News & Advice

Garden Maintenance

Welcome to Our LandArt Garden Maintenance - Handover Guide

In order to have your new garden look its best in the long term it is important to care for it in the right way. Initially you must help the plants, trees and lawn establish well by providing adequate water, this promotes healthy & resilient root systems. As the garden matures it will require weeding, pruning, mulching & possibly some extra nutrients. The care of the Hardscapes is as important as the plant care to ensure the space as a whole keeps a quality impression. This includes care of artificial lawns & paving in a way that keeps them looking looking at their best.

Please see below our Aftercare Guide for you new garden.

Plant Care – Watering

Irrigating Plants

Your new plants have had a thorough watering by our planting team at the time of handover. It is important to continue a watering routine that your plants survive & thrive. Watering can be adequately given by various means: Water by hand, Sprinkler or automated Irrigation System.

Please see below for more on maintenance with Irrigation System.

Aim to carry out Watering early in the mornings or late in the evenings, especially in hotter weather. This will ensure the water makes it to the roots rather than evaporating from the surface area of leaves. Water the planting in a circle around the base of each plant at the following rates per plant, keeping soil under the bark mulch moist at all times:

Watering Schedule for Herbaceous Plants

1) First 7 days after planting

@ a quantity of 2 litres / plant for herbaceous plants, shrubs & climbers

Spring/Summer Months: Daily Watering is required

Autumn/Winter : 3 occasions /week

2) Continue watering @ a rate of 3 times per week for the coming season, & throughout Spring/Summer & into Autumn.

3)From then on as necessary dependent on season & weatherrly in the mornings or late in the evenings, especially in hotter weather. This will ensure the water makes it to the roots rather than evaporating from the surface area of leaves. Water the planting in a circle around the base of each plant at the following rates per plant, keeping soil under the bark mulch moist at all times.

Watering Schedule for Trees & Hedges

Trees & hedges are by far your biggest investment within any planting scheme. Caring for them is essential for them to be healthy in the short & long term. You must supply the roots with sufficient water, to do this soak the soil around the rootball, this is the area of

The root system that has been transplanted. This wider root system is where the water will be absorbed rather than simply around the trunk itself. Watering session per tree could be 1- 5 minutes depending on the site exposure, soil type & size of tree. They really need a thorough watering, keep the hose in place until you can see water begin to pool on the surface. Watering a tree well from the outset will give you a far more resilient tree in the long term. You want to train the roots to go deep for their water supply, rather than lingering at the surface if only small quantities of water are made available, this promotes drought resilience for summers that are becoming increasingly drier.

Plant Care – Seasonal

Fertilisers

Our preferred fertiliser are seaweed based, either granular or liquid.Seaweed products are natural and scientifically supported to provide herbaceous plants with the nutrients they require. Give these nutrients as the plant is coming out of dormancy and started to grow at the start of Spring, St Patricks Day is a good date to go by.

Weeding

Weed competition can seriously effect plant growth, from smaller herbaceous plants to full size trees. And so good weeding practice is essential. Weeding can be by hand, hoe or spray. In a densely planted flower bed by hand is the best option, hoeing is ideal in areas that you have space to work without disturbing stems or roots. Sprays most commonly use the chemical glyphosphate, which works on contact with your plant by inhibiting the plant enzymes. It is possible to use sprays on flower beds as long as the spray does not come in contact with your desired plants. Use a cardboard box to funnel spray only onto weeds and protect your flowering plants, care must be taken for the plants and for you yourself, ensure you use appropriate PPE. As with most things prevention is better than cure, and this is where Mulch maintenance is important.

Mulching

Mulch is used on all of our finished flower beds, it gives an aesthetic finish but it also has a very important function to perform, that of suppressing weeds. Laid and maintained at a depth of 50-70mm mulch will reduce weed competition as underneath the mulch is inhospitable to seed germination and exhaust unwanted seedlings from reaching sunlight. Beyond this primary purpose mulch also insulates the soil preventing temperatures fluctuating rapidly, and also significantly reduces water loss from surface evaporation. Keeping your mulch topped up will not only have the garden looking well but also reduce your maintenance overall.

Plant Care – Pruning

Pruning Evergreen vs Deciduous Hedges

The rule of thumb for pruning deciduous hedges is to cut them back after they have shed their leaves in Autumn or late Winter/Early Spring before the new buds form. For evergreen hedges it is more usual to shape them in early Spring. Trimming once a year will have hedges keep a good shape, for faster growing hedges eg. Laurels twice a year may be necessary. Deciduous hedge cutting should only be done between Autumn & late Winter.

Perennials Care

Deciduous Perennials are the plants which come back year after year, they will leaf up in Spring and usually flower through Summer into Autumn, dying back in the Winter months to prepare for another show the coming year. Many plants will wilt back and are ready for deadheaded through Autumn & ultimately cut to the ground by Winter, this would include Rudbekia, Echinacea etc While some, although dried up and on dead stalks can add incredible beauty & structure to the garden in the Winter Months, these would include Ornamental Grasses, Hydrangea & sometimes even Agapanthus globes. And so there are two approaches to pruning Perennials, and this depends entirely on preference.

Below we have detailed our most popular flowers to keep intact throughout winter & also the plants which are most commonly queried for maintenance.

Hydrangea

There is an incredible array of Hydrangea on the market, from very traditional varieties of Macrophylla to more modern cultivars of Limelight & Annabelle. Let us concentrate of Limelight. Come first frost your Hydrangea will be knocked back & cease flowering. One option is to deadhead the plant & cut back ready for the coming spring, reducing the woody stem to as little as 30% depending on preferred size. The second option, by far our recommended approach, but these things are subjective, is to leave your Hydrangea as is through the whole of winter.

The flower head offers much needed texture & interest to a winter scape, offering bronze tones and sculptural effects with morning frost. Then come Spring nip back the branches before the new growth forms, this is usually March/April, to ensure a good strong flush of flowering stems in the coming year.

Lavender

Lavender is one of the most popular groundcover plants, for its colour, scent & pollinator qualities. One thing to watch out for with you lavender is not to allow it go woody. This happens when not cut back sufficiently. Annual light pruning will keep lavender plants bushy & flowering well. In their first year cut them back hard in midspring, this will help them to bush up, then after flowering in the summer trim back the flowers lightly.

In second & subsequent years cut back in midspring as far as that years growth but not beyond as the older drier wood won’t regenerate – hence why once let go woody a Lavender bed is usually replanted entirely.

Ornamental Grasses

Grasses come in evergreen & deciduous varieties, the deciduous usually dying back of the winter. As with Hydrangea the maintenance of these plants isn’t always to horticultural rule, even dead grass add to your garden, often intentionally incorporated into the planting scheme to see you through the Winter Period. Seed Head on grasses offer incredibly architectural quality and volume to beds that will become more sparse in the colder months. There are a couple of tricks to keep them looking their best, refresh clumps using a garden rake to brush through stragglers, and when you do choose to cut them back you can use a thin rope to lasso the plant into a uniform height with one cut.

Plants to be extra vigilant with : Bamboo

Bamboo is a thirsty plant, they need a lot of water and yet also require good drainage to avoid root rot. You should water all bamboo frequently & liberally, being mindful that potted plants or plants in troughs require more watering than ground based plants. A telltale sign of thirst in bamboo is the yellowing of leaves. Aim to water at least twice a week during mild weather & 3-4 times per week in hot spells.

Another aspect of bamboo aftercare is being observant of sideways root growth. Due diligence is required to keep bamboo within bounds, all bamboo have lateral aswel as vertical growth. The maintenance is simple but necessary, keep an eye for any rogue roots, if you notice any then using a sharpened garden spade slice the through the root, lift & dispose of the severed section. Once a year is ample to keep things in place. One way to reduce these offshoot roots is to ensure your bamboo is not growing too densely at its base, you can cut the bamboo as a hedge (vertically along the sides & horizontally on top) to keep it uniform but just do one extra step, thin out the stalks so that the plant does not begin to feel cramped and in search of new space, keep the main clump that it has good air circulation & light exposure for a happy & content plant.

Plants to be extra vigilant with : Tree Ferns

Tree Ferns add a wonderful lush & almost exotic feel to any garden.They are hardy plants but with colder weather may drop their fronds. We do not find it necessary to fleece wrap them in our Dublin gardens as new growth comes on in April. Do not be concerned as old growth dies back or yellows before the new fronds appear.

Lawn Care

Watering Schedule for New Lawn

To successfully root a new turf (roll out lawn) it will need regular irrigation across the whole lawn, enough that the water reaches the depth of the topsoil, at least 20-40cm. In dry conditions & during summer you can expect to water the lawn up to x2 times per day until established.

Lawn Care

General best practice is to cut a lawn at a minimum of once a fortnight, for a manicured look a height of 25-35mm is the tolerance to go back out and cut again. Consistency is key for a healthy lawn, you should never remove more than 1/3 of a blades height in one go as this puts too much stress on the plant. Keeping the blade sharp on your lawnmower also reduces the stress on the grass.

As we all become more aware of habitat needs in the garden, we are also more aware of grass cutting practices. So why not give the Irish ‘No Mow May’ initiative a go, rather than cutting regularly, you can leave to flower.

A couple things to look out for in your lawn :

Compacted Soil: this will be apparently as water puddling on the surface.

To remedy: Aerate the soil by puncturing the surface, either using a standard garden fork or a more specialised hollow-tine aerator. For any holes fill in with a light sandy top dressing. Its best to do this while still in damp weather.

Patchy lawn : Thatch & Moss can take hold on lawns and gives an unkempt look.

To remedy : Scarify the lawn by using a garden rake or a scarifying machine. This will strip out the congested dead-looking material at the base of the grass.

Moss can certainly be the culprit of a patchy looking lawn, but so too can concentrations of dog urine or organic debris, such as leaf piles or similar. Its best to do this in Spring, although it can take a while to recover so Autumn is another option, just be sure to do well in advance of severe frosts.

Surfaces & Systems

Artificial Lawns

While artificial lawns do not require mowing, they do still require some care to keep them at their best. The membrane is fully permeable and so can be washed down when necessary, often a quick clean up using an electric leaf blower does the trick. In many ways Artificial Lawns can be thought of as a ‘paved’ surface and treated with a similar approach to hard surfaces. For a more thorough maintenance use a stiff bristled yard brush across the whole lawn, back-brushing the grass to volumize.

The odd weed is to be expected even on an artificial lawn (decomposing leaf etc) so once in a while go through the grass and remove anything that might have taken hold. Applying weed killer should not be necessary.

Irrigation System

Irrigation systems are becoming more popular, and they do offer the most thorough watering solution & in the most optimum way for a plant to receive their water supply, directly at ground level at regular morning or evening intervals. There is a little ongoing care for your Irrigation System. As the seasons change so too will your soil dampness, and so it is important to monitor this and adjust accordingly. We also recommend turning off the system entirely over the Winter Months, usually from November through til March/April as ground temperatures begin to rise. To winterize the system you simply turn off the timer or water source. LandArt can advise if necessary or can carry out this service for a small fee.

There is a little ongoing care for your Irrigation System. As the seasons change so too will your soil dampness, and so it is important to monitor this and adjust accordingly. We also recommend turning off the system entirely over the Winter Months, usually from November through til March/April as ground temperatures begin to rise. To winterize the system you simply turn off the timer or water source. LandArt can advise if necessary or can carry out this service for a small fee.

Paving & Hard Landscaping

The most common materials in Ireland for paving are natural stone with porcelain seeing more & more popularity in recent years. Natural Stone comes in a variety of sizes and colourings be they Sandstone, Limestone, Slate or Granite, all of which have unique surface texture and qualities. Porcelain is a manufactured material, it is extremely dense with minimal porosity. By comparison to Natural Stone it is thought of as almost non-porous. This in some ways can help reduce staining, with the likes of coffee/wine or rust stains, but it is just as prone to algae & green growth. And so regardless of paving types we recommend a twice yearly clean with detergent & Powerwash. Both Porcelain & Natural Stone will require ongoing maintenance to look their best. ‘Green to Clean’ is a brand we highly recommend for removal of Algae (by far the most common issue in our damp climate).

Porcelain tiles are detailed using lithographic printers and are a finished piece in themselves, ie. no sealant is required. Natural Stone- Sandstone, Limestone, Slate & Granite- are of a more porous nature. Some Natural Stone, in particular Egyptian Limestone, will need to be sealed. This should be repeated in the Aftercare of the paving, every 2-5 years depending on climatic conditions & usage. Maintaining the sealant ensures that the surface is water repellent & stain resistant.

The most vulnerable area of your paving will be the joints, and so it is important to not direct a powerwash nozzle directly onto the joints and grout lines as this will ultimately weaken the bond and damage the finish.

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