Whether ornamental or purely functional, a lush, green carpet of grass – weed and moss free – should be a highlight of many gardens. A lawn is one of the most important elements in a garden, creating a sense of open space that lets the garden ‘breathe’ while joining one area seamlessly with another. However, the effort and specialist equipment required to maintain it often causes routine lawn care to be a boring, laborious task and for some vital work to be overlooked entirely.

It is like your skin: regular care and proper nutrition are essential if we are to look our best and your lawn is no different. We all know the importance of wellbeing and look tired if we do not have a balanced diet and drink plenty of water but when was the last time your grass was given even a little bite to eat? When was the lawn last aerated or de-thatched?

In order to stand even a chance of achieving the look on the cover of glossy gardening magazines your lawn requires a rigorous maintenance programme from mid-March until late November.

Cutting too short frequently results in a sudden loss of a large quantity of leaf which shocks the grass, reduces its vigour and causes a reduction in the turf’s density. This, in turn, creates the space needed for invasion by moss and weeds. We therefore offer lawn services, ideally at least once a week, for the duration of the growing season.

Edge trimming, weeding, feeding, scarifying/de-thatching, aeration and top-dressing are included as a standard part of our long-term service.

Did you know? The type of weed growing in your grass (and yes, we almost all have them) can be a good indicator of the current nutritional status of your soil.

The autumn leaf-fall, including the collection of fruit ‘windfalls’ when necessary, is an annual chore that must be regularly and quickly attended to before it causes damage to the lawn or border plants and must always be completed before the grass is cut.

Fallen leaves are often regarded as a bothersome waste that needs to be disposed of but we regard them as a valuable resource. Leaf mould provides many of the properties/nutrients needed to maintain good soil structure/fertility as well as providing an ideal mulch – an organic blanket – for the protection of plants, preservation of moisture/temperature and causing light starvation for weeds.

Wherever possible, we collect and compost fallen leaves (and other appropriate organic waste) in order to create a free, natural commodity for future investment within your garden.

We primarily offer our leaf clearance service as a natural part of lawn care from September to November although it can be ordered at any time – after a summer storm, for example.

Did you know? Pine needles can take over three years to decompose into a useful mulch. Sure, it takes time but it’s great for acid loving plants such as Camellia and Pieris.

A well maintained hedge adds structure and definition to a garden. Whether formal or informal and depending on the type of hedge, it may need attention once a month/quarter/year and our team is fully equipped to provide it with a haircut as frequently as you may wish and/or is needed. We will always defer any work to avoid disturbing nesting birds in accordance with the Wildlife and Countryside Act.

We should make clear, though, that hedge trimming means just that – maintaining something that would otherwise become uncontrolled. It does not mean creating a hedge from a row of overgrown, neglected trees (such as x Cuprocyparis leylandii). However, we provide comprehensive horticultural care and will oversee such work within the scope of Incidental Commissions.

N.B. Topiary can form part of this service and be included as part of our personalised proposal.

Did you know? A laurel shrub (the big leafed type Prunus lauroceracus ‘Orbicufolia’) contains cyanide.

When engaging a designer for the inside of your house you may expect to live with the work for several years. The exterior of your property has the great advantage of being able to change colour scheme every year, even every season.

Whether you wish to plant-up seasonal flower beds, herbaceous/shrub borders or are planning a new orchard the correct selection of plants in the correct soil and location is essential. Unless plants are denied all of their ideal conditions they will normally try to grow but a surplus/lack of just one essential element might result in at least a disappointing performance.

Lancewood will provide you with the occasional, annual or seasonal redecoration of your garden. You may either provide us with general instructions on how you want things planted or we will work with you to establish a planting/colour scheme. Once the plants have been purchased we will then nurture them, obviously after having first prepared the soil to create/maintain the optimum nutrient/pH loam environment.

Our extensive contacts within the horticultural industry allow us to access plants on a wholesale basis. These plants are often of better quality and cost significantly less than the retail prices of most garden centres. We are also able to source very established or rare plants from specialist nurseries. All of these benefits are available to our clients who wish us to access plants on their behalf, although this extension of our service is contracted separately from our management contract by way of a Client Purchase Order.

Planting is another of our ‘all year’ services with most work being required in the spring (for herbaceous annuals/biennials) and autumn (for perennials/bulbs/shrubs/trees).

This is an extension of our planting service. You may prefer the instant benefit of purchasing plants which are ready to deliver maximum impact but if you have a greenhouse or somewhere suitable you may opt to purchase seeds, ‘plugs’ or juvenile plants to grow-on before planting out. Similarly, you may wish to minimise your composting and develop your own supply of plants by cutting, division or grafting. If you have the facilities then Lancewood will happily help to establish your own healthy stock ready for planting out.

N.B. Grafting/budding is delicate work that takes time, may require specialist equipment and can deliver uncertain results. To maximise the success of this type of propagation service it will be undertaken by our Horticultural Director off-site.

Did you know? A planted apple pip may grow into a tree but almost never the same variety as the apple it came from.

Whether your rose bed is bedraggled or your wisteria growing wild, Lancewood will flourish the secateurs to ensure that your shrubs and trees are kept looking their absolute best.

There are some specific rules for pruning but generally it is aimed at optimising the health, size or shape of a plant. The details of any pruning depend upon the needs and desired characteristics of the plant but using the correct, clean tools at the correct time of year is critical. For example, most roses should be pruned in the early spring but apple trees should not.

Pruning also needs to consider the removal of dead/weak branches so must necessarily also pay attention to whether there is any underlying problem – most particularly disease. Any stem which is infected may require removal and incineration but such infection may easily spread if careful attention is not paid to hygiene. We consequently ensure that our pruning equipment is disinfected prior to and often during use in your garden.

Did you know? Fireblight is a fungal infection so contagious that the blade of the saw/secateurs must be disinfected after every cut when pruning it out.

Irrigation is an essential part of all routine garden maintenance and needs to consider the timely addition of nutritional supplements to optimise plant growth and/or flowering/fruiting. You may wish us to ensure that any necessary watering is undertaken as part of our service whenever we attend but we advise that gardens should not be watered in the middle of a hot day or at the end of a cool one. This is because the water either evaporates too quickly, thereby failing to penetrate down to the roots, or causes fungal problems (botrytis or grey mould) when it does not evaporate quickly enough.

Lancewood relies upon your own water supply to ensure that the garden soils receive sufficient moisture.

The little and often method of watering is seldom advisable as it fails to encourage adequate root growth. During prolonged dry periods, which surprisingly includes during the winter, a weekly watering may be insufficient. To sustain your plants, most often during particularly hot weather, they may require irrigating at least once every day.

Did you know? Acid loving (calcifuge) plants such as Camellia, Pieris, Blueberry or Hydrangea (if you want blue flowers) should never be irrigated with mains tap water.

A plant growing in the wrong place will normally need to be removed and needs to be done regularly if a small problem is to be prevented from escalating. When it comes to these pernicious plants, ‘A year’s seeding means seven year’s weeding’ is the adage and is largely true.

Not only do weeds compete with desired flora for light, moisture and nutrients but they are also a collection point for pests/diseases. However much attention is paid to the husbandry of cultivated plants, such work will be wasted if the source of a problem is not eliminated so weeding not only removes unsightly vegetation but also helps to avoid problems and their recurrence in the future.

Lancewood will routinely clear your beds, borders and lawns of weeds. We will not take short cuts – we shall not rake off the worst of it, cover it in fresh earth and leave it looking good only to have the weeds return in maybe only a few days. It is a seemingly endless task because seeds can lie dormant for years, springing to life when soil cultivation provides the right conditions. We shall, however, continually remove the weeds carefully, methodically and as organically as possible.

N.B. The removal of Japanese Knotweed (Fallopia japonica) and other weeds detailed within the Wildlife and Countryside Act, 1981 and/or the Weeds Act, 1959 et al requires specialist treatment in accordance with Environment Agency regulations. Whenever this is required, Lancewood will oversee the management of a specialist contractor to ensure that you receive the level of service you have come to expect from Lancewood directly.

We undertake almost all of your garden and grounds management but there are a few incidental ‘one-off’ commissions when our skills can be better deployed elsewhere. These extend to include non-horticultural chemical applications (e.g. pool maintenance and terrace/patio cleaning); vermin control; and tree surgery.

For such works which are beyond the scope of that which we undertake ourselves, to honour our commitment to provide you with a wholly comprehensive service, Lancewood has a trusted network of specialist contractors whom we can engage and oversee on your behalf and thus ensure that you continue to receive the very highest levels of service that you expect from Lancewood. This enables Lancewood to deliver you truly inclusive estate management.