Getting ready for Winter

We are now just getting past the grass cutting season and into the pruning and preparing for winter season.

Yesterday we were at Nigel Morgan of MorganPR doing just that.

Nigel persuaded my to do some more video blogging whilst there - never one to miss an opportunity to add good content to our blogs is Nigel so here it is:



A big thanks to Nigel and Di for the bacon sarnies and gallons of tea!

As usual it rained - it always does in Hungerford for us!!

Garden Restoration for one of Newbury's Flood Victims

Image taken looking up the garden

This week we provided a garden restoration to one of the unfortunate flood victims in Shaw. Since the floods, all the houses in this small cul-de-sac have been pretty much empty and so now work has begun to get the poor people back to normality once more.

This particular job was quite difficult as access to the rear of the property was only available via a kind neighbour - otherwise it would have been through the house. The garden was in a terrible state - all the extra water and the sun made excellent growing conditions and brambles, weeds grass etc took over very quickly. There was also an old pond which had never really been sorted out and some unusual brick work created by a previous owner which really served no purpose which had to go.

The brief was to get the whole garden under control, fill in the pond, remove the brickwork feature, uncover some paviers, level off where possible and re-seed the lawn area. We decided that turfing was not an option as nobody was able to water it regularly at this moment in time.

This garden needed to be low maintenance moving forward. Removal of the shed was also going to be part of this job, however the insurance company had not made the decision on this at the time of us doing this clearance so we will return for this in the future.

After quite a few hours of brush cutting and strimming, we cleared the jungle, then moved our attention to dismantling the brick work and using the rubble to fill in the pond area. Once done, we started the long and painful process of moving several tonnes of topsoil from the front of the property through the obstacle course of next doors garden and into the garden we were working on. This is when we discovered our broken trailer!

Anyway, the rest of the job went very well and we just managed to get the fertiliser and grass seed down as it started to pour with rain - good for the seed mind you!

Take a look at the Before and After shots - its quite a difference!

Image taken looking down the garden

Outstanding Customer Services from Indespension

We bought a new trailer about 6 months ago from an outfit in reading called Indespension - a strange name which doesn't really say what they do and unless you know them its a job to find them, however the service received and the price negotiated was great.

The sign of an excellent supplier and one that I would recommend is how they conduct themselves when confronted with a problem.

Monday we had a disaster. We were part way through a major clearance job when I noticed the sides of the trailer wouldn't fit as they should. One of the lads noticed a small crack in the metal framework, which on closer inspection was a major crack in the welding of the chassis of the trailer - rendering the whole thing unsafe to use.

I was pretty much dreading making the call to Indespension and expected the worse, however I was soon put at ease. The call was taken and the manager located in Welwyn Garden City. I was promised a replacement trailer to get me working again within the next 4 hours - sure enough, Ron the manager personally delivered a new trailer for us to use and took the other one away for inspection.

The very next day, I had a call from Ron saying the manufacturing plant had authorised a replacement trailer without further need for delay. I was a bit shocked and surprised at the speed of decision, but also delighted with the way it was sorted.

Being a cheeky git, I also asked if we could have a different model of trailer as the one they brought us to use was actually better suited to the type of work we did (and a newer model too) - again, this was agreed and so I collected a brand new trailer that day!

I have no hesitation in recommending Indespension - especially the Reading branch with Ron and his team. If you want a trailer of any description, these guys do it - a great price and outstanding customer care - nice one chaps it all helps to lower my stress levels too!!

A Rave Review about Garden4You

Its really nice when you get an email out of the blue from a supplier which a review of your service on.

I subscribe to The Best of Newbury which is part of a national web directory type of service who provide me with quite a lot of good customers and enquiries. Part of the service they offer is that customer can review your service and post it against your advert - a really cool idea (if you do a good job of course - not so good if you screw up!!).

Well one of my long standing customers did just that - I thought I would share it with you.

As a bit of background, we first met Kim whilst we were doing a fencing job on the side of the road in Newbury. She got our number off our roadside board and called me. I attach her review for you to read- its quite funny:

"Driving along the Oxford Road on my way back from Waitrose, I spotted these men at work. Well actually, it was their advertising board that I spotted, however it took 4 drive-bys for me to actually be able to read the telephone number that I would definitely be calling!

The thought of another weekend tidying up my garden spurring me on to do yet another drive-by (there's a message here Graham - the board works, but please make the telephone number bigger!).

So, having made the call and the necessary arrangements, I tried them out. I think I had in mind that it would be a one-off, but I’ve continued to use them and with this strange summer, they’re here each week.

In fact, they are now working with me to redesign and rework my existing patio and bank (something of a mammoth task!). Graham’s actively chasing other suppliers that he will manage too. Nevertheless, Graham’s not one to let the grass grow under his feet (pardon the pun!), so he’s got on and cleared the patio space whilst waiting and in preparation for the house painter to arrive (who sadly didn’t arrive when I thought he was coming!). There’s nothing like being ahead of the game!

So, who are these miracle workers you may be asking.... if only I knew all their names (however they respond really well to "erm excuse me.....", "hello thingy", "hi whatshisname", and even "OY!").Notwithstanding my lack of formality with names (or is it a memory thing, I wonder...), it is an absolute delight having Graham and his team of enthusiasts (thingy, whatshisname & OY), working in our garden. Each and every one of them are conscientious, honest, friendly and are always happy to help in any way they can.

The gardens are fairly large, so the new addition to Graham’s workforce in the shape of a ride on mower, has saved them hours of time, and me some money! So, thank you to the team, I’m so glad I found you."

I have some before pictures, but will publish them separately in another posting once the job is completed.

Its Fencing Season Again!

Its really funny how jobs seem to come in batches - over the last few months its been grass cutting and jungle busting, now its moving back to more seasonal things - like fencing.

We actually love fencing, strange as it seems. The before and after shots are pretty spectacular and the look on customers faces is even better (note to self - try to capture some on video to add to blog).

Its been pretty quiet on the fencing front since the Nigel Morgan fencing marathon earlier in the summer, thankfully the boys seem to have forgotten the rain, wind and general nasty weather that surrounded that particular job.

Now all of a sudden, the flood gates have opened and I have done a load of quotes over the last few days for fencing - the great news is stock levels of panels and posts seem to have returned to normal and now lead times do not cause us the issues we had.

One really nice job we did was for a letting agent we do some work for. The tenant had no fence for about 9 months and so was overjoyed when I called him to measure up. He was even more happy when I said we would start the following day!

Replacing an old existing fence can be a mine field - this was no exception of course. The previous fencer had done all sorts of wonderful things to the posts, but a good heavy duty Kango from A4 Hire sorted the problem.

In no time at all, we turned a broken horrible fence into a nice new one - even fixing the gates for the neighbour to make it all secure again (all part of the service!)

Commercial Clearance

As many of you know, we also get involved in lots of commercial work as well as normal domestic and home gardens.

We got a call a few weeks ago to come and price a job in Newbury - basically it consisted of 3 phases:

1. Cut hedges and clear access to a public footpath
2. Clear the garden area at the rear of the property
3. Provide ongoing garden and grounds maintenance

No job is guaranteed, but this one was right up our alley - it really is perfect for us and we love em. We are also highly competitive and at the end of the day the customer will not only go with the right outfit, the prices must be right too.

One of the other factors was that we do go the extra mile - I suggested the main hedge job was done over a weekend to minimise disruption in the car park and also reduce the noise of the chipper etc which was required for some of the larger branches.

As you can see from the picture, it really needed it. Also, working on Saturday brought us a very curious audience - we even had the chap who planted the trees and hedges 20 years ago stop and say hello!

The next phase was the rear garden. At some point in time somebody had cut the grass - I think it was Fred Flintstone by the look of the old machine!

It really was a bit of an exploratory venture into the bushes as they were so overgrown you could not actually see if it was a hedge or shrubs. It was basically hold your breath, get the hedge cutter going and jump in! We did discover some really nice shrubs which obviously need some pruning etc. The pictures show the before and after - there was also a set of steps leading from the Board Room window which could not be used - well now you can!


Some of the staff had never been to the back of the garden and they were really surprised once we had finished - we had some great comments.

The Maintenance Contract is about to start and we look forward to keeping this all up together.


Enjoy the pictures!


Rear Garden - Before and After

Steps from the Board Room

We've gone Green(er)!

My view on the environment is pretty clear - we need to make all efforts to reduce emissions and stop global warming.

We have been using low emission two stroke oil for some time - whilst more expensive I want to make whatever contribution I can to cutting back CO2 and pollution where ever possible.

This being the case, I have now changed over to Bio-diesel (B100). This is made of 100% recycled vegtable oil (chip fat oil) or Vegtable oils like Oil Seed Rape.

Like a lot of people, I was a little sceptical about what it would do to the Landrover and if I would have problems etc - my Landrover dealer didn't comment one way or the other - so I decided to take the plunge and come what may.

I first became aware of Enfuels in Thatcham at a network meeting when they visited my BNI Chapter in Newbury. I thought it was a good idea, but was a bit shocked by the price (very similar to fossil diesel) so didn't really want to take a chance on any vehicle issues. Since then, the cost differential has changed, but this really isn't my reason to change (but it helps).

As to performance, I think the B100 fuel is probably slightly better - I really notice when towing a large trailer loaded with gear. AS to overall economy, its about the same really - I was expecting an improvement but that hasn't really been noticed.

All I can say is, the rumours about the Landrover smelling of chip fat are unfounded and I am happy to be making a difference - the exhaust fumes are odour free and basically water vapour.

One thing I would like to see is our so called committed government making some kind of concession to those of us who want to change - supporting our farmers who produce rape seed oil as a diesel substitute and cut our tax bills - especially those of us who rely on 4WD vehicles - rather than load our taxes, lets see a rebate for green use!

For more info on Bio-diesel, click through to Enfuels

Fruit Trees

We are getting lots of calls from worried customers who have issues with their fruit trees being over-loaded with fruit - so much so that limbs are breaking off.

This year seems to have produced an abundance of fruit on most trees, probably due to the mild but wet summer and the early sunshine in the spring which produced loads of blossom.

This really highlights the problem of fruit trees which have not been pruned properly in the past. Unfortunately, there is not a lot which can be done at this time of the year - only to pick the fruit as soon it becomes ripe to minimise the risk of further damage, then get us in to sort out your trees over the late autumn and winter.

A well pruned fruit tree will actually produce more fruit of better quality. I have recently visited several properties where the only possible solution will be to cut down and remove some really lovely trees which have literally split in two - all the pruning in the world will not bring these back.

Fruit tree pruning is one of our specialities so why not give us a call or drop and email to us so we can get your fruit trees under control and producing for many years to come - just click on this link

Pond Clearance

We recently did a slightly different job to the normal - this was part of a total garden clearance as well but it all links together really in the overall scheme of the look and feel of a garden.

This pond area was designed to be a major feature of this garden, however it had become very overgrown and the plants and weeds obviously thrived on the environment. Before we started, you could not actually see the water - we had to tread carefully to avoid a wet foot etc!

After a few hours of thinning, we managed to uncover a very nice pond feature and some really nice plants, all of which were covered in Bind Weed and Nettles before. We didn't discover any fish, but this pond had become a real haven for frogs, toads and newts which are always great to see.

We are due to re-visit this property in the winter months to do some fruit tree pruning, tidy up a very overgrown fruit area containing Redcurrant, Blackcurrant and Raspberry as well as doing more work on the pond area in readiness for the spring.

Beware of the Dog!

I'm still trying to catch up on all the work and keep my Blog updated on recent events - it's a struggle!

Several funny things have happened over the last few weeks - several of which have been broadcast on air at Reading 107 via Neale James who I call pretty much every day during his breakfast show to give him an update on "The Spuds", my trusty assistants.

One story I have to tell you is the dog attack one. We have a good customer over in Inkpen near Newbury who own two German Shepard's. They have a large 6 foot high gate with "Beware of the Dogs" plastered all over it.

The driveway is a little awkward to drive into, so we have to reverse the trailer etc into it off the main road. I always get the boys to just see me back and warn the traffic etc. Well this day, Ric (AKA Alsatian Spud now) decided that it was a good idea to open the gates and let me in, despite the warning signs etc, so opened them and strolled in.

The two dogs thought this was Christmas and came bounding over at full speed barking. All I could see was a blur as Ric thought he would try to out-run them......not a chance!

One of the dogs latched onto his bum cheek as he tried to vault into the trailer and awaiting safety.....Luckily, there was no skin or clothes ripped in the process - the only damage was bruising of the rear and also his ego!

The worst thing was Ric trying to show us the "scars" and wanting first aid to the area - not even with rubber gloves matey!!!

The next few days were hilarious with Ric having to sit on the mower with a load of padding on one side.....Neale had a ball with this on air!

The next funny thing (I can laugh now) was Pete (AKA Landrover Spud) moving the Landrover forward just a few yards so we could get the mower off - a simple enough task you would think - not so.

I was in the yard just clearing up a few things when I heard an almighty crash and gravel skidding - only to look around and see Pete had run over my brand new strimmer!

I went a little mental as you can appreciate, especially when they tried to reverse back over it to get it out from under the trailer!!!

At least I can cut around corners now....again, Neale did a piece on this too - very amusing radio!