A grounds contract fails when it is the same visit twelve times. Hertfordshire’s year is lumpy: a wet clay winter, a sudden May growth spurt, a dry spell that stops the mower, then a fortnight in November when every leaf in the parish lands on the drive. The list below is the shape of a year we actually work, for a house or for a managed site — offices, hotels, schools, colleges, housing land and communal gardens.
Spring
Lawns want the first cuts kept high, then a feed once the soil has warmed. Scarifying and aeration belong here if the turf came through winter smeared and mossy; doing either in high summer on clay just stresses the grass. Edges get cut back to the line you want for the rest of the year.
Hedges can wait until you are confident there is no active nest. Seasonal bedding goes in once the frost risk has dropped. Beds get a weed pass before the perennial weeds have locked in. It is also the moment to book tree work that was spotted in winter, if consent is needed and the nesting window allows.
Summer
Mowing is the rhythm, shorter and more often while the grass is growing, then eased off if July bakes the clay. Weed control on paving and gravel is little and often. New planting from a spring build still needs water; established shrubs generally do not, if they were chosen properly.
This is when a patio either proves itself or ponds. If water sits, it is a levels problem and it will not improve in August. Jet washing can wait for a cooler week so the paving is not blistering underfoot the same afternoon.
Autumn
Leaves are the job. On drives, paths, gullies and gutters they block the thing that was built to move water. Clearance is weekly in a bad fall, not a single heroic Saturday. Aeration of the lawn still has a window while the soil is moist and before it turns to putty.
Hedges get a last cut if they need one, again with an eye on birds. It is a good time to paint fence panels, on a dry run of days, and to note trees that should be looked at once they are dormant.
Winter
Growth stops and the structural work starts. Pruning of many deciduous trees and shrubs, subject to species and to any preservation order. One-off clearances of gardens that have been left. Hard surfaces jet washed when a summer slot was missed. Litter and a light tidy on commercial sites so they do not look abandoned until March.
Clay should not be dug or driven on when it is sodden. A maintenance visit in January is a tidy and an inspection, not a renovation. If you want a new patio in spring, winter is when the design should be agreed, so the build can start when the ground allows.