How often should you have a gardener?

Once you've decided you'd quite like somebody else to keep the garden under control, the next question is: how often do they actually need to come? Every week? Every fortnight? Once a month?

The answer depends on the garden — but for a lot of normal domestic gardens, we'd start the conversation around every two weeks.

Here's why.

Weekly garden maintenance

Weekly visits make the most sense for gardens that genuinely need frequent attention. That might mean a larger garden, lots of lawn, more formal planting, fast-growing areas, or simply somebody who wants the garden kept looking particularly sharp.

Weekly maintenance can therefore make sense — but plenty of normal households simply don't need that much gardening. And we're not interested in selling you visits for the sake of it.

Fortnightly garden maintenance

For many homes, every two weeks is the sweet spot. It's frequent enough that the lawn doesn't get completely out of control, weeds are dealt with before they take over, borders get regular attention, and jobs don't endlessly build up.

It also means each visit tends to be maintenance rather than rescue. And that's the whole point. A garden that's kept on top of generally takes less drama than one that gets ignored until somebody finally says: “Right. We really need to sort that garden.”

Every four weeks

Four-weekly maintenance can work well if the garden is relatively small, there's less lawn, things grow slowly, you're happy doing a little yourself between visits, or you simply want someone to stop it becoming unruly.

The trade-off is obvious. During fast-growing periods, four weeks can be a long time in a garden. Your May visit and your June visit can feel like two completely different gardens.

Does the schedule stay the same all year?

Not necessarily. Growth naturally changes with weather and season. The RHS notes that lawns usually need significantly less mowing over winter and may not need mowing at all unless conditions remain mild enough for growth.

So sensible garden maintenance should adapt. The goal isn't to perform pointless work because “it's on the schedule”. The goal is to keep the garden in good shape.

What about hedges?

They're different again. Hedges don't normally need cutting every fortnight. Depending on the species and style, established hedges might need trimming once, twice or three times a year. And any hedge cutting also needs to take nesting birds into account.

So don't think fortnightly gardener means every single garden task gets done every fortnight. Think: someone regularly has eyes on the garden and deals with what needs attention at the right time. That's a much better system.

So which one should I choose?

1. 1

   Every 2 weeks

   Best if you want us genuinely keeping on top of the garden and doing most of the work.

2. 2

   Every 4 weeks

   Best for simpler gardens or if you're happy doing bits yourself between visits.

And if you choose the wrong one? We'll tell you. We're looking at the actual garden before confirming the price anyway.