Gardening in Ontario

A gardener maintains what exists: mowing, weeding, pruning, planting, seasonal care. A landscaper builds or rebuilds: patios, walls, turf laying, planting schemes, irrigation. Gardeners charge by the hour or visit; landscapers quote by project. Hiring a landscaper for weeding wastes money; hiring a gardener to build a retaining wall risks a bad wall.

A typical recurring visit covers lawn edges, weeding beds, deadheading, light pruning, sweeping paths, and a tidy-up. Hedge cutting, tree work, lawn treatments, and green waste haul-away are usually priced separately. Get the visit scope in writing — 'maintenance' means different things to different providers.

For an average garden, fortnightly visits in the growing season and monthly in the off-season keeps things under control. Weekly only makes sense for large or high-maintenance gardens. A longer gap costs more per visit because overgrowth takes longer to clear — fortnightly is usually the sweet spot of cost versus tidiness.

Send photos of the whole garden including problem areas, state the size roughly, list what you want done (be specific: 'trim the 15m laurel hedge' beats 'tidy the garden'), and say how the green waste should be handled. Good gardeners in Ontario will quote a first longer visit to get on top of things, then a lower recurring rate.

Hedge trimming is priced by length, height, and access — a low boundary hedge costs far less than a 3m conifer run needing platforms. Disposal of trimmings can be a third of the total, so ask for the price with and without haul-away. Overgrown hedge reductions (cutting into thick wood) cost several times a routine trim.

Many do, for a fee that reflects local disposal costs — green waste is charged by volume at commercial facilities. Alternatives: your green-waste bin (slow for big jobs), composting on site (free, needs space), or a one-off waste collection. In several countries the person hauling your waste must be a licensed/registered waste carrier, so ask.

General yard maintenance labor runs $50-$100 per hour per worker in 2026, often quoted as a crew rate. Recurring maintenance visits for an average yard commonly land at $100-$250 per visit depending on scope. One-time cleanups are usually quoted flat: a few hundred dollars for light work, $500-$1,500+ for heavy seasonal cleanups with hauling.

The seasonal cleanup is a US market staple: leaf removal, cutting back perennials, bed edging, and debris hauling in one visit. Typical suburban yards run $200-$600 per cleanup, more with mature trees. Booking the same company for both cleanups plus summer maintenance usually earns a package discount.