In the current ‘gig’ economy, there are a lot of ‘odd jobbers’ and people on ‘zero hour contracts’ buying cheap mowers and calling themselves gardeners.  So it is important to do a little homework and ask a few questions to ensure that your garden is in good hands.

First, it is important to consider what you want your gardener to do. Gardens are usually made up of a number of different elements, including lawns, hedges and beds, which all have different requirements. Therefore, you need to think about which aspects of the garden you want your gardener to maintain:

Now you have decided what needs to be done, how do you decide who is going to do it? We have complied a list of questions you should consider asking a potential gardener before signing a contract:

Britain is noted for its changeable weather.  No two summers are the same and conditions can change from week to week. Growing conditions can also vary greatly between gardens – for example as a result of soil type and light levels. The more seasons a gardener has got under his or her belt and the greater variety of grounds he or she has worked on, the better equipped they are to cater for your individual garden in the weather conditions of that year. At Harradine Garden Services, we have over thirty years’ experience in horticulture, so you can rest assured that we have the experience to provide the best care for your garden.

In addition to experience, some tasks, such as weed killing and waste removal, require licenses to carry out. At Harradine Garden Services, we are fully qualified to use pesticides and we are licensed waste carriers. This means that we can use weed killers and dispose of waste legally, safely and responsibly. Waste generated as a result of our activities (e.g. grass clippings) is disposed of at a registered waste disposal centre at no extra cost to you.

Knowing the hourly rate is of very limited use when comparing gardeners, unless you are employing someone on a labour-only basis. That is to say they use your tools, do not take away the waste, do what you want them to do for however long you have agreed and you supply all the materials that are needed. This will inevitably work out far more expensive and time-consuming for you, the client, as the costs of tools and waste disposal mount up. It is worth noting that even the smallest of gardens can produce a substantial amount of green waste.

A professional gardener will usually assess how much work there is to do in the garden over the whole season or year and divide that by either eight or twelve months. Alternatively, they may have a lower price for the winter. 

A professional gardener may appear to be more expensive per hour, but they will provide a swift, professional, all-inclusive service that will work out cheaper and easier for you in the long run. At Harradine Garden Services, we spend as much time as is required to do a job, all the consumables such as weed killers and fertilizers are included in the price and we will take away the green waste that is produced. Furthermore, we use professional garden machines, which are expensive to buy and maintain, but reliably do the job in half the time and can cope with conditions that will break domestic equipment in minutes. 

A mower can easily pick up a stone and put it through a patio door, which could cause damage and injury.  It is worth knowing that the gardener you employ has the proper insurance to pay for the damage. This is known as Public Liability Insurance and it covers the gardener for any damage or personal injury caused whilst carrying out their work. If you are employing someone who is using your tools, give some thought to what will happen if a faulty tool injured them or someone else. At Harradine Garden Services, we are covered by Public Liability Insurance, so you can have peace of mind knowing that we are covered in the event of damages or injury.