Cost of Weeding

Weeding is one of the most common garden maintenance tasks that homeowners face. Weeds can grow in almost every outdoor space, including lawns, flower beds, patios and driveways. Not only are they unsightly, but weeds also compete with plants for nutrients, water, and sunlight, affecting their growth and overall health.

Annoyingly, weeds are fast-growing, spreading easily from one area to another, and some develop long roots, making them difficult to remove. So, even though weeding can feel like a laborious, never-ending task, it can’t be left.

That’s why many homeowners, particularly those with large gardens, choose to leave regular weeding to the professionals rather than tackle it as a DIY garden job. Hiring a gardener to do the weeding helps to keep outdoor spaces tidy, improves your home’s kerb appeal and prevents invasive weeds from spreading.

The cost of weeding varies depending on the size of your garden, the type of weeds present, the ease of access and whether you need any additional garden maintenance jobs done.

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How Much is Weeding?

So, your first question is probably how much does weeding cost? In the UK, the average cost for a professional to weed your garden is £50. However, weeding costs vary depending on the size of your garden, the amount of weeds and the removal method, as well as the time it takes to complete the job.

For instance, a small border containing a few small weeds might only cost £20 to £30 to tidy up, whereas a large overgrown garden could cost in the region of £100 to £300.

You should also bear in mind that it may take longer to weed a lawn or flower border as this usually needs to be done manually, whereas you may be able to use a quicker method, such as a chemical treatment or power wash, on a patio or driveway. Furthermore, if you have a problem with invasive weeds, such as Japanese Knotweed, you may need to use a licensed specialist, and the treatment may require multiple visits. So, the type of areas you need weeding and the extent of the problem can play just as big a role in cost as the size of the garden.

With labour being a large part of the cost of weeding your garden, you may be wondering how gardeners charge for their time. Professional gardeners may charge an hourly or daily rate or give you a fixed price per visit or job.

Weeding Prices

To help you calculate the cost of your weeding job, here’s a breakdown of average costs and timescales by job type:

Depending on where in the UK you live, typical gardener rates fall between £14 and £25 per hour. Day rates tend to range from £100 to £250.

Supply Costs

Prefer to keep costs down and tackle the weeds yourself? Here are some of the basic tools and equipment required to carry out weeding:

• Weeding knife or trowel: £10 - £30
• Garden hoe: £15 - £30
• Long-handled weed puller: £15 - £40
• Patio scraper and brush: £10 - £20
• Gardening gloves: £3 - £10
• Kneeler: £10 - £20
• Grabber scoop: £10 - £20
• Wheelbarrow: £30 - £60
• Broom: £10 - £20
• Weed killers or herbicides: £5 - £20
• Weed control fabric: £10 - £15

Where you have large or spiky weeds, you may also need to wear some rugged trousers, long sleeves and sturdy boots or wellies to protect yourself.

As you can see, most tools and pieces of equipment are fairly cheap to buy. So, weeding your own garden on a DIY basis is a good option for those on a tight budget. However, to successfully remove weeds, you need to make sure you pull up all of the roots. This can be tricky if weeds have established themselves in your garden.

Therefore, you may still need the help of a professional to return some order to your outside space.

Weed Treatment Costs

Sometimes, where there are persistent or tricky weeds to remove, a weed control treatment may be required. There are different types of treatment available, depending on the weeds and location, including:

• Herbicides for controlling weeds on paved areas
• Organic or natural weed control products for perennial and annual weeds
• Moss and weed treatments for lawns
• Systemic weedkillers for large, overgrown areas

Should your garden need a chemical or organic treatment, this could add £20 to £60 to your weeding costs. This cost could increase should repeat applications be required.

Not all weedkillers are suitable for use on flower beds or around children and pets, so it’s wise to leave garden treatments to professional gardeners unless you know what you’re doing.

Additional Costs

It’s not just the cost of weeding itself that you may need to think about. If your garden could benefit from some extra tidying or the introduction of weed control measures, you may need to allow for some of these additional costs:

Lawn Maintenance

Should your lawn contain a lot of moss and dead material as well as weeds, it might need scarifying. This process of raking out thatch helps air to circulate and nutrients to reach the roots, giving you a healthier lawn. Lawn scarification costs between £45 and £120, depending on the size of your lawn. Your lawn may need further maintenance, such as overseeding, fertilising or aeration. On average, you can expect to pay around £45 per lawn treatment.

Garden Clearance

If your garden has grown particularly wild, you might need to think about garden waste clearance. Depending on the amount of vegetation that needs removing, this could add between £15 and £300 to your costs.

Garden Tidying Jobs

Once the weeds have been removed, you may notice that other areas of the garden could do with a tidy-up. General garden maintenance jobs such as hedge trimming, lawn mowing, pruning and the raking of leaves could add another £20 to £100 to your costs, depending on the number of jobs that need doing and how many hours it takes to complete.

Patio and Driveway Cleaning

Pressure washing your garden’s paved areas, including your driveway and patio, can help to remove dirt, moss, algae and weeds. It will also refresh your exterior and make surfaces safer to walk on. Power washing a driveway can cost £100 to £400, depending on the size.

Although these extra garden maintenance jobs may increase the overall price you pay, getting them done at the same time as the weeding can be more cost-effective than paying your gardener to make separate visits.

Labour Costs and Timescales

If you’re hiring a gardener to do your weeding, you’ll be keen to know what they typically charge for their labour.

Firstly, it’s important to understand how gardeners. Gardeners may charge:

• An hourly rate – this is typically between £14 and £25
• A fixed price per job – for example, £30 for weeding a flower bed
• A set day rate – average gardener day rates range from £100 to £250

So, before you agree to the work, it’s wise to check how they charge for their time.

If you’re paying by the hour, the timescales below will help you calculate the cost of your weeding job:

• Small gardens – 1 to 2 hours
• Medium gardens – 2 to 3 hours
• Large gardens – 3 to 4 hours or more

These timescales are based on gardens with a moderate amount of weed growth. Heavily overgrown gardens may take significantly longer to weed.

Cost Factors for Weeding

Time is a significant cost factor, but it’s not the only one to consider when you’re working out the cost of weeding. These key cost factors shouldn’t be overlooked:

Amount and size of weeds – Small weeds tend to be easier to pull up, so a few small weeds are quicker to remove than a large amount of deeply-rooted weeds.

Garden size – No matter the extent of the weeds, the larger the garden, the longer it will take a gardener to work their way around it.

Accessibility of the garden – Steep surfaces, hard-to-reach areas and gardens where you’re limited to using small, manual tools, will increase timescales and therefore labour costs.

Surfaces being weeded – Some surfaces are quicker to weed, such as large borders suitable for hoeing and paved areas suitable for pressure washing. Other surfaces, such as gravel paths, may take longer to tackle.

Whether weed treatments are required – Large and invasive weeds may need specialist treatments to remove. The cost of the treatments and the number of applications they need will affect your overall costs.

Frequency of maintenance visits – If you have regular visits from a local gardener, the weeding shouldn’t take very long to complete.

Local labour rates – Gardener rates do vary around the UK. For instance, in London and the South West, you can pay 25% more per hour than the national average.

Overall condition of your garden – Unmaintained gardens can take far longer to weed. For instance, bushes may need cutting back first.

Building Regulations for Weed Removal

As weeding is considered part of general garden maintenance, you don’t need to worry about planning permission or building regulations.

However, when using chemical herbicides, gardeners must follow safety guidelines and environmental regulations. So, it’s important to hire a competent person, such as a trained and certified gardener, pest control operative or weed removal specialist.

Types of Weed Removal

Want to know more about the weed removal process and associated costs? Here’s what to expect:

Lawn Weeding

To prevent damage to the grass, it’s often best to remove weeds manually with a puller. However, if there are lots of weeds, this can be time-consuming. Weeds like clover, common plantain, creeping buttercup and dandelions can quickly take over a lawn. The best way to stop this happening is with regular garden maintenance, including mowing and scarifying. It’s also best to weed a lawn before applying fertilisers, otherwise the weeds will feed on the extra nutrients.

You can expect weeding to take around one hour and other lawn maintenance jobs to take one to three hours. This means costs can be between £30 and £150. If the weeds are extensive, your gardener may suggest using a chemical treatment. This will reduce the labour costs, but treatments do add around £45 to your lawn weeding costs.

Flower Bed and Border Weeding

If you have a large border with lots of gaps between your plants, it may just need a quick once-over with a hoe. However, in most cases, weeding will need to be done by hand. The good news is that unless your flower beds are extensive or very overgrown, it shouldn’t take longer than one to two hours to complete. This means flower bed weeding costs are typically between £20 and £50.

Patio and Driveway Weed Removal

Patio and driveway weeds can be removed manually with a brush and scraper tool, with a targeted weedkiller or with a pressure washer. The best method depends on the surface type and the extent of the weeds.

If your patio or driveway could benefit from a clean but doesn’t have too many weeds to deal with, then a power wash might be the best solution. This takes one to three hours, depending on the size of the area, and costs £100 to £400.

Delicate surfaces and stubborn weeds may need to be tackled by hand or with a chemical treatment. For patios, this typically takes one to two hours and costs £20 to £50 for manual weeding and £20 to £60 for a single application of weedkiller.

Gravel Garden Weeding

Gravel gardens are known for being low-maintenance. However, you may still need to remove some weeds and self-seeding plants, especially in newly created gravel gardens and in areas without a weed control membrane.

Due to their nature, manual weeding is the best option. However, this should be quicker to complete than in conventional gardens and borders, so you should expect it to take less than an hour to complete and cost between £14 and £25. Should you need to add or replace a weed control membrane, this could add £3 to £10 per m².

Alternative Weed Control Methods

Most of us don’t enjoy weeding, which is why so many of us hire gardeners to do it. But by implementing one or two weed control measures, you can reduce the need for regular weeding and keep your garden maintenance costs down. Here are a few methods to consider:

• Mulching garden beds: A layer of mulch over your beds creates a barrier for weeds and blocks light to reduce their growth. With supply, delivery and labour costs, you’ll typically pay between £50 and £200 for mulching, depending on the size of the area.
• Installing weed control membranes: This horticultural fabric allows water to drain through whilst blocking the growth of weeds. You can fit it over the top of borders or lay it underneath gravel to create a gravel garden. Membranes cost from around £3 per m².
• Raised garden beds and container gardening: Growing your plants in separate or enclosed areas can help to minimise the spread of weeds, making your garden easier to manage. Raised garden beds cost between £30 and £600 to install.
• Ground cover plants: Growing plants that spread out over your border, such as sedums and creeping thyme, can help to block out the weeds. Young plug plants can be picked up for as little as £5, but to ensure success, you may wish for professional help with planting. Planting will cost between £20 and £120, depending on the number of plants and the time it takes.
• Dense planting: You could also try a scheme of dense planting in your borders. The more gaps you fill, the more you should suppress the weeds.
• No-dig gardening: The process of digging and turning soil can help the seeds of weeds to germinate. So, another way to reduce weeds and effort is by switching to no-dig gardening. The combination of minimal ground disturbance and plenty of mulching should naturally reduce weed growth.

Hiring Contractors Checklist for Weeding

Ready to hire a gardener? Hire the right contractor by running through this handy checklist:

• Start by obtaining several quotes for comparison, to ensure you hire the right person and pay the right price. Posting a job on MyJobQuote is a quick and easy way to do this.
• Check what experience they have in garden maintenance. You can ask to see examples of their previous work.
• If they’re using chemical treatments such as a glyphosate-based herbicide, check whether they have suitable training, a PA1 and PA6 qualification, and a certificate of competency.
• Confirm what’s included in the price. For instance, is waste removal included? If you’re having weed treatments, does the price include multiple visits?
• Carry out a few background checks to be sure they’re reputable. Look at online reviews and see what customers are saying about them.
• Finally, get confirmation of when they will carry out the work and how long they expect it to take.

Removing Large or Invasive Weeds

Not all weed removal jobs are straightforward. When it comes to large and invasive weeds, you may need to hire a specialist contractor with the right knowledge and skills.

This includes problems with:

• Japanese knotweed
• Giant hogweed
• Bamboo roots
• Himalayan Balsam
• Horsetail
• Rhododendron ponticum

These invasive plants and weeds often require spraying or injecting with a herbicide. Only a specialist contractor or experienced gardener can handle and apply these chemical treatments. The need for a specialist contractor and herbicide treatments can add £1,000 to £7,000 to your costs.

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