Our Ed’s Garden Services Gardener, Bob, who runs his business in Horsham was very excited to take on a big challenging lawn transformation project last year. It was a difficult remit in challenging times. However, Bob’s results were outstanding and his customers were delighted.

We invited Bob to tell us about how he tackled the project.

The Background

” My customers bought their property a couple of years ago and its garden had been neglected for ten years or so. Their previous home had a beautiful manicured lawn. It was their dream to recreate that. However, it took an enormous leap of the imagination to believe that this garden could ever look like that.”

Taking Stock of the Gardener Challenge

“When I first discussed the project with my customers, the garden looked like nothing short of a disaster zone. Tree surgeons had removed a number of dead trees. The garden was full of stumps and a mess of uneven and boggy land. In short, the area was large, the site was in terrible condition and the customers had very high hopes. All in all, a very challenging project!”

“I think what gave me the confidence to take on such a daunting project was the attitude of the customers. When I talked about the different phases we would need to go through to reach their end result, they understood the scale and complexity. I could see that they grasped that it would not be a case of waving a magic wand. I got the clear impression that they had patience for me and my team to work towards the end result that they desperately wanted. Furthermore, I love a challenge and knew that it would take a lot of work but that we would get there. I really wanted to help them to achieve their dream.”

Making Plans

“I sat down with the customers and scoped out the project with them. We would clear the debris and get a mini digger in to level off the ground and tree stumps in the first phase. Then we would put down lots of topsoil in the next phase. Following that. we would lay approximately 750m2 of turf. Finally we would add copious amounts of TLC to coax it to become that lush and stripy show lawn we all had in our heads.”

“And so I was given the mandate, had the motivation ….now my team and I just had to get on with it!”

Gardener Challenge – Off to a Flying Start

“My team and I got off to a brilliant start with the project. We cleared…and built up an impressive log pile for my customer’s wood burner!

Then we got the mini-digger in and got down to some serious levelling.

We quickly moved into our next phase and laid more than ten tonnes topsoil.

Gardener Challenge – the Best Laid Plans

And then, abruptly, we were hampered by the COVID lockdown of last March. I can be quite self-critical but even I could see that there is no way we could have anticipated that risk to progress.”

“Whilst we could continue with garden services during the Lockdown, we had to make significant adjustments to how we worked. For example, I couldn’t work closely with my team so would have to do the work on my own. My customer was also happy to get involved whilst adhering to the lockdown rules. We could still make progress but it would be at a slower pace.”

Tenacious Progress

“I found it quite difficult to get turf in the first Lockdown as garden centres were closed. My strategy was to source what I could where and when I could and lay it piecemeal. I found that I could source 60m2 at a time and laid the lawn gradually. I realised that the lawn aftercare would be even more important to mitigate the risk of a patchy lawn.”

Foiled by Fungus

” I finished laying the full lawn. Some patchiness was inevitable at this stage but I knew exactly what to do to sort it out. However, I had not anticipated an emerging fungus issue. This was as a result of the decomposing tree stumps left behind by the tree surgeons. It was a bit of a setback but I addressed the issue swiftly and soon our goal was in sight again.”

Gardener Challenge Complete

” We were then challenged by the very dry spell late last spring. We were almost obsessive about our watering programme with the brand new lawn. However, our commitment paid off. Lo and behold, despite all the challenges, by the summertime we had an absolutely glorious green and stripy lawn!”

“My customers were ecstatic with the final result. I achieved my goal on what was already a difficult project but made much more challenging by external circumstances.”

“We are now in lawn maintenance mode. In this phase I have also been planting their borders which will make the garden even more stunning. I planted a whole range of colourful borders and can’t wait to see the plants bloom in springtime. I thoroughly enjoy continuously improving gardens, especially ones as lovely as this has become. “

We love gardens at Ed’s. We love our customers. And we also love challenges. Indeed, we thrive on them. It’s true that we love delighting our customers and we consistently go above and beyond for them. We offer a whole range of gardening services to meet all of your gardening needs. This includes tackling big turfing projects like this to much smaller maintenance tasks and we are enthusiastic about them all. We love to take the problem away so you can just enjoy your garden.

If we can help you with any of your gardening needs, please do get in touch.

Garden Services Folkestone – Meeting all your gardening needs

Garden Services Folkestone is one area where Ed’s Garden Services has a strong presence. Provision of garden services can vary greatly in nature of work. Of course, one factor is the changing seasons. However, another big factor is the fact that Ed’s gardeners do their absolute best to tailor their services to their loyal customers’ needs.

Garden Services Folkestone – Matthew May

Matthew has been an Ed’s gardener in Folkestone for almost ten years. During that time, Matthew has gained a great amount of gardening experience. He has also turned his hand to a very wide range of different types of gardening jobs. 

Garden Services Folkestone – Matthew’s impressive track record

Matthew is a modest chap but we are only too happy to sing his praises. Not only is Matthew an excellent gardener but he unfailingly shows strong commitment to great customer service. We may be a bit biased but the British franchise association aren’t.  Indeed, Matthew was a Finalist in their prestigious National Franchisee of the Year Award a few years ago.  This was in recognition of  his all-round business skills and commitment. A star indeed!

Garden Services Folkestone – Matthew’s reflections

We caught up with Matthew recently to talk about what is closest to his heart.  Providing excellent garden services in Folkestone, of course, but more precisely…

“I don’t  feel like I’ve been running my gardening business for ten years. That is because the work I do is so varied that I never get bored. I am very lucky to have some great customers who trust me to get (and keep) their gardens looking great. This gives me a lot of scope for creativity and resulting job satisfaction. I enjoy nothing better than surprising my customers with a truly excellent gardening job that surpasses their expectations by a long way”.

Is it all about the mowing?

“Of course I do a lot of mowing jobs. Sometimes I have been asked if this gets boring and the short answer is… Never! Every lawn is different and I take great pride in getting all my jobs just right. I do love my stripes as well – here is a photo of one of my lovely local lawns.”

Variety is the spice of life

“Clearly, it’s not all about mowing. My hedge cutting jobs feature strongly as well as big garden clearances and jet washing patios as well.  I really do anything my customers need to get their gardens looking as good as possible.”

“I do like to keep my fingers green – it’s gardener credibility to get some planting soil under the fingernails! Planting jobs can be fun and really creative.  It is important to discuss with my customer what they really want in terms of colour, texture and of course blooming period.”

Any big projects?

“Sometimes, my work involves managing a significant garden redesign. My customer was delighted with the end result in this one. I was really pleased with how it turned out too.”

“This is the “before” photo…”

“The ‘work in progress’ one…”

“And the finished article…”

“My golden rule – always, always discuss with the customer what they really want. I may sound like I am stating the obvious but it is all too easy to get caught up in your own transformation vision.  I take time to chat things through properly and give my customer time to mull things over in the process.”

“My life as a gardener is really fulfilling.  I love the scope of my job and really couldn’t imagine doing anything better.”

If Matthew can help you with any of your gardening needs, please do get in touch

Fencing Solutions by Stuart

Fencing is a great job for the cooler months. Stuart, our Ed’s gardener in Norfolk (North and West), along with his team, recently completed an excellent local fencing job.

The Fencing Challenge

Stuart‘s customer was a bit tired of the part hedge/part picket fence which they looked out onto at the front of their property. They really wanted a uniform look. Their goal was a high fence which would effectively screen the front of their property. They also wanted a solution which would look attractive.

The Fencing Solution

Stuart discussed the project with his customer and they agreed on a high-quality and very smart fencing solution.

The Fencing Project

Stuart had his brief in place and it was full steam ahead…The job was quite a challenging one for Stuart and his team but was less daunting when they broke it down into different stages:-

• Removing the old picket fence – this actually ran the whole breadth of the property but was hidden by the large laurel hedge;
• Removing the large laurel hedge – this was a big job as the hedge was tall, wide and mature;
• Stump grinding;
• Erecting the new fence.

The Great British Weather!

Stuart says “We had been hoping for some nice crisp late-autumn days. Such weather is perfect for a precision job like this. However, as luck would have it, ridiculously wet weather hit. Consequently, we took the decision to stop for a couple of days rather than risk compromising the end result due to the terrible weather conditions. Fence erection of this type is very precise work and it requires the right conditions to get it absolutely right.”

It was the right call. The weather improved a bit and the guys were able to work through some strong winds and heavy showers to crack the job. They finished the fence erection in ideal conditions on a beautiful morning. It felt a world away from the apocolyptic weather of just days before!

The End Result

A millimetre perfect run of superb quality double-sided fence panels. What a beauty!

Stuart says ” Jobs like these are challenging and can be a little nerve-racking. You are working with very heavy and expensive fence panels which need total precision to get optimal results and we don’t settle for anything less.” He added ” However, they are hugely satisfying jobs, there is nothing better than seeing a perfect fence at the end of the hard graft.”

Stuart’s customer was absolutely delighted with their brand new fence and thought it looked stunning. We have to agree!

If you have any fencing or general garden maintenance requirements in Norfolk (North and West), please do get it touch. Stuart would be delighted to help you.

Garden Services Bookham

Garden services Bookham required? Dan is your man!

The Background

Garden services Bookham? Look no more!

Experienced Ed’s Operator, Dan Bates, has been providing excellent gardening services in the Thames Ditton area for almost five years now. Although Dan has loved running his business in Thames Ditton, a change of family circumstances is now bringing him a new business focus. Why? Well, like many families, Dan and his family have recently moved out to Bookham. Consequently, Dan is looking to grow his business on his doorstep. Furthermore, he is really looking forward to the challenges that will bring him.

Therefore, Dan is developing his business in Bookham and surrounding areas including East Horsley, West Horsley and Clandon.

Garden Services Bookham -Dan’s Business

“Although we loved our life in Thames Ditton when our children were younger, we are now into the realms of different considerations. The children are growing all the time. Furthermore, in recent years we have added a dog into the mix! Consequently we definitely needed more space! Above all else, we are an outdoorsy family and we all love Bookham and the beautiful surrounding countryside to walk our dog in. We have now moved into our new house are all really excited about fitting into our new community. Also, I am really thrilled to have the opportunity to grow my business in a more rural setting.”

“I am providing a whole range of garden services as follows:-

• Lawn Mowing
• Turfing
• Power washing
• Garden tidy ups
• Garden clearances
• Fencing.”

Garden Services Bookham – Dan’s Priorities

” I have a lot of good experience to bring to my new customers. I take real pride in my work and I always focus on customer satisfaction. My reviews are testament to this. The way I see things is that I love a good job done. Above all, a job is only a really good one if the customer is delighted. That’s the real test'”

“However, I must confess, I really am very precise with how I like my lawns to look. This lawn is a very good example of some great stripes!”

“However, there is a lot more to garden services than just lawn mowing . Also, the demands of the garden change over the seasons. Certainly, that’s the beauty of my job – the changing seasons bring always mixes things up a bit and life is never boring. And I definitely enjoy taking on a whole range of different types of jobs. Also, I am happy to tackle big ones as well as small ones. As they say, variety is definitely the spice of life!”

Finally, if you think that Dan can help you with any of your gardening requirements, please do get in touch for a no-obligation estimate.

Lawn Mowing and other garden maintenance services …

David Ross would so much rather be lawn mowing than sitting in an office. David has just set up his own Ed’s business in Royal Tunbridge Wells. He tells us about his vision for his business…

My background…

“So how did I come to see my future in lawn mowing rather than Corporate life you may ask! My previous role was in Corporate sales but I have always had a real passion for gardening.  I am so excited to have the opportunity to focus on my love of the outdoors and doing practical gardening work. It is great to be able to earn a living doing something I really love.”

My training…

“I am now fully trained and all ready to go.  I havemy brand new Ed’s uniform and my vehicles smartly branded and I’m business-ready.  It is my view (and the Ed’s ethos) that it is really important to have professional kit and vehicles as well as being able to do a very good job. I want to look smart for my customers to complement delivering excellent work. As far as I am concerned, it is all part of the package.”

“I shall be providing a whole range of garden maintenance services. In addition to lawn mowing, I am fully trained in:-

• Hedge cutting
• Turfing
• Power washing
• Garden tidy ups
• Garden clearances 
• Fencing.”

“It is true that I have always done a lot of practical gardening jobs whenever I’ve had the opportunity. However, with Ed’s I’ve  had comprehensive on the job training to ensure that I am ready to provide excellent service right from the start.  I really liked that thoroughness about Ed’s when I was choosing the right franchise business for me.”

“My training has involved spending time with experienced Ed’s Operators to develop my knowledge and give me the right grounding for developing my business.  I knew I had the underlying skill set for this line of work. However, I’ve really honed that and now have full confidence to go out and deliver excellent gardening services.”

“I mowed this lawn on one of my training days.  I think the Ed’s Operator who took me out was really quite impressed. t’s true to say that I really  do love my stripes!”

My goals…

“My main goal is to focus on satisfying customers and go the extra mile for them.  I know that excellent customer service is key to building a really strong customer base.  My business will thrive if I can build a foundation of  loyal customers who come to me for repeat regular gardening services. That is the absolute key to a good, sustainable gardening business. “

“I am more than happy to help you with any of your garden maintenance requirements. Please do get in touch if you think I can help and I will be delighted to give you a free estimate.”

Lawn mowing meadows by day…

Lawn mowing is something that Pierre and Penny Krycler know a lot about! Pierre and Penny run their Ed’s gardening business in Camberley and their days involve a lot of cutting grass.  They really enjoy all their jobs but  were tickled pink with this recent job. They have been running their Ed’s business for over five years.  However,  this was the first time that they have been asked to mow a meadow!

Pierre says,” It’s really good fun when we get new jobs such as this one as they are quite different from our usual garden maintenance jobs.”

Penny said,” We had a really good time doing this job. It was a challenging one on account of the size of the job.  However, we always try our best to meet our customers’ needs and give each job our very best shot.  The customer was very happy with the end result.”

Pierre added, “Penny also had some fun taking photos of this job. In some of them, it’s case of ‘spot the gardener’ – me!

…. and cultivating vegetables in their spare time

Pierre and Penny’s passion for gardening spills over to their home life as well.  They are the first to admit that they have really caught the gardening bug since joining Ed’s.  They take a lot of pride in maintaining their own lovely cottage garden in their spare time.  Pierre and Penny are modest about it all but their vegetables are really quite something.  It is no surprise that they tend to take their local village show by storm! Penny says, “It’s really funny but when we started growing vegetables it was just experimental. However, we realised that we are pretty good at it and now we take it a lot more seriously!  You would think that, after a long day’s gardening, we would want to be couch potatoes. But no, we would rather be concentrating on the potatoes in the garden!”

Penny says “Our life sounds so quintessentially British –  mowing meadows by day and cultivating our own vegetables for village shows in the evenings. In truth, it really is quite idyllic and we wouldn’t choose any other life.”

If you think Pierre and Penny can help you with any of your garden maintenance needs, please do get in touch.

Lawn mowing in beautiful Norfolk

Gardening is what I enjoy, whatever the setting. However, this garden is something very special…

Lawn mowing is something that Stuart Thackeray is very good at. He runs his Ed’s business in rural Norfolk (North and West). Stuart recently shared with us a photo of one of his beautiful gardens. Stuart says ” This is a new garden that I’ve just added to my customer portolio. We’ve just mowed this very large lawn for the first time. The garden is a large woodland one in the most amazing of settings. The garden is truly stunning and a was a pleasure to be in.”

“Mowing this garden properly takes quite some time – two of us take more than two hours to get this result. However, who would complain about working hard in this beautiful environment! And just look at those stripes!”

“It is always so rewarding to see the results of your hard work and I must say I was very pleased to review the finished result here. It was a beautiful day as well and the birds were singing. I honestly don’t think you could dream up a more idyllic landscape.”

“We feel very privileged to be able to tend such wonderful gardens. However, no job is too big or small. Also, whilst we love mowing, we are always happy to help with a whole range of garden maintenance services. From mowing to hedges to jet-washing patios, turfing or fencing…Variety is the spice of life, as they say.”

Stuart joined Ed’s Garden Services in 2014 and started his business in New Malden in Surrey, having worked in London for many years. He loved running his garden maintenance business and enjoys providing excellent customer service but wanted to do it in a place he loved. Stuart had grown up in rural Norfolk and wanted to relocate back there to run his gardening business. He subsequently moved to Whissonsett, near Fakenham, to run his gardening business…. mission accomplished!

If you think Stuart and his team can help you with your garden’s needs, please do get in touch.

Bob’s Lawn Mowing  – first cut for a brand new lawn

Bob Dulieu, our Ed’s business owner in Horsham, is proud of all his lawn mowing jobs but this one is just a little bit extra-special.

Bob told us why he is so proud of this lawn mowing  job? “That’s because only a matter of months ago, this lovely lush lawn was just a rather scrappy piece of gravel. Hard to believe, isn’t it?”

From gravel to lawn mowing – the remit…

“We went to visit the customer to talk through exactly what they wanted. The customer really didn’t like the gravel bed and wanted something far more colourful.  They were keen to have new lawn laid but only if it could look really good. We were confident that we could deliver in this respect.”

And so, this January (less than four months ago), Bob and his team (including Baloo the dog, Bob’s quality control manager) started work on the garden makeover.

The sequence of events…

Bob followed the sequence of events as follows:-

• First of all, they dug out the  gravel bed.
• Next they added topsoil and loam
• Finally…. they carefully returfed the whole area.

The newly laid lawn…

Luckily, Baloo had been on site throughout to check that everything was being done to the highest standard! 

Bob was really pleased with the end result. But more importantly, what did the customer think. The customer was thrilled with the work carried out.  They couldn’t believe the transformation and were delighted that Bob’s team were able to make such a difference to their garden. They were very keen for Bob to follow up with the lawn maintenance going forward.

A happy stripy ending…

Bob’s just been back to complete the first mow. He said ” It feels great to see this lawn looking so good.  That’s because we have been responsible for every stage of it. If we hadn’t done the work to such a high standard, the end result could never have looked so good. As they say, the proof is in the pudding. I love my stripes and I think you’ll agree that these ones are the icing on the cake ‘”

The customer is even more delighted with the job now that they have seen the very end result.

And what’s Bob’s job now? “My job is to  keep everything looking just as fantastic going forward!…Baloo will keep me on track of course!”

 

Whether to keep pets in or nosy neighbours out, a good fence is a garden essential. Ed’s can help you with that, as our gardeners have helped these clients in the past…

Green fingers

Dave, who runs his Ed’s business in Andover, has taken his  ‘green fingers’ one step further recently, working his magic on this customer’s fence.

“Work-wise it’s been quite an unusual summer this year,” Dave said. “The extremely hot weather has been taking its toll on lawns. As a result, we have been mowing less than usual. However, this has given us the opportunity to get on with other garden jobs.”

“I really do enjoy all aspects of gardening work,” Dave tells us. “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.”

Brand new 

A new fence can make such a big difference, and this garden in Raynes Park looks all the better for it!

Featheredge fencing

Ed’s Garden Services gardener John put up a replacement fence for a customer after storm damage in Chorleywood.

Manpower

Putting up this fence in Bracknell required a team of four and an industrial rock breaker. The customer was delighted with the result.