Aftercare
A planting scheme is only as good as its second year.
New planting fails far more often from neglect in month four than from anything done wrong on planting day. So every scheme we install is handed over with a written aftercare plan, and this is the calendar behind it — published in full, so you can see exactly what the optional programme involves before you decide whether you want it.
Included with every planting scheme
The six-week check-in.
Six weeks after planting we come back and walk the garden with you. Six weeks is long enough for plants to show whether they have taken and short enough that anything struggling can still be corrected cheaply — a drainage problem, a plant in the wrong light, watering that has been generous in the wrong way.
You also get the written aftercare plan at handover: what to water and how often, what to cut back and when, what to leave alone, and which plants in your particular scheme will look alarming in their first winter and be perfectly fine in April.
The optional monthly programme
Twelve months of a planting aftercare and feeding programme.
Feeding runs from January through to September; October is for bulbs, November for cutting back and mulching, December for the deciduous trees. Every visit is a visit by people who know the planting plan, because they drew it.
January
FeedThe programme starts with the beds still bare. Feeding now goes to the roots rather than the leaves, and everything comes away faster in spring for it.
February
FeedSecond feed. Late-winter is also when frost heave shows itself — anything lifted out of the ground gets firmed back in while we are there.
March
FeedGrowth starts in earnest. This is the feed that does the most visible work, and the month to check that any irrigation has survived the winter.
April
FeedNew growth is soft and appealing to everything that eats plants. Feeding continues; slug and snail pressure is watched rather than assumed.
May
FeedThe garden fills out. Early perennials may need support putting in before they need it, rather than propping up after they have flopped.
June
FeedPeak growth. Feeding carries on and the first deadheading keeps repeat-flowering plants going rather than letting them set seed and stop.
July
FeedThe month new planting is most often lost. Feeding continues, and watering — ideally via irrigation rather than optimism — matters more than anything else.
August
FeedFeeding continues. Late-summer planting is assessed honestly: what has thrived, what is sulking, and what is in the wrong place and should be moved.
September
Final feedThe last feed of the year. Anything that needs moving or dividing is best done now, while the soil is still warm and the rain is returning.
October
Bulb plantingBulbs go in for next spring — planted through the borders in drifts so they read as part of the scheme rather than as a row of soldiers.
November
Cut back & mulchHerbaceous material is cut back — though seedheads and stems worth leaving for winter structure and for wildlife are left standing — and the beds are mulched.
December
Deciduous treesDeciduous trees and shrubs are cut back while dormant and the structure is visible. The quietest month in the garden and the best one for pruning.
The programme is optional and is quoted per garden — a courtyard of pots and a two-acre scheme are not the same job. It can also be taken for a single year while the planting establishes, which is when it makes the most difference.
Already have a garden that needs looking after?
The aftercare programme is not limited to planting we installed. If you have borders that have stopped working, tell Kate what is in them and she will say what they need. Rated 5.0 on Google.