Pine House’s maintenance services are comprehensive, and our team can take the lead on pruning and plant care of ornamental and fruiting shrubs and trees, along with grasses and flowering plants; we'll also do organic pest and disease prevention/management, and manage the irrigation schedule.

In the kitchen garden, our team will do seasonal and successional planting of veggies, herbs and flowers; as well as support with: clean-up, making sure everything is getting staked and trellised, , organic fertilizing, organic disease and pest management, and sourcing supplies (including soil amendments, plant stakes or other materials). Our team can also support with vegetable and fruit harvesting in order to help keep your garden productive and ensure everything is being picked when it's ready and to further encourage production.

Our team will do seasonal planting and refreshing of decorative containers and dedicated cutting flower beds as needed to keep these plantings blooming and looking full and lush throughout the year.

We offer once per week, every other week and once per month maintenance visits.

The term Garden maintenance most commonly refers to an individual or team which does general front and backyard clean up, with tasks focusing on the care of lawns and surface level tidying- mowing, leaf removal, hedging etc.

Fine Gardening uses a horticultural lens focusing on the health of the plants and landscape as well as the overall aesthetic balance of the garden as a whole. Fine gardening incorporates the skilled care of each plant’s specific needs as well as the landscape as a whole, whether it be pruning, fertilizing, pest management, or irrigation schedule.

The costs for a general yard maintenance team (or mow and blow as they are often referred to) will be lower because they tend to spend less time in the garden and often their management of the garden is based on what is the most time efficient rather than what is best for the plants and garden as a whole.

Although this style of garden care will keep costs down in the short term, it can unintentionally create larger costs in the long run, as plants are often not properly taken care of and end up needing to be replaced.

On the other hand, a fine gardening team usually comes with a higher price point up front, but they will care for your garden in a way that better maintains your investment in a beautiful garden and keeps the long term vision for the space in mind as the garden grows over time.

Both styles of garden care have their place and in fact many of our maintenance clients have both types of teams visit their gardens on a regular basis. Our team is happy to take on both types of work at your property or to focus on fine gardening while collaborating with another mow and blow team.

The cost of garden maintenance really depends on the size and style of your garden. For a very small urban garden with a small or no dedicated veggie zone, you might expect to pay between $300-$500/month, whereas for a larger property with a larger dedicated kitchen garden, you may expect costs to be in the range of $1,000-$3,000/month. Before starting maintenance we will provide a detailed maintenance proposal with all estimated costs outlined in detail.

It’s important to understand that while we can provide and stick to an estimated monthly cost range, your actual monthly costs will vary over the course of the year. There will be times of year when costs will be lower as the garden is more or less on cruise control (ie November/December, May/June); then there are busier times (ie April and October if we are supporting you with seasonal veggie plantings, or January/February for seasonal pruning of roses and fruit trees, if present) when the monthly cost will higher due to increased materials fees (new seasonal veggies, flowers, and amendments for the veggie beds, roses, fruit trees) or additional staffing that’s needed to complete the seasonal work.

Your garden will be assigned to a gardener from our team who will function as your main point person for Pine House communications. Following each garden maintenance visit, the lead gardener for your garden will write you a brief follow up email to recap the work done in your garden, highlight any points of interest, and let you know about any upcoming projects. Your lead gardener will also be the liaison with our design team if any design issues come up and with any other outside service providers, should a need arise.

You are also always welcome to reach out to the maintenance program manager, who will be cc’d on all correspondence between you and the gardeners.