Professional Gardening Services in Earlsfield

A basket planted in May and admired in June is usually dead by the third week of July, and it is almost never the fault of the plants. Twenty litres of compost hanging in moving air at first-floor height behaves nothing like the same plants in the ground, and the difference is water. Around SW18, where bay windows and narrow frontages make wall-mounted planting the only planting some houses have, getting that one variable right is most of the work.

Why they dry out so fast

A basket presents a large surface area to the air on every side, including underneath, and the volume of compost holding the reserve is tiny. On a warm windy day it can lose everything it holds, and the plants show it hours later. Once a peat-free compost has dried completely it becomes water-repellent, so the next watering runs straight down the inside of the liner and out of the bottom without wetting anything. That is the point at which people conclude their basket has drainage and it has actually had nothing at all.

The fixings, and what they are going into

A saturated basket is far heavier than a dry one, and a fifteen-kilo swing on a bracket in a gust is a genuine load. Fixings go into the brick itself rather than into the mortar joints, with plugs matched to the fixing and the material, and the bracket must be deep enough for the basket to hang clear of the wall rather than resting against it. Anything over a footway needs to be well above head height and checked annually. Window boxes are restrained with a bracket or strap at each end, since a box pushed slowly toward the edge by watering is a serious matter on a first floor.

What goes in before the plants

A solid liner holds water better than an open-weave one, and a saucer or a plastic disc set in the base creates a small reservoir that buys a day in hot weather. The compost wants moisture-retaining material mixed through it rather than a handful of granules dropped on top. Filling to within a couple of centimetres of the rim leaves a lip to water into; filled to the brim, every drop runs over the side and down the wall. The staining that produces on brick and render is cleaned off by Earlsfield pressure washing services.

Feeding, because the compost runs out

The nutrients in fresh compost support a planted basket for about six weeks, which is why displays collapse in high summer rather than fading gradually. From that point a weekly liquid feed is not optional, and a high-potash feed produces flowers where a general one produces leaves. Slow-release granules mixed in at planting cover the first half of the season and make the weekly job less critical if a week is missed.

Choosing for the wall, not the catalogue

A north or east-facing frontage will not support the sun-loving trailing plants sold for baskets, and fuchsias, begonias, ivies and ferns do the job far better there. A hot south-facing wall reflects heat back into the basket and needs plants that tolerate it and a bigger container to buffer the drying. Bigger is the rule everywhere: a large basket is easier to keep alive than a small one, and two look better than four struggling small ones. Winter displays of ivy, cyclamen and small evergreens need a fraction of the water and carry a frontage from November to April.

The ten minutes that keep it going

Daily watering in summer, done in the evening rather than in full sun, deadheading at the same time, and a pinch to keep growth bushy is the whole routine. A basket bracket tucked under the eaves also puts a household within arm's reach of whatever is nesting in the soffit above it, which is worth knowing before a ladder goes up and is a matter for experienced bed bug treatment in Earlsfield rather than for a gardener.

How this is handled on a round

Most households want two changeovers a year, in late spring and autumn, with watering and feeding either taken on by the gardener or set up on a timed line where there is an outside tap. The work is quoted per container, since the planting and compost are the cost rather than the labour, and access matters: anything above ground-floor level needs a ladder and someone at the foot of it. Spent compost and old liners are bulky when several containers are stripped at once, and clearing that is arranged through same-day waste removal in Balham. Wider upkeep of the beds and paving below is covered by local gardening in Wandsworth, and the way a seasonal schedule is arranged is explained on our garden maintenance service.