Lawn mowing and garden care for Auckland properties

What a visit involves

The standard visit is a mow, an edge and a tidy. We cut at a height that suits the season and the grass rather than scalping it, trim the edges along paths, driveways and garden beds, line-trim around fences, posts, letterboxes and anything the mower can’t reach, then blow the paths and drive clean so the property looks finished rather than mown.

Beyond that we trim hedges and shrubs, weed garden beds by hand, cut back growth off paths and fence lines, and clear leaves out of the places they pile up. All the green waste leaves with us — bagged clippings sitting by the shed for a fortnight aren’t a tidy garden, they’re a job you still have.

Sections vary enormously across Auckland, from a courtyard of lawn behind a townhouse to a quarter-acre with a bank at the back, so we look at the property before we set a schedule. Steep ground, narrow side access and gates too tight for a ride-on all change how a job is done, and it’s better to sort that out at the quote than on the first visit.

The Auckland growing year

Growth here doesn’t follow the textbook. From September to about April a lawn wants cutting every week or two, and the spring flush after the first warm rain is faster than most people plan for. Through winter the mild, wet climate means grass keeps growing slowly rather than stopping, so a monthly cut over those months keeps it under control and stops moss taking the shaded side.

Kikuyu is everywhere in Auckland and it will walk straight over a garden bed, a path and a fence line if it’s given a season to do it. Regular edging is what holds that line, and it’s far less work than cutting a bed back out of the lawn once a year.

Wet ground changes the job too. Mowing a saturated lawn tears it and leaves ruts, so in the wettest weeks we may shift a visit by a day or two to protect the turf. We’ll tell you when we do that rather than just not turning up.

Shade is the other Auckland constant. Sections hemmed in by fences, tall neighbours and a big pōhutukawa hold moisture and grow moss faster than grass, so those lawns get cut a little higher and the beds around them kept clear rather than mown to the same recipe as a sunny front yard.

Rentals, sales and the properties nobody lives in

Landlords and property managers make up a good share of this work, because a lawn is the fastest visible sign that a property isn’t being looked after and the first thing a tenancy inspection photograph shows. A regular schedule on a rental costs less than an overgrown section that has to be cut back in stages.

The other regular booking is a property going to market. Cut, edged and clear beds do more for the street-appeal photo than anything you can do inside, and it’s worth having the last cut a few days before the photographer so the lines have settled and there are no clipping trails on the drive. Campaigns run for weeks, so most sellers keep the visits going until the auction rather than cutting once and hoping.

We also cover holiday homes and properties whose owners are elsewhere. You don’t need to be there — most of this work happens with nobody home. We’re insured, our people are police-vetted, and we work Monday to Saturday, 7am to 6pm.

What we do on a lawn and garden visit

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  Lawns mowed at a height matched to the season and grass type

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  Edges cut along paths, driveways and garden beds

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  Line trimming around fences, posts, letterboxes and trees

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  Kikuyu runners cut back off paths, beds and fence lines

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  Hedges and shrubs trimmed and shaped

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  Garden beds hand-weeded

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  Overhanging growth cut back off paths and entryways

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  Leaves and debris cleared from lawns, paths and driveways

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  Paths, decks and drives blown clear of clippings

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  Outdoor rubbish and windblown litter picked up

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  All green waste bagged and taken away

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  Anything we spot — a blocked gutter, a loose fence panel — reported to you

Questions about lawn & garden

How often does an Auckland lawn need mowing?

Weekly to fortnightly from September through April, and roughly monthly over winter. The mild wet season here means grass keeps growing slowly rather than stopping, so leaving it from May to August usually means a heavy cut in spring.

What happens to the clippings and prunings?

They go with us. Green waste is included in the visit rather than left bagged by the shed, which is the part most people are actually paying to avoid.

Do you mow if it has been raining?

Not on a saturated lawn — a mower tears wet turf and leaves ruts. In a wet stretch we may move your visit by a day or two to protect the grass, and we’ll let you know rather than leaving you wondering.

Can you look after a rental or a property I don’t live at?

Yes. A lot of this work is for landlords, property managers and owners who are elsewhere. We need access to the section and somewhere to work; nobody has to be home, and you get told if we notice something on the property that needs attention.