MAINTENANCE
Although I lack the time for weekly maintenance, I do offer a superior and traditional service carrying out the important tasks as the seasons demand.
You can expect me - at the appropriate times - to carry out all work including winter and spring pruning; soil conditioning and mulching; lawn maintenance and general garden renovation.
It is possible for your garden to proliferate even without trips to the garden centre. Cuttings can be taken from your existing perennials and herbaceous perennials to increase the number by as many as you wish.
Below: These Penstemons were all grown from cuttings.
By moving on from a weed strewn and moss covered lawn, to lush green turf and colourful herbaceous borders, I can help you to realise all your ideas for developing your outdoor living space to its full potential.
Pruning: Aside from the mystery surrounding pruning, it is simply as the RHS defines: 'the removal of any part of a plant to encourage it to grow, flower or fruit in the way the gardener wants'. My main purpose in training and pruning plants is to obtain the maximum decorative effect and I will be only too happy to offer you any advice on this topic, or maintain your plants/shrubs to their optimum performance.
Inept pruning, or pruning at the wrong time of the year, will leave a plant vulnerable to disease or even kill it off. Competent pruning, underpinned by mulching or fertilizing, means that no chances are taken when encouraging plants to flower or produce fruit.
Along with many different types of plants, I do offer experience in pruning those most widely found in British gardens: roses (spring), wisteria (twice yearly), honey suckle (early spring or after flowering), clematis (various times depending on the variety), buddleja (winter and early spring). Ceanothus, Ribes, Philadelphus: after flowering. To find out more about plants, visit www.rhs.org.uk/plants/index.asp
Tree work: Magnolia tree before.
This tree was lifting flag stones in the hall and was about the compromise the structural integrity of the house before I felled it.
After.
Pricing: I do not provide a quotation for garden maintenance but offer it to clients for £25 inc. per hour with a minimum charge of half a day. N.B.Early booking essential.
Further services: Turfing; hedge laying; licensed weed control; lawn scarification and aeration (inc. top dressing and seeding); tree work; sheds supplied and erected.
ALL WORK COMPLETED TO RHS GUIDELINES.
Turfing: Although possible at any time of the year, September to early May is considered best. I use only the best quality turf and top soil in a process which ensures a level garden free of those pernicious weeds so difficult to target as part of the lawn.
Advice: do not lay turf in shady areas of your garden as it will die. If you have a garden which spends most of it's time in the shade please consider the option of using shade-tolerant seed.
The above photographs show gardens a week after I had finished turfing them.
Lawn care: Thatch is a covering of growing organic matter consisting of decaying blades of grass, rhizomes, and stolons which accumulate on the soil. A certain amount is beneficial as it reduces water evaporation and helps to protect the lawn from wear. However, in excess it prevents water from reaching the soil beneath, becomes saturated and interferes with drainage. It's removal involves scarifying; aerating; top-dressing and re-seeding - all of which encourage new grass growth and so promote a healthy sward.
NB Best done in autumn when the ground is warm and moist.
Scarifying: This technique removes thatch and permits air to enter the surface of the lawn, thus encouraging the natural break down of any further thatch by soil organisms.
Aeration: This involves removing small plugs of earth from the lawn. It is vital for health allowing deep root growth, encouraging turf to become well established and reducing soil compaction.
Seeding: The best results are obtained when this work is undertaken in Autumn. The reason for this is that the ground is warm after the summer baking, but more moist and still frost free. In addition, the seed is more free to germinate and has a better chance to thrive once the lawn has ceased growing.
Top-dressing: Grass grows best in rich, fertile soil - unlike weeds which thrive in barren conditions. For this reason a mixture of good quality top soil, compost and horticultural sand are put down after scarifying and aerating to remedy any obstinate pernicious growth.
N.B. A one off treatment of scarification, aeration and re-seeding will not give you a beautiful lawn straight away; it will - however - contribute alongside correct feeding and mowing over many years.
Hedge laying: This is a traditional way of managing hedges to ensure their long-term viability. Laying encourages healthy growth and helps to create a tidy barrier.
It takes place between late October through to late April with the basics being the same around the country, although there are different styles. The craft developed as a way of making a stockproof barrier out of readily available material, that is, living woodland plants. Until the invention of wire, hedges were the only practical and cost-effective way for a farmer to enclose is stock in areas where walling stone was not to hand.
Hedges need to be layed every 10-20 years
Before Laying
Just After Laying
The Next Summer
The stems are cut half way through and bent sideways. This reinvigorates the trees and shrubs, helping them to bush out. The end result is an attractive stock-proof hedge of great value to wildlife. This is particularly appropriate for large hedges and hedgerows in rural settings where I am able to use this traditional method to tidy and reduce height rather than cutting in the usual fashion.
Weed control: Licensed to kill - a fully qualified weed control service ensures the removal of pernicious weeds often inadequately treated by "over the counter" products. Large areas can be effectively cleared for the fresh planting of attractive plants and shrubs; drives and pathways are made neat and tidy.
Over the last years there have been great improvements in the types of herbicides available. This means that although they are very poisonous to plants they are safe to use on areas which children and animals may inhabit. I do not use 'over the counter' products and mix solutions to a strength suitable for best effect.
Tree work: I undertake diverse tasks including the felling of small trees, branch lopping, coppicing, pollarding and planting. By strategic planting - for example with a shelter belt - it is possible remedy a bad view or facilitate a little more privacy.
N.B. It is prudent to completely remove trees which have been planted in an unsafe or inconvenient position. Trees which deprive the lawn of moisture or which are dangerously close to buildings or electrical wires will eventually no longer be held in check by pruning. They are best taken down sooner rather than later.
Rubbish removal: If you choose a contractor to remove your rubbish - whether it is green waste or rubble - from a garden or building site, its final destination is your responsibility. That is to say if you do not employ a contractor with a Waste Carrier's License issued by the Environment Agency you will be fined heavily if the contractor is found fly tipping. I am licensed to carry waste and am fully registered; you can therefore rest assured that all rubbish is taken to a waste transfer station and the appropriate paperwork completed and submitted. I pride myself on the efficient and environmentally friendly disposal of all kinds of waste; I recycle wood and green waste whenever possible.
Irrigation: A useful site for all your irrigation needs is:
www.duntechirrigation.co.uk