I am always amazed at the way some people allow their gardens to be maintained to the point the lawn looks like a worn carpet, hedges akin to a wire brush and garden plants resembling a collection of geometric figures.Maintenance is described in the Oxford dictionary as, ‘maintaining or being maintained; what is needed to support life’, with regard to the latter one has to wonder how some plants survive the onslaught!!

Maintenance should be approached on an ‘as and when required basis’ which simply means act when action is needed. Just because it is Tuesday does not mean the grass needs mowing, or when some flowers appear on the hedge they should be hacked off. Many garden tasks are seasonal and schedules must by the very nature of the work be flexible.

With this in mind let us look at a list of tasks that comes under the heading garden maintenance.

LAWNS:<$> mowing, edging, aeration or verticutting, weed control, fertilising, top dressing, over-seeding, irrigation, pest and disease control.

FLOWER BEDS> pruning, weeding, fertilising, pest and disease control.

MISCELLANEOUS: weed control in hard landscaped areas, tree surgery, composting.

Mowing, a simple — you might think — exercise yet a task that is often done incorrectly. It is important to point out here, when installing a lawn, that only one type of grass should be used, i.e. Bermuda, Zoysia or St. Augustine or its hybrid. This is important for several reasons, firstly appearance, secondly uniform height and frequency of cut and thirdly weed control; the latter two creating the appearance! Height of cut is important to create uniformity and appearance and in the case of St. Augustine lawns weed control, as this grass should be cut to a minimum of three inches to create a thick sward, which will suppress weed growth. Height of cut should assist in determining frequency, never remove more than one third of the leaf blade at one time, especially during hot dry periods.

Weed control is easier when a single type of grass is used simply because of ‘compatibility’ of chemicals used, weed control of weed grasses can be difficult in mixed lawns especially when St. Augustine grass is present. Edging is simply aesthetic to give a clean finish between lawn and flower bed, which reduces ‘creep’ of grass from lawn to flower bed. Aeration or verticutting increases root and top growth activity by removing thatch - dead grass - and should be carried out in the spring or when active growth starts.

Weed control can be carried out as a single exercise with herbicide over the entire lawn or as a spot treatment where small areas are problematic; a combination weed and feed can also be used whereby herbicide and fertiliser are applied as one treatment. Top dressing is only required to level slight depressions in the lawn surface, a mix of fine peat and silica sand being spread thinly over the surface to raise the level, this is especially important in fine bladed grasses when a reel machine is used. Over-seeding is usually carried out in home gardens in the fall when the existing sward is weak and rye grass is over seeded to thicken the sward until the next spring when it should die out naturally, and the existing lawn be treated to encourage a thicker sward.

Irrigation is most important on newly sown or laid lawns, with established lawns on deep soils Mother Nature is in the long term the best treatment. Pest and disease is best countered by observation as soon as a problem is seen act immediately.

Flower beds can be a mix of annuals or trees and shrubs or all three, whatever the combination the basic tasks are the same.

Pruning should be carried out — if the design is good - no more than three times per year, whereas dead heading should be carried out as required. Spring, mid summer and early autumn are reasonable periods to prune and is oft dictated by the weather and growth rates.

Flowering hedges should be allowed to flower, that is why they bought in the first place, or was it? Weeding is a task that should be ongoing even if the flower bed is showing little appreciable weed growth, just breaking the soil crust with a Dutch hoe will prevent weed growth; if you weed when no weeds are present you will not get any weeds!

Allowing weeds to become established makes life more difficult, large rooted weeds break of and re-generate from the root or if left to flower and seed the seed dispersal can cover a large area, meaning future weeding is assured.

Good growth is created by healthy plants and regular fertilising, therefore watch out for insect infestations or diseased foliage and act immediately.

Regular fertilising by either granular application or foliar feeding or both - contingent on weather conditions - will encourage healthy strong growth especially when combined with pest and disease control.

Weed control in non-landscaped areas can be controlled with an herbicide such as Roundup; beware of other non-selective herbicides as they may have a warning as regards to ‘creep’ in other words the chemical will permeate through the soil and could have an injurious effect on any root systems in its spread zone.

Weed control in these areas should be carried out before weeds become established, hit them when small and they will die off quickly and not leave an untidy brown foliage that looks unsightly.

Specimen trees are so important to a landscape that any sign of a problem should be addressed immediately and by a tree surgeon who has the training and understanding of the problems and needs of large trees.

Always ask the company for references if unsure of their status and most important to ensure they have adequate liability insurance coverage.

Composting is cost effective if you generate enough material; it saves on trucking costs and then purchasing ‘other peoples compost’. Compost is beneficial when incorporated into the soil — beware of damaging roots — and will over time enhance the quality of the in situ plant material. Using compost as a mulch will in its initial state — unless totally broken down to humus — suppress weed growth, however being organic in nature once it starts to break down it becomes humus and a growing medium, with the result weeds abound in their glory!

Are you wasting money on having unnecessary work done on a constant basis, money it is said does not grow on trees, but does it?