Gardening & landscaping · Canberra & ACT
Gardening and landscaping
Clay that sets like concrete in February and holds water in July. Frost hanging around into October. Blocks that fall away at the back. Canberra gardens are kind to tradies who know the ground and rough on everyone else.
Two different trades, one category
Gardening and maintenance
Mowing, hedging, pruning, weeding, mulching, a tidy-up before an inspection or a sale. Priced by the hour or by the visit, and it's often ongoing.
Landscaping and construction
Retaining walls, paving, turf, irrigation, garden beds, drainage, steps. Priced as a project, and there's usually machinery and a truckload of material involved.
Tell us which one you're after. A gardener quoting a retaining wall and a landscaper quoting a hedge trim are both jobs nobody enjoys.
What Canberra does to a garden
- Frost, and plenty of it. New turf and tender plants going in at the wrong time of year is money you'll spend twice. Autumn and spring are the friendly windows.
- Heavy clay. Great for holding nutrients, hopeless for drainage, and brutal to dig by hand in summer. That's why post holes and footings cost what they do here.
- Slope. Woden, Weston Creek and big chunks of Belco and Tuggers are full of blocks that fall a metre or more across the yard. Levelling means retaining, and retaining above a certain height is engineered work.
- Dry summers. Irrigation isn't a luxury on a new garden here — it's the difference between a planting scheme and a replanting scheme.
- Bushfire-prone edges. If your block backs onto reserve, what you plant and where you plant it comes with its own considerations.
What gets posted
Full backyard makeover
Usually turf, paving, beds and a retaining wall all at once.
Usually turf, paving, beds and a retaining wall all at once.
New home landscaping
Bare dirt to finished. Common in Gungahlin and Molonglo.
Bare dirt to finished. Common in Gungahlin and Molonglo.
Turf supply and lay
Prep is most of it. Rolling out the grass is the easy bit.
Prep is most of it. Rolling out the grass is the easy bit.
Retaining walls
Timber or concrete sleeper. Height decides whether it's engineered.
Timber or concrete sleeper. Height decides whether it's engineered.
Irrigation
Dripline to beds, pop-ups to lawn, controller and backflow.
Dripline to beds, pop-ups to lawn, controller and backflow.
Big clean-up
Overgrown block, pre-sale tidy, end of tenancy.
Overgrown block, pre-sale tidy, end of tenancy.
Tree work
Say if it's near power lines or a boundary — that changes who's allowed to do it.
Say if it's near power lines or a boundary — that changes who's allowed to do it.
Paving and paths
The base matters more than the paver you pick.
The base matters more than the paver you pick.
Ongoing maintenance
Fortnightly or monthly, houses or commercial grounds.
Fortnightly or monthly, houses or commercial grounds.
What to tell us
- Rough size of the area. Paces are fine.
- Does it slope, and by how much? Stand at the top and tell us what you see.
- Access for machinery. How wide's the side gate? A bobcat that can't get in doubles the labour on a big job.
- What's coming out, and whether it needs taking away.
- Is there a tap and power out the back.
- Photos from the back door and from the far corner. Both, ideally.
- One-off or ongoing. Say if you want someone regular — that's a better lead and often a better rate.