Indian gardens run on three seasons, and the work of each is different enough that a gardener who does the same visit in July and April is not paying attention. A short list for each season, two manure visits and one pruning round a year prevent most of the calls the rest of this library describes.
Before the monsoon: the one afternoon that matters
Do this in late May in the south and west, and in mid June in the north, before the first heavy rain, not after the first flood.
Drainage. Every pot onto feet or bricks. Every saucer removed; a saucer in the monsoon is a pond. Terrace outlets cleared of leaves and the overflow checked. In beds, a small channel or a soakaway where water stood last year.
Cut back. Prune the shrubs that have finished flowering, hibiscus, ixora, bougainvillea, so the monsoon growth is open and air moves. Thin crowded pots. Remove every dead leaf; it is where the fungus starts. A pruning round on the trees, ₹400 each, is well placed here so the canopy is open before the wind.
Feed. The first of the two manure visits of the year. Compost or vermicompost worked into every bed and the top of every pot, ₹700 for the visit with the manure bought separately. The rains then carry it down.
Stake. Tall plants, young trees and anything in a light pot that will catch the wind. A tree planted this year wants its stake checked and the tie loosened.
Stock the shelf. Copper oxychloride or mancozeb, and neem oil. You will need them in July.
A gardener's large-garden visit at ₹900, or a small one at ₹400, booked for this one afternoon does all of it.
During the monsoon: get the water out
Fungus is the problem. Leaf spot, powdery mildew and stem rot all come from wet leaves and still air. Remove spotted leaves and bin them. Spray copper or mancozeb at 2 g a litre on the rest in a dry spell, in the evening. Do not feed; wet soil and nitrogen together is rot.
Watering mostly stops, except for pots under a roof. Check with a finger, not the calendar.
Weeds grow faster than anything you planted. Pull them with roots after rain, when the soil is soft. A monthly plan at ₹1,500 earns its keep in July and August; weeding alone is ₹2 per sq ft if bought separately.
Plant. The monsoon is the best time to put trees and large shrubs in the ground, ₹350 each, because the rain does the first month's watering. It is also the time for a new lawn in the north, ₹25 per sq ft plus turf, where the heat has gone and the rain is reliable.
Mow often. Grass grows fastest now. Every 10 days at ₹1 per sq ft, mower blade high, and never when the lawn is waterlogged; the wheels tear it.
October: the planting month
In most of India the garden's year starts in October, when the rain stops and the heat is gone. This is the month a gardener earns a year of flowers.
Winter annuals in. Marigold, petunia, chrysanthemum, dahlia, dianthus, pansy, sweet pea, calendula, salvia, antirrhinum, as nursery seedlings in the second half of October in the north, through November in the south. They flower from December to March. Plant in full sun, in beds dug with compost, or in 8 to 10 inch pots of fresh mix.
Winter vegetables sown. Tomato, cabbage, cauliflower, carrot, radish, beetroot, peas, beans, palak, methi, coriander, lettuce. Root crops and greens from seed in the bed; tomato and the brassicas as seedlings.
The second manure visit. ₹700, before the annuals go in. It is the one that decides whether the winter flowers are a show or a scatter.
Re-pot. October is the month for the two-year re-potting cycle, ₹60 a pot, while the weather is kind and the plant has months to settle before summer.
Winter: the easy months
Watering slows to every three or four days for pots. Deadhead the annuals weekly to keep them flowering. Feed flowering plants with a spoon of bone meal or a fortnightly 19:19:19 at a gram a litre. Mow every two to three weeks.
In late winter, February in the north, prune the fruit trees, lemon, guava, pomegranate, before the new growth, and the roses hard. This is the second placement for the ₹400 round if the pre-monsoon one was missed. Harvest the winter vegetables and sow the summer ones, bhindi, cucumber, bottle gourd, ridge gourd, amaranth, in the last week of February or in March.
In the far north, frost nights in January kill the tender things on a terrace. Cover the pots with a sheet in the evening, or move them against a south wall.
Summer: keep it alive
From mid March the job is survival, and the gardener's visit is shorter but more important.
Water early, and twice for small pots. Early morning, deep, until it runs from the base. Small pots and grow bags again at dusk. The finger test still applies; a wilting plant in wet soil is cooking, not thirsty.
Mulch everything. Two inches of dry leaves, coir or straw on top of every pot and bed. It halves the watering.
Shade net. 50 percent green net over the terrace pots from 11 to 4, on a bamboo or pipe frame. ₹20 to ₹40 a square metre. Move the ferns and foliage under the overhang.
Do not feed, do not re-pot, do not prune. A stressed plant cannot use food and will not heal a cut.
Watch for red spider mite on the plants under the roof, and for the first mealybug on anything that has gone dry once. Water on the undersides every morning, neem in the evening, and a ₹600 spray visit if it gets ahead of you.
Lawn. Let it grow longer; a lawn cut short in May burns. Mow every three weeks at ₹1 per sq ft and water it in the evening so the blades are not wet in the sun.
The summer is where a drip line pays for itself. ₹20 per sq ft in labour, ₹10–₹25 per sq ft in parts, and a timer, and the garden survives the week you are away in May.
The annual round, in one list
- Late May or mid June: pre-monsoon visit. Drainage, cut back, manure visit one, stake.
- July to September: fungus watch, weeding, planting of trees and shrubs, frequent mowing.
- October: manure visit two, re-potting, winter annuals and vegetables in.
- December to February: deadheading, feeding, late-winter pruning of fruit and roses, summer vegetables sown at the end.
- March to May: mulch, shade net, morning water, no feeding, pest watch.
A monthly plan at ₹1,500 or ₹5,000 covers the routine of each season. The two manure visits, the pruning round and the October re-potting are the extras worth booking by name, and a gardener who proposes them without being asked is one to keep.
The one visit that prevents most calls
If a garden gets only one proper visit a year, make it the pre-monsoon one. Drainage fixed before the rain, the shrubs opened up, the trees pruned, the compost in. Gardens that have this done do not rot in August, and the October planting goes into soil that is ready.