By the Sleak Property Services team ·
Gardens get away from people for all sorts of reasons: a busy couple of years, an illness, a property that's been empty or let to tenants who never picked up a pair of shears. Once brambles and hedges take over, regular gardening isn't enough. It needs clearing first.
Here's what a clearance involves, so you know what to expect and what to ask for.
What a garden clearance includes
- Cutting back overgrown lawns, beds and borders
- Clearing brambles, ivy, nettles and weeds, including the roots where possible
- Reducing hedges that have grown over paths, windows or boundaries
- Removing unwanted shrubs, small trees and self-seeded saplings
- Clearing garden rubbish: old pots, broken furniture, fallen fence panels
- Loading and taking all of the green waste and rubbish away
A clearance is about getting the garden back to a blank, usable state. Replanting, new turf or landscaping can follow, but they're separate jobs.
How long it takes
Most domestic gardens are cleared in a day or less. A long back garden that has been left for several years, or a rural plot with field hedges, can take longer. A couple of photos is usually enough for an accurate quote and timescale.
What happens to the waste
The waste is often the biggest part of the job. A good clearance includes bagging, loading and taking everything away, so you're not left with a heap at the side of the house or a skip on the drive. Ask about this when you get quotes, because some prices don't include it.
Wildlife and timing
Hedges and dense shrubs are home to nesting birds in spring and summer, and it's an offence to damage an active nest. Heavy hedge cutting is best done outside the main nesting season, roughly March to August. If a clearance has to happen in summer, we check hedges for nests first and work around them.
Clearances for landlords and house sales
A cleared garden makes a real difference to how quickly a property lets or sells, and it's often one of the cheapest improvements you can make. At the end of a tenancy, if the agreement makes the tenant responsible for the garden, keep dated photos of the state it was left in before it's cleared.
Stopping it coming back
Brambles and couch grass regrow from roots, so the first few months after a clearance matter. A regular gardening visit, even monthly, keeps on top of regrowth while it's small. Low-maintenance planting, bark or gravel in unused areas and a hedge kept to a sensible height all make the garden easier to look after.
Common questions
Do I need to be at home for a garden clearance?
No, as long as we can get into the garden and know what you want keeping. We'll send photos when the job's done.
Can you clear a garden in winter?
Yes. Winter is a good time for heavy cutting back, because growth has slowed and nesting season hasn't started.