Gardening - DIY or hire a pro?

6 år siden

Houzzers - when you hear "gardening" do you think "therapeutic pastime" or "stressful ordeal"?

Fulham 1, London · Mere information

Do you have green fingers, loving to spend spare hours tending to your garden, or would you never dream of taking matters into your own hands, resorting to professional help every time?

Vote and leave us a comment below letting us know which side of the fence you fall on and why!

Always hire a pro

Always DIY

Depends on the job

Other - comment below!

Fremhævet svar

User

6 år siden

Here's a photo

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(18) kommentarer

angelboyman
6 år siden
I've hired tree surgeons to cut down big trees that could take out something expensive if I tackled it myself but I've felled trees that had plenty of space to fall - other than that, it's all DIY. Hard landscaping, building summerhouses, paving, driveways, planting, design, hedge cutting etc etc etc - the lot! I do get my eldest to cut the lawns though as part of their chores and my wife loves to prune and weed. Do I enjoy it? No. Can I afford to get the pros in? Also no.
Louise Clark
6 år siden
Our family garden brings us lots of joy! We've designed the garden ourselves, bringing in professionals for fencing, paving and tree surgery.

The planting and less heavy duty landscaping, we've undertaken ourselves. Selecting the plants and creating the 'look' has been a big part of why we love our garden so much.

I appreciate that gardening isn't everyone's cup of tea and time/budget plays a big part. We've kept it very simple in the front garden...very low maintenance, simple planting, a few containers, with all year round colour and interest.
Isidora Markovic
Forfatter
6 år siden
Sounds beautiful Louise - would love to see a photo!
Heidi Cullen
6 år siden
I have a rule - NO-ONE touches my plants but ME. We have a relationship as most have been grown from seed or cutting. I know what they want and how they like to be treated. However, any building, hard landscaping or fencing etc. I leave to my tame professional Ollie. He has just completed a cat climbing frame, a bench and a raised bed for me. The frame will have climbers all over it eventually and won't look quite so bare. The cats love it and so do I.
Isidora Markovic
Forfatter
6 år siden
They look like two very happy cats! Which climbers are you growing?
Heidi Cullen
6 år siden
Thank you. I'm growing a paper clematis and red nasturtiums all over the frame. Both are cat friendly and I use the nasturtiums in salads etc so it's a win, win x
Marcella Quail
6 år siden
i love gardening ., but sometimes i need help
Sonia
6 år siden
My poor health means I can no longer do everything in the garden. I do the weeding and pruning, but anything heavy duty is done by my OH, such as heavy pruning and digging. We did use a tree surgeon to remove a huge Silver Birch tree that grew far too big for its spot and had the stump ground out. I still enjoy pottering round my garden tidying up and deadheading.
S Sanders
6 år siden
I recommend a combination of professional help and DIY. Since In recent years I had been doing the garden myself but last year I injured my back and the weeding and maintenance got away from me. I had a real problem to locate a gardener rather than a garden clearer! Now my wonderful female gardeners have got on top of the garden for me so that I can do the enjoyable aspects such as planting and designing.
PRO
User
6 år siden
It all depends on the job and individual's personal attitude towards garden work. Some of us just like to enjoy it, while others take great joy in the making.

I would definitely hire a pro to do skilled or dangerous tasks like tree pruning or do jobs that require specialistic tools i.e. extensive levelling etc.

I would also always hire a pro to advise on plants and their composition or to help with layout design, but personally I would do as much of the work myself, as I find garden work very relaxing, not to mention it gives the feeling of pride and a job well done once completed.
craftycountess
6 år siden
I designed my own but got the landscapers in for a complete transformation, now it is low maintenance and a relaxing place to sit....

Not to everyone's taste but suits me now I'm approaching the 70's
User
6 år siden
Took me 4 years off n on to dig out beds and plant my garden and no I didn't exactly enjoy it but I couldn't stand the bleakness of looking at a lawn just surrounded by a fence.
Years later it's still a joy and very easy to maintain because I planted a lot of shrubs just interspersed with perennial flowers.
I'm glad I done it myself because it teaches you a lot and can actually become a very relaxing hobby. It also keeps you quite fit.
I don't think we connect with nature enough these days and the benefits of it are very well documented.
Emmeline Westin
6 år siden
It's gorgeous @fizzfan!
Isidora Markovic
Forfatter
6 år siden
Wow @fizzfan - the hard work definitely paid off!
Liz Mooney
6 år siden
We did both our front and back gardens our selfs .A lot of hard work but now we can enjoy it :)
PRO
Blooming Planters Garden Design
6 år siden
I started by designing my own garden & then building it before training as a Garden Designer. If you have time to do it yourself, you will save money but you could also make expensive mistakes. I would suggest hiring a pro to do the planning & building as structure is something you see all year round. Plants are relatively cheap to buy & experiment with but hard landscaping is better done by those with experience.

Here are some photos of my garden.
PRO
Mark Lane Designs
6 år siden
It really depends on what you want to achieve. If you are having problems with the overall design, trying to think of different ways to use the space then I would always recommend a garden designer. Once the design has been done, it is then up to you whether you do it yourself or get a contractor in (preferably someone that the garden designer has worked with before). Then when complete, if the design is right for you then a more hands on approach to the actual gardening and nurturing of the space can be done by yourself.