Maintenance scheme – an example      

General:

• Soil improvement & mulching: twice a year. A soil in good heart is the basis of a wonderful garden.
• Watering/ weeding: some still necessary despite mulch because of plants needing to establish, birds dropping weed seeds, etc.
• Pruning: mostly carried out during the dormant season, although certain shrubs require pruning at other times, for example spring flowering shrubs
• Division of plants/ cuttings: performed on a regular/ rolling programme to maintain & increase client’s stock
• Spring mulching happens in May when the soil has warmed up, new plants are in & before the weeds take a hold.

The amount of time needed to keep a garden to your satisfaction depends on many factors.

For example:

1. the state/ condition when you take it over
   
2. how much / if any time you, the client want to put in
   
3. the types of planting and overall design (we can help there with a redesign)
   
4. your budget

For example, for an average sized, reasonably well maintained suburban garden, assuming the client is putting in a similar amount of time we might suggest the following:

Bi-weekly visits
March – November, 4-6 hours per month (ie 2 x visits per month)
December– February, 2hours per month

Broken down as follows:

March
soil improvement, pruning, tidying

April
soil improvement,  planting, division of perennials, pruning

May
Planting tender annuals & perennials, watering, mulching

June
Planting tender annuals/ bedding, weeding, watering, mulching

July
deadheading, weeding, tidying, watering

August
deadheading, tidying, weeding, watering, taking cuttings of tender perennials

September
deadheading, tidying, weeding, watering, division of perennials

October
Weeding, deadheading, soil improvement, leaf sweeping

November
Pruning, deadheading, clearing, mulch, leaf sweeping

December, January, February
tidying, pruning, leaf sweeping

The lawn schedule is separate.