I think there are three key phrases in this.....

for time as needed

this would need a bit more definition!

and this includes plants / shrubs.

So would this....

This is a year round fee

How much maintenance do you think your Garden will require from October to
March? Very little I would suggest - you may well get a couple of hours a
week during the spring/summer but you won't in the winter - what does that
make the average hourly rate? Of course the winter is the toughest time of
the year for contract gardeners - not so much work about so nice if you can
get a locked in paying job or 3 I suppose.

The current garden has nothing
in there, grass front and back and two borders on each garden with just
earth so this fee includes initial design and installation.
How does this sound?

This bit sounds too good to be true.....even at the size your garden is it
could still cost a few hundred pounds to plant it out properly - doesn't
have to but could. Nice of someone to shell out for this for you.....

Personally I'm always a bit suspicious of paying "by the job" rather than by
the hour.....as an example, the biggest rip off I have been done for in
recent years was for laying wood flooring - charged by the square metre. At
the end of the job it worked out that the fitter (and there was only one)
cost me about £350 a day....nice work if you can get it.

On the other hand you may feel its worth spending what will work out to be
£780 a year on somone to maintain your garden for you.....that would be
entirely your choice - the crux of the matter would seem to be to find out
what type and quantity of plants will be put in and to get that written into
the agreement.

Hope that helps

yours (in cynical mode !)

I.