THE LANDSCAPING SOLUTIONS BLOG
Welcome to our Blog. Inspiration, updates and industry trends from the team at Landscaping Solutions.
LANDSCAPING SOLUTIONS - WHAT WE’RE DOING FOR YOU AND OUR STAFF DURING THE CORONAVIRUS OUTBREAK
At Landscaping Solutions we’d like to assure you of the measures we have put in place to protect our clients and our staff during the Covid-19 outbreak.
“Landscaping and building work is still permitted, and obviously staff are unable to work from home, so our policy is to continue with business as usual but working closely to the following guidelines,” says Ben West.
- We are avoiding all close contact with our clients and their property.
- Our staff are working no closer than 2 metres from their fellow workmates.
- Staff travel to work independently and by their own means, such as by private vehicle or bicycle.
- Staff displaying flu/cold symptoms are asked to self-isolate for a minimum of 14 days.
- We will respectfully not be accepting drinks or refreshments at this time.
- We will not be entering a client’s home to use any facilities.
- Staff carry hand-sanitising wipes and gels to use when in contact with shared tools or public surfaces.
- Meetings are held outside, keeping the recommended distance of 2 metres apart, or via telephone or an online service, such as Skype, of your choice.
- All correspondence, photographs, information, health and safety forms created electronically and emailed to clients.
- We encourage payment by electronic means
Garden Maintenance
If you’re one of our regular maintenance clients, you’ll already have received an email outlining the procedures we have in place to protect you and our staff. If you’re worried about any aspect at all, please give us a ring or email us and we’ll talk it through with you. We will, in any case, be in contact before our arrival at your home.
Garden Landscaping
We work with a number of award-winning garden designers in Surrey and South West London and now is an excellent time for your clients to think about what changes would allow them to enjoy their garden all the more.
If you’re a homeowner, this period of enforced staying at home is an opportunity to really appreciate the garden and consider those changes you’ve wanted to make for so long.
We’re happy to advise over the phone or on a site visit (adhering to our new modus operandi outlined above), whether you would prefer to defer work to a later date or get a beautiful new garden to enjoy before the arrival of full summer.
Contact Ben to discuss.
HOW TO FIND THE BEST GARDEN MAINTENANCE COMPANY
A properly maintained garden brings new joy in being outdoors, gives new life to your property, and removes the worry at not keeping on top of things.
Garden built and maintained by Landscaping Solutions
Finding a garden maintenance company to suit you, though, can create its own headache. Based in Surrey and South West London, we at Landscaping Solutions have come to understand what our clients value most. With this knowledge, we’ve put together a list of questions for you to ask garden services providers, so that you can more easily find the one that matches your needs.
How experienced are you?
The best garden maintenance, which lets you relax in the knowledge that every aspect of your outside space is being cared for, is not about “mowing and blowing” or just providing weeding services.
Too often home-owners find their shrubs trimmed into an amorphous blob, or an array of identical lollipops. Neat, but hardly allowing the personality of your garden to shine.
It’s an approach which often betrays a lack of experience. To bring out the best in a garden requires people who have built up a bank of knowledge and have plenty of experience at the sharp end of garden maintenance.
Extensive knowledge of perennials, shrubs, trees and annuals, an understanding of clever underplanting, layering and seasonal colour ensure that over the year your garden gains in character and interest, becoming the best fit for your lifestyle and how you want to enjoy it.
Garden built and maintained by Landscaping Solutions
Are you based locally?
This might seem an odd question to throw in, but the more engaged a company is in your locality and the longer they’ve been in operation, the more they’ve come to understand local conditions - what grows well in one area compared with another, how soil conditions vary, slight differences in weather patterns. Employ a company based at some distance from your location and it could make the wrong sort of difference to the success of your garden maintenance programme.
How can I trust that you’re as good as you say you are?
Some people can talk up a storm, but it helps to have proof.
Membership of a professional organisation is an indicator of a company with high standards. There are a number of organisations to look out for; the British Association of Landscape Industries (BALI) is one which only permits members who maintain necessary standards, carries out inspections, and demands members carry public liability insurance.
You can’t beat an actual example, though.
So, now is a good time to ask if your prospective garden services company can point you to any gardens locally that they look after.
Can you work the way I want you to?
This is an interesting one, and it’s worth thinking about what you want from a garden maintenance company before beginning your search. You are, after all, looking for a long-term relationship with someone who’s happy to work with you in the way that suits you.
This might mean that you just want to come home to an attractive garden in good condition where you can entertain and relax without ever having to think about details. You might have planting plans that you’d like to implement but can’t do yourself, or want to increase the wildlife-friendly elements of your garden. You might like to be fully involved, with regular updates on work being carried out, and regular discussions about the garden’s development and the particular plants we recommend incorporating and features you’d like added.
The response and degree of enthusiasm from a prospective company to an explanation of your preferred methods will help you gauge how suited it is to your way of life.
About Landscaping Solutions’ Garden Maintenance Service
Ben West established Landscaping Solutions in 2005, with sixteen years’ experience of landscaping and horticulture under his belt. With our staff of experienced landscapers, Landscaping Solutions contains a deep well of knowledge and skills which will breathe new life into your garden.
Garden built and maintained by Landscaping Solutions in Barnes, South West London
We are also full members of the British Association of Landscape Industries (BALI) and, in addition to our garden maintenance work, collaborate with leading garden designers to build award-winning garden designs.
Working with you
We’re happy to work in the way that suits you best, from having the most general instruction to keep the garden looking good (we’ll make sure we know exactly what this means to you first) through to having a regular meeting with you to discuss what you’d like done next.
We take enormous pleasure in working with garden owners to maintain their garden to the highest standard and, if desired, to help develop it. With extensive knowledge of perennials, annuals, shrubs, trees and annuals, we’ll plant and prune with an eye to the coming seasons as well making your garden look its best in the immediate present.
We can help you develop your garden over time with your children or grandchildren in mind, adding age-appropriate features as they grow, helping you to connect them to Nature.
Seasonal tasks are not restricted to plants and lawns, unless you want them to be. We will also carry out ongoing garden maintenance on hard landscaping, decking and fences, including repairs and painting.
We’re upfront about what we can’t do, so if you ever need a large tree cut down, for example, we’ll direct you to a qualified tree surgeon.
Working with Nature
With Nature much in the spotlight these days, and climate change, pesticides, diminishing insect populations and habitat destruction frequently in the news, it’s reassuring to know that small differences can make a difference. At Landscaping Solutions we have the knowledge to help you make your garden as Nature-Friendly as possible while suiting your lifestyle and garden layout.
Garden built and maintained by Landscaping Solutions
What Landscaping Solutions offers
What we offer is a custom garden maintenance service, tailored to your garden, your pocket and the way you want us to work. We seek to enjoy a good long-term relationship every bit as much as you want to find someone you’re happy with for a long time to come.
All we ask is that you have a garden with enough work to occupy at least one gardener for one full day. That could be a medium-sized but intensively planted garden with several features, or a large, simple spread with lots of ground to cover. We’re happy to come and advise.
Where to find us
Landscaping Solutions offers garden services in Surrey and South West London, particularly the TW, SW, GU and KT postcodes. Our radius includes Molesey, Esher, East Horsley, Cobham, Weybridge, Kingswood, Kingston and Richmond.
For more information and an informal chat about our garden maintenance service, contact Ben West on 0208 241 2402, or email info@landscapingsolutionsltd.co.uk to ask us to give you a call.
BATTERY POWERED GARDEN TOOLS
With springtime well and truly upon us, many Brits are already enjoying our gardens and open spaces. Maintaining lawns, hedges and borders can be a therapeutic pastime to some and an unwelcome chore to others, but having the right tool can make the difference.
For domestic and professional gardeners, the solution for large-scale garden maintenance has typically been to invest in garden machinery. The powerful petrol engines on these machines would enable the user to get much more work done than manual cutting tools, but they do have their disadvantages. Factors that some users find troublesome include levels of noise and emissions, plus the cost of fuel.
Recent developments in battery technology have reached a point where battery powered garden tools are comparable in performance and price to their fuelled counterparts. Chainsaws, trimmers and blowers powered by battery are quieter and cleaner than petrol models.
Early battery-powered garden gadgets would be let down by long charging times and short operating times. For professional users this would mean too much downtime leading to a loss of earnings unless they invested in spare batteries and chargers. The power delivered by these batteries would also be significantly less than a traditional engine, so it just wouldn’t be worth using for most applications.
In contrast, today’s lithium-ion technology delivers power and efficiency with quick charging and long life. With less moving parts than motor-driven machines, a battery-powered device also offers lower levels of vibration. This further enhances user comfort.
Another battery-powered innovation in recent years has been the robotic lawn mower. Far from being a showy gimmick, these highly efficient machines cut to a very high quality and virtually eliminate the need for man power. Husqvarna’s Automower range can cover lawns of all sizes, and once the machine has been set up, it can operate autonomously and return itself to base for charging.
The City of Edinburgh Council recently trialled Automowers in a cemetery, a school and public park, and noted the remarkable standards of quality and efficiency. With such a small storage footprint and low operating costs, the robotic mowers ticked all the boxes. Rather than rendering members of staff redundant it enabled them to focus on other areas of maintenance, thus improving productivity and saving the council time and money.
Robotic mowers are increasingly being perceived as viable alternatives to riders and pedestrian mowers because of their versatility, efficiency and connectivity. Mapping out the area of operation is done by installing the boundary and guide wires, and some Husqvarna models also have GPS connectivity via their Automower Connect app.
The latest development for Husqvarna Automowers is integration with Amazon Alexa. From September, the 315X, 430X and 450X models of Automower will be able to be controlled using a command in Alexa, giving you even more control over your mowing.
So the landscape of battery powered garden gadgets has moved quickly in recent years, and it might mean the end for fuel-driven machines. Whilst vehicles and construction equipment are still relying on petrol and diesel to be able to compete on value and performance, the market for battery powered garden tools is already taking shape.
BATTLING URBAN AIR POLLUTION: THE HUMBLE HEDGE
We know that maintaining a garden hedge can sometimes feel like a never ending battle, it’s one of the reasons we offer a long-term garden maintenance service.
However, a paper published recently in the journal ‘Atmospheric Environment’ suggests it might be worth the battle after all.
Your unassuming garden hedge could in fact be the unsung hero of your garden, trapping toxins and protecting you from harmful pollutants.
Lead author of the paper Prof Prashant Kumar and his international team of researchers have found that the majority of hedges serve as a highly effective natural filter for toxic air pollution, due in part to their short size and tight-knit foliage.
The study has found that while tall trees are good at absorbing pollution in wide open areas, hedges are in fact far more effective at trapping harmful pollutants at exhaust pipe level in our towns and cities.
The research comes after the level of toxic air in London hit an all time high back in January of this year. Only six days into the New Year and a number of boroughs within London had exceeded their EU pollution limit for the entire twelve months. Alarmingly air pollution in these areas hit such high densities that primary schools were forced to restrict the time children spent outdoors. These events culminated in the city being placed on the highest black alert for pollution.
Understandably Professor Prashant Kumar, who led the study, is now urging local councils to consider populating our busy pavements and streets with hedges. He advises that wherever the pavements are wide enough to accommodate, councils should try to plant low hedges between pedestrians and the main road allowing damaging particles to be absorbed before they disperse into the air.
Its interesting to note that previous studies have also gone along way to back up these findings. A study carried out in Guildford, Surrey found that planting hedges along a busy main road cut toxic fumes by more than a third.
Whilst Prof. Kumar’s study focused on hedges it is important to remember that that trees also play a vital part in battling pollution in our ever expanding towns and cities. The paper actually suggests many more trees should also be planted as part of a well planned, targeted planting campaign.
Professor Prashant Kumar admits that there are no hard and fast rules about the best planting for any given area rather that this will depend upon local conditions and circumstances, with each planting campaign tailored to meet a particular areas requirements.
His team are currently carrying out further tests to ascertain which species of hedge proves to be the most pollution absorbent. For the time being he advices authorities should plant hedges with the greatest leaf surface area.
As subject matter close to our hearts, we’ve covered a number of environmental issues over the past months. If you have found this article interesting you may also enjoy some of our previous articles - Urban Forests And Why We Need Them, Bees In Crisis and Front Gardens On The Decline.