11. MAINTENANCE ISSUES

OVERVIEW

In this module, we cover the following topics:

maintenance – pleasure or chore?  Planting - Factors that affect plant health: - Malnutrition - Incorrect watering - Pests and disease - Incorrect pruning  Making the easier to maintain.  Water features – with and without fish.  Maintenance schedules

GARDEN MAINTENANCE – PLEASURE OR CHORE?

While some people love to potter around in the garden, others see garden maintenance as a chore. They really only want the garden to be an additional living space when the weather is good, with the only maintenance being the equivalent of a bit of dusting and putting the vacuum cleaner round occasionally.

Pleasing these people can be a very difficult task. And it’s worth stressing from the beginning that low maintenance does not mean no maintenance.

The garden is a living thing and should be regarded as more of a pet than just another room. It needs food and water, and the more you pamper it the more it loves you.

The amount of care needed can be limited by only using certain materials. Eradicating plants and for example will drastically reduce the maintenance of a garden, a quick sweep with the broom and the jobs done. However, sooner or later a compromise will have to be made, even by the most work shy.

Gardens have so much more to offer if plants can be used, and water also opens up new avenues of interest. All these bring with them a certain amount of work to keep them looking at their best.

Generally people are not too afraid of having large areas of lawn to look after as it needs little knowledge to keep it looking trim and is forgiving if it

MAINTENANCE ISSUES MODULE 11 PAGE 1 is neglected for a while or is mistreated.

PLANTING

On the other hand, planting is not so popular. People think that you need green fingers and to be somewhat of an expert to successfully grow things.

It is true that some knowledge is necessary to help keep plants healthy but half of the battle is already over: they know that the plants are going to be chosen by an expert and put in a position that suits them. Therefore they will not be coming under any unnecessary stress. The main things that will affect the plants’ welfare now are:

 Malnutrition  Incorrect watering  Pests and disease  Incorrect pruning

MALNUTRITION

The plants will no doubt be planted into well-prepared ground. To make sure of this you should recommend this in your specifications, ensuring that compost and fertiliser are at least added to the planting pocket and backfill or better still to the bed as a whole.

This will be depleted over time and will need toping up to keep the plant strong. This is a simple operation and the details of type of fertiliser and time of application can be stored on a simple fact sheet and given to the client to make the whole operation much less of a worry, you could even offer them a starter pack containing all of the necessary items for the first year or so and then all they have to do is replace them as they run out.

INCORRECT WATERING

Under watering is more common than over watering but both can have a detrimental effect on a plants health. Setting up some guidelines and letting your client know what to look for will encourage them to water the garden without fear of using incorrect amounts.

The soil acts as a holding tank for the water and, as we have seen, different soil types can hold varying quantities. But what they all have in common is their exposure to the elements. The wind and the sun will soon dry out the ground, and the fluctuations in the temperature of the soil will not help the plants either.

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To combat this it is important to specify that a mulch be added to the soil after planting, and as this breaks down over time, that it is topped up each year until the plants are large enough to act as their own mulch. Again this is a very simple operation and with a little planning and knowledge your client will be able to tackle it with confidence.

IRRIGATION

Automatic irrigation is another option that can make life really simple. Even for the average sized garden this is a very real option. There are some great systems on the market today, with some companies specialising in the domestic market.

A popular device for watering using an automatic system is a drip line, which is essentially a pipe with small holes in it designed to leak water from the holes at a consistent rate. This is laid around the garden on or just below the surface, and connected to a water main or to a pump taking water from a tank.

This can be semi-automatic if the client has to turn the tap on and off; or it can be made fully automatic by the use of a timer, rather like the ones used on central heating systems in the home. This can be programmed to come on for set periods of time at different times of the day.

If you have popup sprinklers on the lawn, they can be set to come on during the night while no one is using the garden. Valves can also be incorporated into the system to allow different areas of the garden to receive different quantities of water according to their requirements. A border may be sheltered from the rain by a wall or a for instance and need watering more often than other parts of the garden, which are open to the elements.

Some systems even allow for the unpredictability of the weather. After all, if there has been heavy rain for the last fortnight, the last thing we need to do is have the automatic irrigation come on Saturday night for two hours, drenching the ground some more. This can be avoided by having either a soil probe, which measures the moisture content of the ground, or a rain gauge, which collects the rain as it falls. Both of these devices will send a signal to the timer, preventing the irrigation system from coming on if there has already been enough rainfall.

Another addition to some of these systems is the ability to add a soluble fertiliser into the water so that this can be added during the watering process.

All this is great news for the armchair gardener, but there will be a cost for this labour-saving device. Simple systems start at a very modest price, and it

MAINTENANCE ISSUES MODULE 11 PAGE 3 is wise to offer a range of solution to match differing budgets.

PESTS AND DISEASE

One of the main causes of plants suffering from pest and disease attacks is malnutrition and under watering. Both of these have been looked at and if guidelines are followed the incidence of attack will be less.

Plants are still under threat, but fortunately pests and diseases are reasonably predictable and tend to target the plants they prefer.

Some pests and diseases and the symptoms of their attack can be hard to distinguish, so to try and inform your client of every possibility would be hard to do and very confusing for them.

Therefore it is better to just outline any plants, which are susceptible to a particular problem (roses for instance) and recommend general preventative measures for the others. This might include spraying at regular intervals during periods of new growth to stop pests and diseases getting a good hold.

Some plants are less susceptible to infection than other, new roses are often being bred for their resistance to black spot for example and it may be worth including some of these species if you really want to keep potential trouble to a minimum.

INCORRECT PRUNING

If allowed to grow unchecked, a plant can soon become very dense, causing it to become more susceptible to some diseases (mildew for instance).

Also, plants which grow very fast (like Buddleia) consequently have weak stems that can be snapped off during the autumn and winter winds, if they are not supported or shortened by pruning. Flowering and variegated foliage can also be detrimentally affected by incorrect pruning.

As with the advice for pests and diseases it is best here to give out some general advice for most plants, and some more precise details for those plants that are known to have specific problems.

EXERCISE 11.1

Give three reasons that might cause a plant to die, due to lack of maintenance.

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MAKING THE LAWN EASIER TO MAINTAIN

Looking back at lawns, it’s easy to see why they’re easier to look after than a border. But although they may be less technical to maintain, they still need cutting once or twice a week during the growing season. . Lawns in general all have some basic requirements when it comes to reducing the maintenance required.

 TYPE OF MOWER. Sometimes it is worth noting the type of mower your client intends to use. In larger with a lot of lawn a ride-on mower might be being used. These are a great labour saving device, however if the lawn has been designed with lots of narrow strips or tight corners that are not accessible to the mower then these will have to be done separately causing needless additional work.

 FLOWING SHAPES. As with ride-on mowers, life is easier if the edges of the lawns are easy to follow with the mower. Corners under 90 degrees should be avoided if at all possible. It would be a shame to compromise the overall design for the sake of five minutes work, and the final decision should be given to the client.

In this design, some narrow paths run around the border areas. These are fine as long as you can get a mower along them without catching the plants along the edges. The triangular shape in the lower right hand corner will be difficult to mow, and perhaps could be shaped like the bay in the top right hand corner. However, there aren’t to many awkward shapes here, and you may decide to leave the design as it is, and put up with a little more maintenance.

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 HARD EDGING. Lawns that lie alongside a hard surface like a wall or a will be difficult to mow because the lawnmower will not cut right up to the edge. To finish the area off, a strimmer or a pair of shears will be needed. This can be avoided by using a mowing strip set around the edge. This is usually a brick or paving slab.

Wall

Mowing strip Lawn

Diagram showing the cross-section of a mowing strip by a wall

When lawn meets a patio or a mowing strip, the lawn should be set slightly higher than the hard surface. This will enable the mower to be taken over the edge of the lawn without catching the paving.

 SOIL EDGING OR EDGING STRIP. A healthy lawn is what we are striving for, and good strong growth is an important part of that goal. However, grass is quite an invasive plant and can soon start to creep into flower borders if not kept in check. Maintenance to keep this under control involves edging the lawn with a half moon to keep its shape and pulling out tufts of grass from the borders.

However, this process can be drastically reduced by the use of a retaining edge around the lawn. This can be in the form of a plastic strip or, for a more permanent solution, a brick edge set on concrete. Both of these should be set just below the level of the top of the lawn so the mower does not catch them.

 STEEP AREAS. Lawns just are not suited to some areas, and can cause

MAINTENANCE ISSUES MODULE 11 PAGE 6 serious maintenance problems if used incorrectly. Steep slopes can be treacherous to mow, and care should be taken when specifying lawns in these types of areas. The degree at which the slope becomes too steep will vary from client to client, and depend upon things like what sort of mower they are using and how agile they are. Low-maintenance ground cover planting is another option for this type of area if a lawn is ruled out.

 CULTURAL CONDITIONS. In some areas, cultural conditions are not suitable for lawn. And although using special grass seed mixtures may solve some problems, some areas will just be to wet, dry or shady. If nothing can be done to improve these conditions, then other options should be considered such as low maintenance planting or a hard surface,

 HIGH WEAR AREAS. Areas of high wear such as under children's play equipment or entrances and exits to lawns or regularly used pathways can quickly become very thin and patchy especially in wet weather. These areas should be considered for harder wearing materials such as bark mulch or paving.

EXERCISE 11.2

How might you recommend that a lawn be stopped from growing into an adjacent shrub border?

MAINTENANCE ISSUES MODULE 11 PAGE 7 On this plan, you reach the back gate by crossing the lawn, and stepping-stones have been set into the lawn to reduce wear.

WATER IN THE GARDEN

Babbling brooks, leaping jets of water, or gentle cascades are just a few uses of water in the garden.

For centuries water has been an integral part of gardens. But nowadays its use is far more ornamental rather than the practical necessity of days gone by. Water features can be broken down into two main kinds; those with fish and those without.

MAINTAINING WATER FEATURES WITH FISH

As with keeping any pet, fish need looking after and will require feeding, cleaning and health checks. So this should not be taken on lightly and especially during the first year as the is establishing, there is much to do to ensue that the pond does not become overrun with weeds and that the fish are kept healthy. As with keeping plants, a certain amount of knowledge is required to successfully keep fish, but with a little guidance it

MAINTENANCE ISSUES MODULE 11 PAGE 8 is easy to do and can be a great asset to the garden.

WATER FEATURES WITHOUT FISH

If fish keeping isn’t important, and you want water in the garden purely for the sights and sounds that it produces, a self-contained water feature (or bubble as they are more commonly known), is a popular choice.

This allows water to be used in the garden with very little maintenance. As no fish are being kept in the water, stronger chemicals can be used to keep the algae at bay, or the water can be changed at more regular intervals.

The only regular maintenance concerned with this type of feature is to keep an eye on the water level in the reservoir and make sure it does not fall below the level of the pump as this could damage it.

Feature stone Water splash Stones supported by mesh

Mains water

Water level Pump Brick support Ball valve

Diagram to show a self-contained water feature with an automatic top-up device.

The water level will drop, due to evaporation and water landing outside of the collection area, due to splashing and the wind. There are two ways to reduce the maintenance:

1. You can make the reservoir much bigger. Therefore it won’t need filling up quite so often, as more water will have to be lost before the water level drops below the pump. There are pumps that have a cut off valve, which turns the pump off if the water drops below a certain level, and this ensures the pump will not burn out.

MAINTENANCE ISSUES MODULE 11 PAGE 9 2. Secondly an automatic filling device can be set up using a ball valve, rather like those used in domestic cold-water tanks. This will ensure that the water level remains consistent, although it does mean that as well as having to run a power supply to the feature for the pump, it will also need a mains water supply.

EXERCISE 11.3

What is the main advantage of having a larger reservoir in a self-contained water feature?

MAINTENANCE SCHEDULES

A maintenance schedule will help to allay most of your clients' concerns.

While not wishing to alarm your clients with volumes of instructions on how to maintain their garden, it’s wise to produce a small amount of information to prepare your client for some of the likely jobs that lie ahead.

This helps you to avoid things like having to look at a water feature you have designed because it has stopped working - only to discover that the pump filter is simply blocked with algae. Or suffering complaints that plants you have recommended are dying, only to find that they haven’t been watered since they were planted.

To cover every eventuality would be virtually impossible and it is wise just to prompt your client to look out for the most likely problems that may occur.

Every garden is different, and therefore a standard document will contain much pointless information in some cases, and looks rather impersonal. A good way to tackle this issue is to write a brief guide to maintenance for different aspects of the garden. Each category could be broken down into a month-by-month guide to jobs that need doing, even if it is only a visual check for signs of problems.

To save time and make this service almost free to clients, each category could be written up on to its own sheet of paper and photocopied so that only relevant information need be given to clients. Alternatively, if you have a word processor, you can easily make the necessary changes to a master document and then print off a separate copy for each client.

The information you give need not be comprehensive, and it is up to you how much you’re willing to put into the document. For instance you might just write:

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This month, roses should be pruned to protect them from the winter winds.

And if any pests and diseases have been a problem over the summer, appropriate winter washes and hygiene precautions should be carried out to reduce the threat of reoccurrence next year.

If you have a problem that you cannot identify, a local garden centre will probably have a help desk that will be able to help you and recommend the appropriate treatment. Alternatively you might like to purchase one of the many books specialising in this area.

This is enough to remind the client to check the roses and gives an indication as to why they need to do it. It doesn't tell them how to prune them or what pests to look for, but merely points them in the direction of more comprehensive help.

This way, you don’t leave you client totally in the dark and they will feel confident that they have somewhere to start when wondering how to keep their new garden up to scratch.

NOW WATCH A VIDEO

Tips for a healthy lawn http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R4LwqcJ4jLk

SUMMARY

1. You understand that there are four main factors that affect plant health: - Malnutrition - Incorrect watering - Pests and diseases - Incorrect pruning 2. You know of ways to make maintaining a lawn easier. 3. You are able to maintain water features with and without fish. 4. You know what to include in a maintenance schedule.

MAINTENANCE ISSUES MODULE 11 PAGE 11 TODAY’S TASK

Choose two of the following topics, and for each one write a short introduction to the maintenance requirements. This should be presented as if it were to be given to a client.

 Water features  Lawns   Shrubs borders  Herbaceous borders

This will give you a chance to develop a format for writing your maintenance schedules, and give you something to base others on, should you wish to offer this service to your clients.

MAINTENANCE ISSUES MODULE 11 PAGE 12 ANSWER TO EXERCISES

EXERCISE 11.1

 Poor nutrition  Incorrect watering  Overrun by pests or disease  Incorrect pruning

EXERCISE 11.2

A retaining edge of some kind can be used to separate the lawn from the border. Usually this would be brick or plastic or even a timber edging.

EXERCISE 11.3

Having a larger reservoir will reduce the number of times it will need filling (if it does not have an automatic filling device).

You’ve reached the end of the course. Well done!

You now need to complete the Final Exam.

To pass the exam and gain the Certificate in you need to score over 65 points.

If you score below 65 points, you’ll be awarded a Certificate of Completion.

Once you’ve completed the exam, you’ll be able to print your certificate.

Click on the following link to access your Final Exam:

- http://www.inst.org/gdcert/final-exam/

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