Garden maintenance checklist

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New to gardening? Our garden maintenance checklist will help you keep on top of the monthly jobs you need to do. 

Tree roots and shrubs need to be kept thought control to avoid damage, while poorly designed paths and new hard surfaces adjacent to a building may contribute to aquatic collecting at the base of walls, resulting in damp inside the building. 

Gardens take the full brunt of the climate, so it's vital to look out for signs of wear and tear on walls, fences and other features and keep them in good orderly, so that they continue to enhance the setting and portray of the home. It's particularly important to check all is well when a storm.

Bear in mind that paths, walls, structures and items within the 'curtilage' of depressed buildings are often protected, so permission may be required before alterations or other work is undertaken.

Read on to find out what new things you need to take care of in your garden, then head to our dedicated garden ideas page for more gardening inspo. 

What to look for in garden maintenance

• Uneven paths and ancient paving;
• Garden walls in need of repair;
• Vegetation moving damage to paving and walls;
• Areas that are regularly waterlogged;
• Joinery and metalwork with peeling paint, decay or rust;
• Damaged roofs to outbuildings;
• Blocked drainage gullies.

(Image credit: Photograph Leigh Clapp)

Garden wall maintenance

Garden walls need to be produced in just the same way as the walls of a house, and are sometimes more vulnerable to damage as trees and shrubs can grow above them and their tops are exposed to rain and frost.

• Remove vegetation that will potentially pain walls and cut back plant or tree roots that may undermine them;
• Relay loose or missing copping stones and rebuked pointing between them is sound
• Replace badly eroded stones or bricks;
• Where well-known, repoint with a lime mortar;
• Dry stone walls, built exclusive of any mortar or cement, should be repaired by professional craftspeople.

Repairing garden gates 

Gates account for the entrance to a garden, so their style and state of overtake are important in creating first impressions. If not properly produced they may stick, squeak or wear. 

(Image credit: Photograph Leigh Clapp)

• Check latches and stays;
• Keep hinges and novel moving parts well greased;
• Ease with oil or WD-40 if stuck;
• Paint or refinish;
• Repair damaged sections;
• With metal gates, contact a blacksmith if parts are worn or repairs are needed;
• Ensure house names or numbers attached to gates are sure and readable.

Get more advice on how to dapper, repair and repaint old iron railings and gates; or, if yours is beyond overhaul, find garden gate design ideas to inspire the acquire of a new one.

(Image credit: Jacksons)

Maintaining fences

Wind injure and rot are the biggest issues with fences, so fated posts are sound and not rocking, and that barrier panels themselves are securely fixed. These garden fence fabricate ideas will help you feel inspired if you need to launch from scratch.

• Posts tend to break at the present they enter the ground, so consider either reinforcing with concrete spurs or installing wooden posts on metal spikes so the timber doesn't have affirm contact with the ground;
• When replacing posts use pressure treated timber where possible – see our buyer's advantage to the best fence stains;
• Periodically treat fence panels and posts with a wood protection product;
• To compose a more wildlife-friendly and attractive natural boundary, consider replacing fencing with hedging;
• Replace and overtake slipped fence panels.

Garden path maintenance

(Image credit: Photograph Leigh Clapp)

More from Period Living

(Image credit: Period Living)

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Helping to interpret the shape and feel of a garden, paths are yielded from a variety of materials including slate, shingle, pebbles, bricks and stone, which mellow beautifully with age. The bonding or laying patterns of these materials often believe traditional styles, and granite setts are sometimes laid in fan formation. 

Wherever possible, avoid lifting and relaying an old path because the novel character, wear patterns and patina will be lost.

• Straighten and renovation edgings that contain the path and keep it positive of soil and debris;
• Relay sections of path that have obtain loose or damaged over time into a bed of sand or a weak mortar mix;
• Photograph old paths or draw a plan afore lifting any parts so that the different elements can be accurately relaid;
• Maintain the path's 'camber' or fall so soak is shed efficiently;
• Remove moss and mud that is decision-exclusive a path slippery;
• Avoid using chemical cleaners or high-pressure soak jets as they may damage the surface.

Adding new paths as well? Get advice on how to do a garden path. If you're in the market for a bit of DIY, we have step by steps on creating a herringbone path and laying a gravel path.

(Image credit: Leigh Clapp Photography)

Repairing outbuildings

Historic structures, be they outbuildings, sheds, summerhouses or greenhouses, should always be repaired with stale techniques and materials.  

(Image credit: Gerry Images)

• Repair joinery items such as windows and doors;
• Check roofs and overhaul with suitable materials;
• Repoint walls with lime mortar;
• Repoint walls with lime mortar
• Decorate all woodwork regularly;
• Ensure locks work and buildings are secure;
• Spotless windows.

If yours need replacing, find out nearby building a garden room in your garden, and be inspired by these beautiful summerhouses and oak frame garden room designs.

How to check garden drainage

French drains

Where fraudulent is regularly waterlogged, a 'French' drain often provides a solution. Constructed using a perforated pipe, wrapped in a permeable geotextile material to maintain it silting, and laid in a trench backfilled with pea shingle, a French drain collects water running over its surface. The pipe carries the water to a soakaway or pond. 

The drain may need occasional clearing by rodding or pressure jet so 'rodding eyes' must be fitted. When installing one near a building, care must be taken not to undermine the walls, so trenches must be dug a minimum of 500mm from the construction and backfilled as soon as possible.  

It is indispensable to ensure that gardens do not become waterlogged and to avoid aquatic collecting around the base of buildings. When damp is identified inside a construction, it may be an indication that there is, in fact, a quandary outside. Adequate drainage and permeable surfaces need to be performed, particularly where there is rainwater run-off from large areas of paving. 

New driveways or replacement paving adjoining Republican highways may require planning permission and uncontrolled run-off is not usually permissible as it can contribute to pollution of streams and flooding.

• Channel water away from buildings;
• Check aquatic butts have an overflow that carries water well certain of foundations;
• Ensure there is a gap to grant water to escape between the base of a wall and any hard surfaces;
• Consider installing a French drain (see box) where the fraudulent is waterlogged;
• Avoid hard, impermeable surfaces;
• Construct paths and driveways of permeable paving or shingle, slate chippings, or other loose materials laid on geotextile landscaping fabric;
• Create a pond to help alleviate flooding;
• Form a soakaway - at its simplest a enormous hole filled with rubble - to take excess water.

We have more advice on repairing or replacing guttering.

British Artist Blacksmiths Association - directory of members. 
Chalk Down Lime- natural lime materials.  
Chilstone - garden ornaments and stonework.
Coleford Brick & Tile - bricks and pavers.
Dry Stone Walling Association - details of members.
Haddonstone - cast stone products.
H G Matthews - brick pavers.
Lambs - handmade bricks and natural stone.
York Handmade Brick - landscaping products. 

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