Best wishes on the back surgery!
As far as garden help goes, I agree with others that either someone you know to have real gardening experience, or a small company with people you know and trust is best. I've used a reputable local 'landscape service' for spring/fall cleanup in the past due to my knee problems, and it was disastrous--the crew really only knew a few basics about plants (eg, liriope and a few other standard commercial yard-fillers), and they ripped up anything that didn't look like their idea of a 'plant'. As far as I can tell the 'landscape services' in our area are really just lawn services-- they know about treating lawns, which I don't want to do because of the herbicides they use, and my desire to turn my lawn into a meadow rather than flatten it into a monoplant carpet. So for me, it was a big waste of money.
This spring, I will probably just hire my well-trusted handyman to help with the heavy bags of mulch.
