How much are gardeners in the UK spending on their garden?

13th September 2017

Looking after our gardens in the way we want to can be costly – but we know it will bring happiness to our homes! It’s estimated that over the course of a gardener’s lifetime, they’ll spend £30,000 on tending to their garden. A staggering amount by anyone’s standards, but just how does the amount break down? Compost and horticultural grit retailer, Compost Direct investigate:

Gardening Express looked into what this money is being spent on and found that out of this £30,000, £10,000 was spent on plants whereas £9,000 was spent on new patios and decking. This decking cost is based on renewing the patio and decking six times over their lifetime.

This £30,000 figure came from a 2014 survey. Lloyds Bank Insurance found that on average, a household spent £587 on their gardens between 2015 and 2016.

But how much would this cost us over our lifetime? If we take the average UK lifespan at 80 years old and consider that most Brits won’t buy their first home until they’re 30, we can assume around 50 years of gardening. Based on the £587 average household spend, more recent data suggests that this spend has dropped to £29,350 — a £750 decrease on the figures from 2014.

Those who are not 100% committed to their garden consider hiring professionals to give their gardens an experts touch. However, this isn’t without cost. Here’s how much the most popular garden tasks will cost you if you hire the experts. According to analysis:

Cutting your grass

Depending on the size of your garden, asking your professional gardener to cut your lawn can cost £30 on average. Between March and September, this will usually be required fortnightly, racking up a total cost of £420 annually.

The average lawnmower can cost around £100 and this is a small price to pay when comparing to a professional lawn cutting provider.

Adding a patio to your garden

Your garden can become the space to host events with your friends and family and a patio would make a great addition. Laying a patio around 4m by 2m costs £475 on average. If you were to do the work yourself, you’d need around 18 900mm x 900mm paving slabs. You’ll also need to consider the cost of hardcore and bedding mortar. It is also a labour-intensive task so, while you may be able to save money, it may be more worthwhile to call in the professionals.

Adding a shed to your garden

The average cost of a shed is around £150 when looking at a standard design. However, the cost of building a garden shed is £150 too, assuming the flat base is already in place. Although it may seem complex, building your own shed could save you some cash.

Adding decking to your garden

When looking to add decking to your garden, sometimes having an expert do all the hard work for you can be worth it – but what are the changes in the cost?

When deciding what decking you want, you will need to know the cost for the raw materials and how much it will cost to be installed. For budget timber, you can expect to pay around £14 per square meter. For a decking that’s around 14m2 — approximately the size you’ll need to house a dining table and chairs — you can expect to pay £196 just for the basic boards.

Some people want premium hardwood boards when shopping for decking. The price rises to approximately £90 per square meter, bringing the total to £1,260 for the same 14m2 area. You’ll also have the cost of fittings on top of this, as well as a drill and saw if you don’t already have those.

In the UK, joiners, who you will need to install your decking, have a day rate of somewhere between £150 – £200 depending on the size of your garden. This job usually takes around two days. In total, installing basic decking will likely cost around £596, while you can expect to pay £1,660 for premium hardwood decking.