Making the most of your garden this summer

I hope the spring sunshine has inspired you to get outside into the garden. It's a busy time of year, putting plans into place ready to make the most of the outdoors this summer.

Think about how you wish to use your garden. Do you plan on entertaining? Do you have young children and need a play area? Or do you have pets that need to be contained within the garden? Also think about how much time do you have to dedicate to maintaining the area? Even 'low maintenance' gardens need looking after to keep them looking top notch. 

We have noticed an increase in demand for decking over the last twelve months. It is great in that it offers such a versatile space and also enables use of previously inaccessible or unused areas. It's great for the table and chairs, BBQ's and play houses. We recommend that decking is cleaned and oiled every year in order to keep it looking fab. 

Here's a few of the projects we have undertaken within the last year...

Thanks very much for taking a look around, if you need any help or advice, give us a call.

Think about the Bees

Since the last post on this blog, we've been working hard on running things here. Still lots of planning and ideas flying around, arranging advertising, social networking, sourcing someone to sign write our van and making improvements to our blog!

I hope you like the changes, let me know what you think. Hopefully, the style will fit better to link in with our website. That's the idea anyway!

Luckily, we've had some great quotes to do this month. Which is different to this time last year since we had so much snow back then, work was very slow for us. But 2014 is looking up! Rich has started a job recently which will take a few weeks. It consists of removing hedging, replacing it all with a close board fence and building a deck. Be sure to follow us to see the results. I love to see the before and after photos! Other work we have on includes a few small fences, gates, decking and of course our garden maintenance. 

It seems spring is in the air. I was reading an article in the guardian on how our mild winter has brought on signs of spring. Apparently spring has moved forward by up to 12 days in the last quarter of a century. This may sound good at first but if we do get snow later, this could be bad news for plants that have started to flower early. 

Either way, you can do your bit for nature. You can feed the birds, have nest boxes for both birds and bugs and of course get into gardening. I found a great little product called 'Seedball', wildflower seeds in a tiny compact mini ecosystem ball - easy to do. You can read more about this on their website: www.seedball.co.uk I'm going to be ordering mine and we'll see what our customers think too. A garden full of flowers is not only pretty and relaxing, it provides food for our bees. 

If you want to find out more about gardening for bees follow this link to Bumblebee conservation: http://bumblebeeconservation.org/get-involved/gardening-for-bees/

That's it from me today! I'm off now to play with my little girl. The latest game consists of having a Doctors check up. Then she tells me i have talking marshmallows in my ears which need removing! Oh and the diagnosis is 'Battystingyflowerisis'! Whatever will she come up with next? I should write a book about her funny little saying.

Have a great week and thanks for reading x

Halloween and Hedgehogs!

Wow, October! The month of golden brown, cosy nights and Halloween. Now that autumn is upon us, our garden maintenance consists of a lot of tidying and clearing of leaves. If possible we recommend giving up a small inconspicuous area of your garden to pile them up. Hedgehogs, frogs and toads love it and you can mix them (the leaves that is) with some compost in twelve months or so to create a leaf mold, to add valuable nutrients to your garden. Or you could simply spread the leaves under shrubs as a mulch, the worms will get to work on improving your soil.

Hedgehogs will begin hibernating soon, usually in mid November until March or April. I'm sure we will come across a few whilst we're at work and we'll have to take care using the strimmer, especially whilst working near hedgerows.

We are going to be making some hedgehog houses for our customers shortly, we are calling them 'Hog Cabins'! I've found a few cute designs on Pinterest. Maybe you could have a go yourself?



As far as frogs and toads go they often hibernate in leaves or log piles, so look out for these too.

We have had a busy few months since the last blog. We've been looking after our maintenance gardens, hedge cutting, fencing, decking and landscaping a few areas. We've been working on getting to grips with various social networking platforms too! And we hope to be launching our new website very soon.


 There is still plenty of time for cutting and pruning and tidying back all that summer garden growth. So get your gloves on and get out there, enjoy the fresh air! And don't forget your pumpkins! I can't wait to get carving! 

Time for a staycation

It has been a busy couple of weeks. We've completed projects such as fencing, a path (in Bettws, Newport), landscaping and a bit of fencing (in Llanyravon, Cwmbran) and hedge cutting in Pontypool (where we saved a swift) as well as keeping our regular customers gardens neat and tidy. It has been hard going at times in the heat, especially when we're working in a 'sun trap'. But we’ve managed it!

We've had a healthy increase in calls for quotes, so this should help towards keeping us busy for the rest of the summer. But if you're interested in having some work done give us a ring, long hours are part and parcel of this line of work.

For those of you staying in Britain for the summer holidays, good on you! We have beautiful countryside and beaches to enjoy. We had a day out at the Wales National Air Show in Swansea recently, it was amazing to watch the red arrows, the RAF are a crazy bunch! This year we expect an increase in the number of people enjoying their own back gardens so make the most of your outdoor space. We are available to chat to you about ideas and solutions for you. This could include arranging a suitable area for the kid’s paddling pool, seating areas, play areas or just generally making better use of the space you have no matter how big or small.

We've also been in contact with City Wildlife again recently. We found a swift being tortured by a cat, so thanks to them the swift is now in safe hands.

This week’s tip is simply a reminder for watering. Please wait until it is shady to avoid scorching. There is no threat of a hose pipe ban as our water levels are good due to the wet year we had last year. Water everything daily to keep your plants healthy, this will help to limit the effects of pests and diseases as your plants will be under less stress - remember the grass too!

My favourites this week are the 'Agapanthus', 'Osteospermum' and 'Sweet peas' what's yours?

Thanks for reading, you can like us on facebook or follow us on Twitter to see what else we've been up to.

It’s a heat wave!

Wow, summer heat wave! I love a long day outside, when your skin gets a chance to soak up all that sunshine; I hope you are all enjoying it as much as we are. Get a good dose of vitamin D whilst you have the chance I say!

As far as business is concerned, it seems we can add plant sitting to our list of services. It is for the parents, but it still counts right? We must have about twenty pots to look after, including a range of herbs, strawberries, acers and a load of roses. They’ve all moved in for a few weeks. We’ve had to shuffle things around a bit as it’s a bit crowded! But all the watering and feeding is paying off, with plenty of strawberries to pick each morning. I’m lucky if I get one though as Summer seems to find all the nice red ones and has a constant strawberry moustache on her face! In a couple of week’s time, we’ll transport everything to the new house and sort out planting some of it in the ground.

This week has been a good week for garden maintenance and Richard has done a fair bit of hedge cutting, which I think he really loves. And it gives the arms and upper body a good workout too! His tips are; practice and keep your blades sharp. I’m sure there must be more to it than that, but he’s keeping his secrets to himself, charming!

We’ve dug up a good batch of potatoes today. Our three year old was very excited, digging around in the earth as if she was looking for hidden treasure. Growing potatoes is easy, why not give it a go. You don’t need a lot of space as you can always use pots or a grow bag. You still have time to grow some potatoes this year, get stuck in and they’ll be ready by the end of September for you. Just earth them up and give them plenty of water and sunlight.

The tip for this week is to remember to water your lawn during dry weather. Once the sun has gone, whilst watering any plants you may have, bear a thought for the grass. It will appreciate a drink and will remain green for you. At this time of year it’s good to throw down some seed to thicken things up. Especially if you have a fair bit of traffic, or pets on your lawn. We use a patch repair kit with a neutraliser as we have a bunch of dogs, so our lawn needs all the help it can get!

Finally, my favourite that has come into flower this week in my garden is the mock orange, a sweet scented double bloom, I love it. Thanks for reading, have a great week and don’t forget you can also follow us on Facebook and twitter.

Summer has just begun...

The northern hemisphere celebrated the longest day of the year this week on 21^st June, here in the UK. We’ve all seen the pictures of the celebrations at Stonehenge! And yes, technically it’s true that from now on, our day light hours will be getting shorter. I have heard some people making negative comments about this and looking on the grim side. So I just want to say, stay positive peeps! Summer has only just begun.

This week has been filled with more fencing, garden maintenance and quotes to do! The fence job that Richard did this week included cutting down a number of conifers at the back of the garden, disposing of all the greens waste, and replacing them with a six foot high feather edge fence and kickboard. Our customers were lovely people and were very happy with the job.  Maintenance was thirsty work on Wednesday, since we had a really hot day that probably wasn’t THAT hot, we’re just not used to it! And the rest of the week was business as usual.

One thing that was noted this week, was there seem to be a few more bees about the place, which is great news. So, if you don’t have many flowers in your garden, maybe you could consider doing some planting this weekend? You don’t need to have huge borders full of plants and flowers, although that would be nice. Even just a few pots here and there, after all the bees need pollen and nectar to survive and at the same time you can brighten up your home.

Here are some planting tips:

Always make sure your pot has holes in the bottom, if it hasn’t, make some to avoid water-logging

Place a layer of stones in the bottom of the pot to help with drainage

Choose a suitable compost for your plant, often a multi-purpose compost will do

Now, loosen the roots of your plant, place it in your pot and fill with compost

Water well and enjoy

Of course if you do want that border full of beautiful flowers, you could always call us! Have a great weekend everyone and thanks for reading.

Don’t forget you can find us on facebook or follow us on Twitter