Getting help with your garden

Whether it’s a one-off big job or regular support, many people need some extra help with their garden. Find advice on how to find and fund it here.

Benefits for you
Getting help with more challenging gardening activities can leave you free to do those you can and enjoy doing
Changing your garden to make it more manageable can allow you to continue getting the many health and wellbeing benefits from it
Having another person share in gardening tasks gives the opportunity to connect and discuss nature together

Deciding what help is needed
At Thrive, people often ask us how to get help to maintain a garden.

There are so many reasons why you might need a little extra support. It could be related to a new or ongoing health condition, or you may have moved somewhere new and the garden doesn’t suit your needs.

Before finding help, first think about what you need done. This will help you find the right person or organization to support you.

1. Do you need help adapting your garden?

Your garden may need changes to make it more manageable, for example:

Changing the layout and design
Replacing or reducing the size of a lawn
Adding raised beds in place of / as well as beds and borders
Removing plants and replacing with lower maintenance ones
Putting down a mulch or matting to reduce weed growth
To adapt your garden, you may need the support of a garden designer or landscaper (see below).

Major changes to a garden can cost a bit of money. Always keep in mind how much you can reasonably afford and stick to it.

2. Do you need help with specific gardening jobs?

Some gardening jobs are more physically demanding than others or require extra equipment. For example:

Clearing a very overgrown garden
Trimming hedges and pruning trees
Mowing the lawn
Digging beds and borders
General tidying (e.g. removing waste, clearing lawns, patio, decking)
Weeding
Planting
Depending on what you want done, you may need help once or twice a year, or you may need someone to come more regularly.

For these activities, you will want to find a gardener you can trust. This way, you can be free to do the less strenuous activities that you most enjoy!

The right professional for your job
Before looking for help, it’s good to understand more about what different gardening professionals do. Here’s a general guide:

Garden designer

A garden designer is needed if you want to do a major redesign of your garden and need ideas for how it will look. This includes hard areas and planted areas. They will be a creative, trained horticulturalist.

Some companies just create a design. Some may also build it.

Re-designing a garden is a large task and can require a lot of money.

Landscape gardener

If you are making adaptations to your garden beyond plants, a landscape gardener can help. They can work on hard areas like patios, decking, paths, ponds and structures including raised beds.

Gardener

If you need help with gardening tasks, but don’t need major changes, you probably need a gardener.

Some landscapers will also do gardening tasks. It’s always best to talk to the person about exactly what you need and see if that matches their expertise.