11. MAINTENANCE ISSUES OVERVIEW In this module, we cover the following topics: Garden maintenance – pleasure or chore? Planting - Factors that affect plant health: - Malnutrition - Incorrect watering - Pests and disease - Incorrect pruning Making the lawn 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 lawns 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. MAINTENANCE ISSUES MODULE 11 PAGE 2 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 hedge 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. MAINTENANCE ISSUES MODULE 11 PAGE 4 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 gardens 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.