Good Afternoon and Happy New Year everyone. January will be nearly over by next weekend and thankfully our garden transformation schedule is already filling up.
Admit it, most people (or at least those without a synthetic lawn) don’t even enter or think about their gardens from Halloween to St. Patricks day. Except perhaps to trundle the wheelie bins in or out or to fill the coal bucket whilst nearly breaking your neck on slippery decking/ slabbing/ paths, feeling around in the dark, whacking shins and cursing profusely whilst nearly freezing to death………. or maybe that’s just me.
Mark - Founder of Sanctuary Synthetics
Yesterday, whilst chilly, was a beautiful sunny day, many people thinking of pottering about clearing dead leaves off bulbs poking up for example, would have been put off by virtue of making muck trampling across the grass.
To get to the point, counterintuitively winter is the best time to get your garden sorted. You’re not using it anyway (admit it) and this way its ready for when the good weather does come (or at least when the rain gets slightly warmer.)
“Whhhhhhaaat! 5 to 6 weeks of a lead time?” They say, but the first Holy Communion is on Saturday. If we had a euro for every emergency call like this id be writing this from my Lanzarote villa right now.
So, tell your friends to start thinking about the garden now to avoid scheduling disappointments. Also, news flash the reality is the recession, notwithstanding hardship cases is over. We’ve full employment and just like during the Boom its becoming harder to get a good plumber, electrician or indeed a landscaper.
Which brings me to my second and final point. Increasingly we get e-mails and calls from people to rescue them from dodgy installations done by others. After storm Ophelia one local woman begged us to help. Her artificial lawn had blown into her bushes in the corner of her garden and she needed it re-laid. “I knew I should have gone with the experts.” INDEED. (A) Her gardener had used a handful of 6inch nails to secure the entire lawn and (B) he merely scraped off the previous grass and sprinkled a bit of sand. Sure, on day 1 it looked great and even after weeks and months was fine. But, inevitably even without a hurricane, it would have sagged, waterlogged and became weed infested and generally been a nightmare regardless of the quality of the grass.
Builders, inexperienced landscapers (we have a panel of good ones by the way) and chancers think they can do it and inevitably will be cheaper. Remember the old Chinese proverb “watching a YouTube video does not an expert make”. But there is a big difference between that and value for money.
I’ve been self-employed in this industry since 1998. I’ve seen many come and go, but I sleep at night even when the wind is blowing hard.
If you want peace of mind, proper ground work, a professional service and results that last decades call us. Remember the bitterness of poor quality remains long after the sweetness of a cheap price is well forgotten.
