Anyone who has to look after and care for the grave of a relative knows how labor-intensive it can be. If the relative is still young, it may not cause him any physical discomfort to regularly go to the cemetery and look at the grave, but time may be the problem for him.
Older people can no longer continue to care for the gravesite for he alth reasons or are simply too old for it. Regardless of the reason, you can no longer take on this task yourself and professional grave care can also be considered in all cases where there are no family members left. Depending on the region, you can instruct the cemetery administration to do this or you have to find a gardener yourself to take on this task.
What should you pay attention to when designing the grave?
Graves are in a sense subject to local cemetery regulations, which regulate what is and is not permitted in grave design. This is based on general usage, although certain principles may apply regionally. In some communities it is customary to only allow a certain shape of the grave, while elsewhere no trees are allowed to be planted on graves, etc. Graves that are particularly easy to care for are often covered with grave slabs that do not require any further care, but also look very impersonal. If no lamp or plant decorates the grave site, it no longer has any personal aspects. In this case it would be nice if a ground cover were planted instead of the gravestone, then it would at least look natural.
The more plants there are on the grave, the more complex the care is. Seasonal planting can also increase the time required for ongoing maintenance of the grave site. Of course, it also follows that the more time a gardener has to spend weeding, pruning and seasonal planting, the more expensive it becomes to care for them.
What service does the cemetery gardener offer?
It is certainly a question of agreement between the relative and the cemetery gardener as to which work he should devote himself to. However, if someone doesn't have time to care for the grave, they will probably want to use the full service. These are basically all the gardening activities that there are to do, such as:
- Replanting
- pruning
- Removing weeds
- seasonal planting
- special grave decorations for holidays
- Pouring with water
By the way, you can also hire a cemetery gardener if the grave is still fresh and an initial design needs to be considered. He has advice on questions about the right planting, and perhaps he also has one or two tips for choosing the tomb.
Tip:
Obtain cost estimates from several cemetery gardeners.
Since grave care can be used once or permanently, you should also pay attention to the price and performance when making your selection. With a long-term care contract, relatives can be assured that the grave site will always be looked after and looked after, even if they cannot take care of it themselves.
In Germany there are more than 4,500 gardening businesses that can be used for long-term grave care. If you don't want to bother looking for a provider in your area, you can also ask one of the trust offices for permanent grave care.
Costs for permanent grave maintenance
Depending on the respective contractually agreed service, the amount of the costs for long-term grave care also depends on the term of the contract. If you conclude such a contract for a full term, it is 25 years. These costs can be billed as a flat rate:
- Row single grave – between €4,500 and €7,500
- Row double grave – between €5,500 and €8,500
- Urn grave – between €3,000 and €5,000
It is also calculated by area:
- for an urn grave, child grave – up to 1 square meter 50 euros
- for a single grave – up to 2 square meters 85 euros
- for a double grave – up to 5.5 square meters per square meter 40 euros
These are of course guideline values that can not only vary regionally, but can also be higher or lower based on personal wishes. If you have a tight budget, it might also be appropriate to look for a private provider. There are now many gardeners who do such work as a part-time job. Any additional work that has nothing to do with the usual green maintenance, but rather involves, for example, maintenance and repair services for the gravestone or edging, will also be added to the invoice.
Sinkholes that occur completely naturally or gravestones that lean to the side due to different foundations also belong to the scope of this repair work. If topsoil needs to be replaced because the soil in the small grave area has become depleted after a few years, this will also be charged separately.
Tip:
Extra work can only be carried out after prior consultation.
The specialist company can also provide advice when selecting plants. He also has a sample catalog at hand with suggestions for grave design. However, the best references are the graves in the cemetery that are cared for by his hand. This not only shows the creativity of the gardener, but also whether he carries out the work with the necessary expertise and care.
The cemetery gardener not only takes care of the planting and care of the grave site, he also decorates graves with stones. This is an increasingly common trend in cemeteries today, as the design can also be carried out in a very personal way. Perhaps patterns or symbols are laid that were important to the deceased during their lifetime.
What you should know about grave care in brief
For relatives, grave care (if you look at it soberly) means an activity that has to be carried out several times over the course of the seasons. This includes work such as watering, weeding, removing leaves, fertilizing, replenishing the sagging soil, renewing the plants and placing cut flowers and other grave decorations on the grave, etc. Each of these visits to the cemetery is also a meditation, feeling close to the deceased and do grief work.
Grave care from the perspective of the experts, the cemetery gardener includes all activities during a year, which is agreed upon by means of a contract with the surviving relatives. But here, as with all other contracts, the following applies: read the small print carefully and compare prices. The prices for grave care, also known as year-round grave care or permanent grave care, vary quite a bit. They depend on the size of the grave, and the amount is also subject to the agreements that the surviving relatives make with the cemetery gardening department. Regional fluctuations can also be noted. However, an approximate price can be assumed.
