We are delighted to see Ed’s technicolour summer unfold before our eyes. Such beautiful flowers in the gardens we look after. Our business is of course garden maintenance. We focus on lawn mowing, hedge cutting, garden clearances and tidy-ups as well as jet-washing patios and drives. However, we are far from immune to the beauty of plants. We love to see all the beautiful flowers flourishing in our customers’ gardens. And there is no better time for fantastic flower spotting than now.
Early summer is most definitely the time of year when everything bursts into glorious technicolour. We are always amazed how the bright clashing colours of flowers side by side only seem to make each plant more glorious in its juxtaposition. Nature just works.
Here are just a few snaps of some very pretty summer flowers taken by the Ed’s team whilst out on their travels. Hopefully they will brighten your day….
First of all, some decadent Dahlias….
Heavenly Hidcote English Lavender….
A beautiful Blue Delphinium….
Let’s not forget some good old fashioned Geraniums…
One variety…
And another…
And yet another!
And then there’s Oh-so-starbursty Osteospermum…
And finally, some resplendent Roses…
And so there we have it. All the colours of the rainbow. Summer is here in all its glory ,folks!
Is your garden ready for summer gatherings?
If Ed’s can help you with any of your summer garden needs, please do get in touch.
Spring fever is all around us. The recent wet weather has brought some gardening challenges for us. However, the spring season bursting forth more than makes up for it. We love it when everything comes to life and colour is everywhere..
We wanted to share a few of our recent spring photos from the Ed’s team with you.
Magnificent magnolias….
A rainbow of tulips…
A host (or two) of golden daffodils…
And finally, some beautiful blossom…
The wonder of spring never grows old and to work in nature every day never loses its lustre…despite the odd soggy day!
If you think our gardeners can help you with any of your gardening needs, please get in touch…
Spring alert! On chilly days such as these spring can feel a very long way off. However, it is just round the corner. The signs are there already with snowdrops and new shoots starting to peek through. Ed’s gardeners are a hardy lot and you spot them out and about, here, there and everywhere, in all seasons!
It is never to early to think about gardening plans for the season ahead. The loveliest summer gardens are always the reward of early preparation.
If you would like to discuss your garden’s needs going forward, please do get in touch.
Festive Cheer is all around. Christmas is almost upon us and the end of 2023 is fast approaching. We would like to take this opportunity to thank all our lovely customers for your ongoing support this year. We have enjoyed helping you to meet the needs of your garden through the seasons of the year.
We very much look forward to continuing to support you to keep your gardens looking beautiful in 2024.
Festive cheer to all, far and near
We wish you a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.
Ed’s Gardener Chris Snowball runs his growing gardening business in Chislehurst.
Chris enjoys delivering a whole range of gardening services as follows:-
Lawn Mowing
Turfing
Power washing
Garden tidy ups
Garden clearances
Customer service is at the very heart of Chris’s business and he strives to delight his customers with this approach. And so, we asked Chris what this means to him. This is what he has to say…
“I frequently think about what the most important things are in the service I provide to my customers. There is a lot more to being a good gardener than completing a really good gardening job. Therefore, whilst it goes without saying that work should be delivered to a high standard, great customer service is a lot more besides. In reality, the customer experience starts when your customer first makes contact with you and should continue right through to returning for repeat visits. As such, good customer service is continuous and it is more of a relationship than a single job experience.”
“I believe that good communication is key to many things in life and so very important in my own business. My customers deserve clear communication right from first contact. Of course, Life is busy enough for them and they should get clear, comprehensive communication from their gardener. It goes without saying and it is key to your garden being a happy place for you.”
“However, communication is clearly a two way process. I love nothing more than customers sharing their ideas about their garden’s potential with me and understanding them and then working to turn them into reality. That’s one of the very best elements of my job and I find it extremely rewarding.”
If Chris can help you fulfil any of your garden’s needs, please do get in touch.
Lawn mowing is quite a big thing for Bob Dulieu, our Ed’s Operator in Horsham. He tends to do a lot of lawn mowing, especially over the summer months. However, with one of Bob’s customers, lawn mowing doesn’t come into his service at all . It’s actually another of Bob’s skills that has come into play recently! Bob tells all…
The remit (no lawn mowing required)
“I’m very lucky to help to look after a beautiful garden locally. The garden is not only beautiful but is quite large as well. The first time I saw the garden, I could see that a lot of love and hard work had been focused on it.”
“The owners are a lovely couple who have lived in their property for a number of years. Over the years, the gentleman has spent a great deal of time in his garden. He has always taken great pride in it. Although taking care of it was always quite a big commitment, he loved seeing the results of all his hard work.”
“As time moved on, the demands of the garden started to be an issue. However, it was a difficult matter as the owner really didn’t want to get out of the driving seat, as it were. The couple really needed some help but it had to be someone the customer could get along well and trust to do exactly what he wanted done with his garden. It would have been heartbreaking for someone to come in and ruin the fruits of all his labours.”
The arrangement
“I was very sensitive about the situation from the outset. As soon as I met the customers, I realised that the garden really meant a lot to them. Letting go was difficult and I needed to really listen to what they wanted from me.”
” We managed to come up with a solution which worked really well. The gentleman wanted to continue to mow the garden on his own and I would work alongside him doing all the rest, exactly to his specification. In effect, we got on really very well. We have now been doing that for a few years and we have got to know each other quite well. I always find myself looking forward to my time spent working together in the beautiful garden.”
The future
“Quite recently, my customers decided that it was time to bite the bullet and downsize. There is always the issue of leaving memories behind of a place where you have lived many years. In this case, it was even worse as there was the love for the garden to deal with as well.”
“My customers confided that, although it had to be the right thing to do, it was a real wrench for the gentleman to have to leave his cherished garden behind and he found it quite upsetting that he wouldn’t be able to see it any more. I was really quite affected by how upsetting the situation was for him”
Capturing the memories
” I found myself thinking about it quite a bit and then an idea came to me. In my previous life before Ed’s, I ran a professional photography business some years ago. We specialised in architectural and landscape photography and were one of the first companies to use drones in photography. We were acclaimed for our work and published in two magazines. I just knew that, given the mandate and the time to photograph it properly, I could do the garden justice and create some beautiful photographs to immortalise it for my client.”
” I was slightly nervous about suggesting it to my client’s wife. Not quite what you expect your gardener to suggest! She was really touched by the idea though and knew that her husband would just love the idea. She thought it would be even more special if we could keep it under wraps and just surprise him with the end result. A conspiracy was born!”
Garden view from a terrace
Tactics time!
“We plotted together that the customers would be away for a long weekend and I would have a window of opportunity to take my time and take all the photos I needed. I thoroughly enjoyed the task. It was even more enjoyable due to the fact that I suspected the final product would be much cherished.”
The grand finale
” Having done all the editing work necessary, I sent off my photos and had it made into a really beautiful book. Then we presented it to my customer and it was such an emotional moment. To say that the gentleman was completely overwhelmed by the gesture is an understatement. Even his wife underestimated just how much it would mean to him.”
‘Since then, I have had a number of calls from my customer, saying how appreciative he is and just how much the book means to him”
“It has been a wonderful experience for me as well. Going beyond the call of duty I suppose but the job satisfaction I got from being able to deliver that was just immense.”
Bob’s customer’s beautiful garden
If Bob can help you with any of your garden needs in the Horsham area, please just give us a call…
The colours of autumn are certainly beautiful and the mild weather makes it a lovely time of year to be outdoors…
…however, the stunning season doesn’t come without its own set of garden challenges.
Autumn leaves soon lose their allure when they fall down and start decomposing on the lawn!
Here at Ed’s we are more than happy to help you with all the garden challenges the season throws your way. Just as we are happy to deal with the smallest lawns, we are equally happy to turn our hand to small-scale leave clearances. Just because it’s autumn doesn’t mean your garden shouldn’t still look great.
Haydn, our Ed’s Operator in Southbourne says, ” I actually really enjoy the tidy up jobs we get at this time of year. We have all the right equipment to go in and give gardens that well-tended look, which is so nice to see in any season. It’s really satisfying. There’s definitely that feeling of ‘blowing away the cobwebs’ when you are doing that kind of garden work.”
So why not get us round and let us restore your garden to its former glory…while you just concentrate on the more fun aspects of the season.
Our Ed’s Operators are really enjoying the lovely Indian summer weather we are having at the moment. After the summer drought – and the toll it took on our gardens – it’s great to see green grass that is actually growing again.
We are so delighted to have our stripes back! Dave (our Ed’s Operator in Andover) is the proud provider of these ones…
It’s not all about the lawns though. Everything is growing like crazy now that we have had some rain and the sun is still shining.
Here’s a great example of some hedges Dave has been busy with too. They are rather lovely, even if we do say so ourselves
…And this one is so impressive that it has someone living in it!
In the words of one of our Operators, Now is a really rewarding time of year for a gardener. The weather is lovely but not too hot and the late summer growth spurt gives us a lot of opportunity to make gardens look great again. The transformations are amazing. The work is varied and there’s always lots to get on with.”
And who better to help you than Ed’s. Please get in touch to discuss any of your gardening needs.
Dave, who runs his Ed’s business in Andover, has taken his ‘green fingers’ one step further recently.
Dave has been working his magic on this customer’s fence. See for yourself how good it looks close up …
Dave says “Work-wise it’s been quite an unusual summer this year. We are finding that the extremely hot weather has been taking its toll on lawns. Not much can grow in such temperatures. As a result, we have been mowing less than usual. However, this has given us the opportunity to get on with other garden jobs. That’s a bonus for us, as in high summer it is often difficult to find the time for other work.”
“I really do enjoy all aspects of gardening work. I was only too happy to oblige when this customer asked about having their fence painted. And choosing the colour was easy, GREEN of course! I really enjoyed the job and the customer was delighted with the end result.”
“So the moral of the story is, if you haven’t been seeing enough green in your garden lately, we can just paint it for you! Joking aside though, we are only too happy to deliver whatever services our customers require to make their gardens look as good as they possibly can.”
If you have any gardening needs, please do get in touch with Dave. He would be delighted to work with you…
This is a really busy time of year for an Ed’s Garden Operator. With the milder weather we’ve been having, the grass is still growing. This means that there is still mowing to be done. However, the challenges of Autumn (lots of clearing leaves!) and getting all our lovely customers’ gardens in shape for the winter ahead are there too.
We’re not complaining though. We love it. Especially when the weather is kind, with bright, crisp Autumn days.
With limited daylight hours, our Garden Operators can do with a bit of help to get on top of their workloads. Indeed, some of their own canine apprentices have been providing an extra set of paws to get the job done.
As everyone knows, we love reviewing performance at Ed’s so we just had to ask our guys how the new recruits are measuring up…
Baloo’s Review!
This is Baloo, a lovely and loyal German Shepherd. She has recently started helping Bob, our Garden Operator in Horsham, to deliver his gardening services.
Bob says, “Well, I’m probably a little bit biased as I’m very fond of Baloo. However, she is really getting to grips with the challenges of being a sidekick . Nothing is too much trouble for her and she is very versatile in helping out with whatever I need. She is just great at multi-tasking.”
“Whether it be guarding the van or helping me uproot a somewhat stubborn tree, she is on it. Her focus is amazing and even a rogue squirrel in a garden won’t distract her from the task in hand. However, I can see it takes every ounce of her willpower to ignore them! What can I say apart from I’m really lucky to have her on board. If she can keep her current level of motivation, she will go very far indeed!”
Monty’s moment of truth!
Another recent recruit is a rather dashing Hungarian Vizsla called Monty. He lives with Stuart, our Ed’s Garden Operator in rural Norfolk. Clearly a handsome and delightful chap but we asked Stuart if he could sum up how Monty is cutting the mustard.
Looking thoughtful, Stuart says “ Well, it all started off brilliantly in the summer when Monty was very keen to spring out of bed and get to work. Sadly, since the cooler days have kicked in, it has all changed. Monty does a quick weather check before he decides whether he is going to grace us with his company or just stay at home snuggling beside the Aga. It really isn’t good enough.”
“Monty is still a very young fellow but I feel that his current commitment level could be better. I am out in all weathers but Monty…well, he just doesn’t seem to be made of the same stuff. In all honesty, he seems to be a bit of a fair weather gardener.”
“If only he could get his work ethic right, he would go far in this business. His interpersonal skills are second to none and everyone who meets him tends to think he is wonderful. It’s not fair really. I toil away, day in, day out, without as much as a grumble and yet Monty is always the one who wins the popularity vote hands down with my customers!”
