Planting Handover and Care Record Checklist

Ask for a list of what was actually planted, marked up to show anything that differs from what was agreed beforehand.

Substitution is routine in planting work, and the only reliable record is one produced after the beds were filled rather than before.

Note each substitution and the reason given for it, in the words used at the time, so the record makes sense to someone reading it later.

Reasons fade quickly, and an unexplained change looks like an error when it is examined again by somebody else.

Ask for plant names to be written exactly as the supplier gave them, including any variety name, rather than in shortened everyday form.

Everyday names cover many different plants, and a precise name is what any future nursery or professional will ask you for.

Record how much of each thing went into each bed, so a future gap can be filled with what was there rather than with a guess.

Replacing losses convincingly depends on knowing what stood in that spot, which nobody remembers once a bed has filled out.

Note what size each plant was when it went in, described in the terms the supplier used, and keep any delivery paperwork with the record.

Size at planting explains how the beds develop and is the sort of detail that becomes impossible to establish afterwards.

Write down anything on the agreed list that was not planted at all, and ask plainly what is intended to happen about it.

Omissions are easy to spot while the beds are bare and almost invisible once everything else has grown together.

Photograph every bed from a fixed standing point on the day planting finished, and note where you stood so the shot can be repeated later.

A repeatable viewpoint turns photographs into a record of change rather than a collection of unrelated pictures.

Take close photographs of any nursery labels still attached, since those labels weather, fade or are tidied away within a short stretch.

Labels are the cheapest identification you will ever have, and they disappear before most owners think to read them.

Mark positions onto a simple plan or sketch of your own, even a rough one, so the record does not depend on recognising foliage in a photograph.

A sketch you understand is more use to you than a professional drawing you cannot relate to the ground.

Record where anything went in that is not visible above ground at handover, since bare soil looks like empty space to whoever digs there next.

Dormant planting is routinely dug through or covered over by someone who had no way of knowing it was there.

Note which existing plants were retained rather than newly planted, so their history is not lost in the record of the new work.

Retained planting has different needs and a different origin, and merging it into the new list confuses both.

Put a date on every photograph and note, since the value of this record lies almost entirely in knowing when it was taken.

Undated records cannot be compared with anything, which removes most of the reason for keeping them.

Ask for the aftercare instructions in writing, covering what needs doing to the new planting and what to watch for while it establishes.

A written instruction survives a change of gardener, an absence and a season, whereas a doorstep conversation does not.

Aftercare instructions should come from the qualified professional who carried out the planting and should reflect your site rather than a general routine.

Ask for the watering guidance to be given by area, since a bed under a canopy or against a warm wall rarely needs the same as an open one.

A single instruction for the whole garden means some beds are overwatered while the ones that needed it are missed.

Ask what signs would mean the planting is struggling and who you should contact when you see them, and write that contact down.

Owners usually notice trouble early and act late because nobody told them who to call about it.

Ask what you should not do to the new planting while it establishes, and record that alongside the instructions rather than separately.

Well-meant intervention causes a fair share of early losses, and the list of things to leave alone is rarely offered unprompted.

If any watering system was installed, ask to be shown how it is turned off, drained and adjusted, and record where its controls are.

A system nobody can turn off becomes a problem the first time something leaks or the weather changes.

Adjustment, repair and any work on an irrigation or outdoor water connection is for a suitably qualified professional.

Ask what was put on the surface of the beds, whether it is expected to be topped up and who would supply the same material again.

Surface material is part of how the planting was designed to work, and replacing it with something different changes the beds.

Walk the garden and list every stake, tie, guard, collar, screen and protective covering that was left in place, noting where each one is.

A written list is the only thing that stops these items becoming invisible within a season or two.

Ask who is responsible for checking and eventually removing each temporary item, and record a name rather than an assumption.

The person who fitted them is usually long gone, and the job falls to nobody unless it is written against someone.

Checking and removing supports on trees is for a qualified arborist rather than for whoever happens to notice them.

Ask what would indicate that a support is no longer needed, and note the answer so the decision does not depend on guesswork later.

Removing support too early and leaving it too long are both damaging, and the judgement belongs with someone qualified.

Note where a tie sits against a stem and add checking it to your own record, since a tie left as fitted can bite in as the plant thickens.

This is one of the commonest sources of avoidable damage to otherwise healthy planting.

Anything tied to or supporting a tree should be looked at by a qualified arborist rather than adjusted by the owner.

Record any temporary fencing or barrier and ask what it is protecting, since removing it early undoes whatever it was there for.

Barriers are often the last visible sign of an instruction everybody else has forgotten about.

Note any spare plants, surplus material or spares left on site, and agree where they are stored and what they are for.

Leftovers with no explanation become clutter, when some of them were left deliberately for replacements.

Write down who is responsible for each area of planting, whether that is the household, a maintenance arrangement or the team who planted it.

Responsibility described by area leaves fewer gaps than responsibility described by task.

Agree who waters during the establishment stretch, including what happens when that person is away or unwell.

Establishment failures trace back to absences more often than to anything horticultural, and the gap is easy to cover once named.

Note what whoever maintains the garden needs to be told about the new planting, and make sure they receive it rather than assuming it filtered through.

A routine maintenance visit will follow its usual habits unless somebody changes the instruction in writing.

Record any area that is meant to be left uncut, undisturbed or untouched, and mark it on the ground as well as on paper.

Areas meant to be left alone are the most likely to be tidied by someone acting helpfully.

Write down who to contact about the planting, who to contact about anything built and who to contact about a tree, since they are rarely the same.

Knowing who to call is what determines whether a problem gets dealt with or simply watched.

Anything involving a tree, including damage, leaning or work at height, is for a qualified arborist, with the local authority confirming what applies.

Ask which tasks recur through the year and who is expected to carry each of them out, and record that as a plain list.

Recurring work is what the household actually signed up to, and seeing it listed changes how realistic the garden feels.

Ask what replacement arrangement applies to the planting, what it covers and what it excludes, and record the answer in the words you were given.

Arrangements vary a great deal, and an owner assumption about what is covered is almost always more generous than the reality.

Ask what conditions attach to it, particularly around watering and aftercare, and keep those conditions with the aftercare instructions.

The conditions and the instructions are the same document in practice, and separating them is how owners lose the benefit.

Ask what would end the arrangement, such as work carried out by someone else or a change in how the beds are maintained.

Owners frequently do something reasonable that quietly ends an arrangement nobody explained to them.

Ask what evidence would be wanted if something fails, and start keeping dated photographs of the beds as a matter of routine.

Dated photographs taken before a problem arises are worth far more than an account written afterwards.

Ask whether trees are treated differently from the rest of the planting in any arrangement, since they often are.

Trees carry different expectations for establishment and care, and this distinction is rarely volunteered.

Establishment care for a tree, and any judgement about its condition, is a matter for a qualified arborist.

Keep whatever you were given about replacements in the same place as the planting record, rather than filing it with unrelated paperwork.

The two documents are only useful together, and separated they are usually both lost.

Keep the plant list, photographs, aftercare instructions and contacts together in one place, physical or digital, and tell someone else where it is.

A record only one person can find is lost the moment that person is unavailable.

Add a dated line whenever something is lost, replaced or moved, noting where it was and what the weather had been doing.

A pattern of losses in one position is only visible if each one was written down at the time.

Repeat the fixed-point photographs at the same points in the year, from the standing positions you noted at handover.

Comparable images show how the planting is filling out and make a conversation with a professional far more productive.

Assume any label left in the ground will become unreadable, and copy what it says into the record while it can still be read.

Labels are a temporary medium, and transferring the information is a small job that nobody regrets.

Record anything you or a helper changed after handover, including anything moved, cut back or given up on, so later advice is based on the truth.

A professional asked to explain a problem needs to know what has actually happened rather than what was originally planted.

Keep the record in a form you could hand to a new owner or a new gardener, since almost nobody inherits any information about a garden.

A garden with a record is far easier to look after well, and this is the only point at which such a record is easy to make.