usual gardens might require a two-person crew to get the work done once a week. It all depends on the size of your garden and the kind of plants that grows in it.
If your garden has exotic plants that are not native, their maintenance may require frequent weeding, pruning, and even fertilizing that might need more systematic work.
Generally, once a week should be enough. Planting seeds or trees might require a gardener to come twice a week.
References:
Professional tools and equipment
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