About the service
I start every conifer job by walking the plot, not by picking a handsome plant in a container. I check how many hours of direct sun each spot gets, what lies under the turf, where the water stands after heavy rain and where the snow slides off the roof in winter. The species follows from that: pine is steady on dry sand, spruce and fir prefer loam, junipers want light and will not forgive standing water. Then I work out the adult size, which is the step most people skip. A small spruce next to the path will block a window in ten years and lift the paving with its roots, so I set the spacing by the mature dimensions of the plant, not by the size of the pot it arrived in. Plants come from a nursery, with an intact root ball and a known age. Nothing is dug out of the woods: a forest specimen loses most of its roots, sulks for years and usually dies.
The planting hole is twice the width of the root ball. On heavy clay I always build drainage from crushed stone and mix sand into the backfill, otherwise the roots simply sit in water. I tease the ball open and straighten every root that has started to circle, and I keep the root collar level with the surrounding soil: bury it and the bark rots, plant it high and the roots dry out. The basin is then covered with acidic mulch of pine bark and chips, five to seven centimetres deep and never pressed against the trunk. Through the first season I water regularly and deeply so the whole ball is soaked, and in autumn I give a heavy pre-winter soaking. Most winter burn starts there: the needles keep losing moisture on sunny days while the frozen dry ground gives nothing back.
Winter and spring are working seasons too. Before the snow arrives I tie the crowns of columnar forms with soft tape so wet snow cannot splay them open. Against the February sun I set a shade net on the south side rather than wrapping the plant tightly, because under a solid cover it overheats and suffocates. In spring I cut out dead wood, and in early summer I pinch the new growth lightly to thicken the crown. I never cut conifers back hard: on many species a bare branch with no needles will not break bud again, and the hole in the crown stays there for good. Yellowing is always diagnosed before it is treated, because sunscald, drought, waterlogging and pests all look similar and need different answers, and every spray is done strictly according to the product label, with no children or animals anywhere near.
— site visit, assessment of soil, light and drainage, planting plan based on mature sizes;
— species and cultivar selection, sourcing from a nursery, inspection of the root ball;
— planting with drainage, spread roots and the collar at the correct depth;
— bark and chip mulching, watering schedule for the first season;
— autumn pre-winter soaking, crown tying, shade netting against spring sunscald;
— removal of dead wood and light pinching of new growth for a dense habit;
— diagnosis of yellowing needles and safe, label-compliant treatment;
— a written seasonal care calendar for the year ahead.
The planting hole is twice the width of the root ball. On heavy clay I always build drainage from crushed stone and mix sand into the backfill, otherwise the roots simply sit in water. I tease the ball open and straighten every root that has started to circle, and I keep the root collar level with the surrounding soil: bury it and the bark rots, plant it high and the roots dry out. The basin is then covered with acidic mulch of pine bark and chips, five to seven centimetres deep and never pressed against the trunk. Through the first season I water regularly and deeply so the whole ball is soaked, and in autumn I give a heavy pre-winter soaking. Most winter burn starts there: the needles keep losing moisture on sunny days while the frozen dry ground gives nothing back.
Winter and spring are working seasons too. Before the snow arrives I tie the crowns of columnar forms with soft tape so wet snow cannot splay them open. Against the February sun I set a shade net on the south side rather than wrapping the plant tightly, because under a solid cover it overheats and suffocates. In spring I cut out dead wood, and in early summer I pinch the new growth lightly to thicken the crown. I never cut conifers back hard: on many species a bare branch with no needles will not break bud again, and the hole in the crown stays there for good. Yellowing is always diagnosed before it is treated, because sunscald, drought, waterlogging and pests all look similar and need different answers, and every spray is done strictly according to the product label, with no children or animals anywhere near.
— site visit, assessment of soil, light and drainage, planting plan based on mature sizes;
— species and cultivar selection, sourcing from a nursery, inspection of the root ball;
— planting with drainage, spread roots and the collar at the correct depth;
— bark and chip mulching, watering schedule for the first season;
— autumn pre-winter soaking, crown tying, shade netting against spring sunscald;
— removal of dead wood and light pinching of new growth for a dense habit;
— diagnosis of yellowing needles and safe, label-compliant treatment;
— a written seasonal care calendar for the year ahead.
