A landed garden in Singapore usually needs someone every two weeks, or weekly if there is lawn you care about. A gardener handles the routine upkeep. A landscape contractor covers the same work plus the things a gardener cannot, like tree work, drainage, watering systems and replanting. Which one you need depends on what is in the garden, not on its size.
- Every two weeks suits most landed gardens. Weekly where there is real lawn.
- A gardener does the upkeep. Mowing, weeding, trimming, tidying.
- A contractor covers the rest. Trees, watering, drainage, replanting.
- Trees are their own job. See what about the trees.
- Check who takes the waste. It is the most common thing left out.
This post is for someone with one house and a garden they would rather not think about every weekend.
It covers what to hire, what a visit should include, and what to ask before booking anyone. For the wider picture, see the guide to landscape maintenance.
Do I need a gardener or a landscape contractor?
A gardener if the garden is planting, hedges and lawn. A landscape contractor if it also has mature trees, a watering system, a water feature, drainage that struggles, or anything you are thinking of changing.
The difference is what they can take on, not how good they are.
- A gardener comes regularly and keeps things in order. Mowing, weeding, trimming, sweeping up. For a straightforward garden this is all you need.
- A landscape contractor does that same routine work and also handles the jobs that need certifications, machinery or a design decision. Tree pruning and removal, watering repairs, drainage, replanting, paving and decking.
The practical test is what happens when something goes wrong. If a tree drops a branch or a bed keeps flooding, a gardener will tell you to call someone else. A contractor deals with it, so you only ever call one number.
For a small, simple garden that is not worth paying extra for. For a garden with mature trees in it, it usually is.
What happens on a garden maintenance visit?
The same core work every time, with heavier tasks on a longer cycle.
A normal visit covers this.
- Mow and edge the lawn.
- Weed the beds, the edges and the paving joints.
- Trim hedges and shrubs to keep their shape.
- Clear fallen leaves off the grass and out of the drains.
- Blow the paths and driveway clean.
- Take the cuttings away.
On a longer cycle, usually quarterly, comes the work that keeps the garden alive rather than tidy. Fertilising the lawn and the beds, treating pests and disease, checking the watering system properly, and topping up mulch.
Ask which of those quarterly tasks are in the price. Feeding and pest treatment are the ones most often missing from a cheap quotation, and they are what decides how the garden looks in two years.
How often does a landed garden need someone?
Every two weeks for most. Weekly if there is lawn that you use or look at from the house.
Grass decides it. Nothing here stops growing for a season, so mowing is the job that cannot wait. The rest of the work is fitted around that visit.
- Weekly. Real lawn, a visible frontage, or a garden you entertain in.
- Every two weeks. The normal landed garden. Some grass, mixed beds, hedges.
- Monthly. Mostly paving, gravel and hardy shrubs, with very little grass.
Monthly is the one that disappoints people. A garden with a lawn cannot be held on monthly visits, because the grass gets too long to cut back in one pass without leaving it yellow.
The full answer on how often covers what the monsoon does to this and how to tell your schedule is wrong.
What about the trees in my garden?
Trees are a separate job from garden maintenance, and most gardeners do not touch them beyond low branches.
Pruning a mature tree properly needs climbing and chainsaw certification, work at height training, and sometimes a crane lorry. It is also the work where getting it wrong is expensive, because a badly cut tree does not recover.
Two things are worth knowing if you have mature trees.
- They need looking at about once a year, and cutting only when there is a reason. See how often trees should be pruned here.
- More pruning is not better. Taking too much crown off weakens a tree. That is the mistake we see most.
If a tree overhangs your roof, your neighbour's boundary or a wire, get it looked at by someone certified to do the work rather than added to a gardener's round.
Who takes away the cuttings?
Check before you book, because this is where cheap quotations hide.
Garden waste has to be carted off and disposed of, and that costs money. A quotation that leaves it out will be lower than one that includes it, and the difference turns up as bags by your gate.
Three things to settle up front.
- Are cuttings and clippings removed on the day?
- What about a big job, like cutting a hedge back hard or clearing an overgrown bed?
- Where does it go? Piling it in a corner of your own garden is not removal, and it breeds mosquitoes.
The same question applies to tree work, where the volume is far larger. A tree that comes down produces more material than most people picture.
What should I ask before I book?
Five questions sort out most of the difference between quotations.
- How often, and what is in each visit? Get the quarterly tasks named.
- Who comes, and for how long? Two people for an hour is a different job from three for a morning.
- Is waste removal included?
- What is not covered? Tree work, watering repairs and replanting usually are not.
- What happens if a plant dies? Better to know before one does.
Then look at the garden three weeks after the first visit rather than on the day. Any garden looks good the afternoon someone has been. The test is how it holds up just before the next one.
What we do for landed homes
Crystalene looks after gardens and grounds across Singapore, for landed homes as well as condominiums, commercial buildings and private schools. We come and look at the garden before quoting, then set how often we come and what each visit covers against what is actually planted.
Because we do the tree work too, the trees in your garden are covered by the same contractor rather than being somebody else's problem. Our arborists are ISA-certified and we are bizSAFE Level 3 certified. Crystalene has been doing this since 2001.
