Well, I’m about ready to get out my hip boots. This has got to be the rainiest season I think I’ve seen in my 41 years in this business. It’s amazing how green everything is for August. That, and the fact that we’ve just come out of a 5 day heat wave. Normally everything would be brown about now, and we’d be reminding all of our clients to water their lawns and shrubs.

With the economy being in the state it’s in, you’d think that we would be slow with work. Au contraire, friends. This may be one of our busiest seasons on record. We’ve managed to get our weekly lawn cuttings done on schedule, (more or less), and get through most of our accumulated list of landscaping work. The rains have helped us by watering plantings that some clients tend to forget, and with some lost rain days, kept us working during normally seasonally slow times. I suppose that the economic forecasters are correct when they say that the economy is starting to turn around. We anticipate a continued trend in clients spending their money closer to home, and investing in the appearance of their properties.

Speaking of appearances, if your home is 30+ years old, then so is your landscaping. If there have been times when you may have put off some basic maintenance of your landscaping, then chances are that you have also taken years off the possible useful life of your plants. Useful life? Yes, as with most things, even landscape plants have a useful life. Over time, they become overgrown or unsightly, and eventually need to be replaced. Simply cutting them back won’t always work.

Is your landscape looking a bit sad? Plants overgrown, bare in spots, brown, or just plain ugly?
Consider a landscape renovation. Call us for a consultation. You may be pleasantly surprised with what we have to say. September and October are GREAT times for planting.

As I said before, we’ve been busy, so the sooner you call, the faster we can schedule you.

Enjoy what’s left of y0ur Summer!!

Well, the rain has finally stopped. And now we have the great task of catching up with the backlog of work all the rain created. Not that I’m complaining. In this economy, I can’t imagine anyone complaining about having work. We now have some landscape installations, renovations, shrub trimming, and tree removal to get on with.

That doesn’t mean we can’t do YOUR project as well. July and August, while usually hot and dry, are still good months for planting. Call us for an estimate for that project you’ve been avoiding. We’d love to do it.

Well, the calendar tells me it’s June. So why does it seem like April? We’ve already had the May flowers. But it keeps on raining.

My apologies to anyone who has been waiting for us to work on a project for them. With 130 weekly lawn customers, our cutting takes a priority. We must get those lawns cut, over and above anything else we do. We cut 3-1/2 days a week, and the rest of the time is allotted for our other projects. When it rains, we lose our flexibility to get it all done.

We are keeping our fingers crossed that the rains will ‘normalize’. Evening rains would be the best. We could get so much accomplished with 6 straight dry days.

So we ask you, our clients, to be patient. Only Mother Nature knows when this strange rainy pattern will end. We are working our way through our list as fast as possible. It’s a first come, first served basis. It’s the fairest way possible to make everyone happy. We will eventually get it all done.

April sure seems to have gone quickly. First,lots of rain, then a rare Spring heat wave. That equals….. SUPER GRASS! The lawns are going berserk!! Over 6 inches of growth in a week.

Let me tell you why I hate Tru-Green, Scott’s, Lawn Doctor, and all the other big name lawn application companies. All they care about is making the lawn green and weed-free. And they do it with WAY too much nitrogen. What do they care? They don’t have to cut the grass. We do. Or you do. Either way, nitrogen is cheap to apply, and good for their bottom line. There are other ways to grow green grass without all the top growth. But that costs them more money. And if you’re one of those folks who bags their clippings, then even worse. More work for you, and bad for the environment. All that wasted natural material going into the landfill.

At least we manage to mulch the clippings back into the lawn with our equipment. But it takes SO much more time. If only these guys would think a little bit more about their customers. Green AND slow growing. It really IS possible. WE do it! Why can’t they?

And I will continue to hate these guys until they change their EVIL, top-growth producing ways!!

I currently use a lawn app service for some of my treatments. He’s a former lawn mower. And he thinks like I do! Together, we’ve decided to have the best of both worlds. Green, and WITHOUT 6 inches of growth in 1 week!! It CAN be done. Why can’t the big guys do it??

On top of it all, then these guys have the NERVE to always blame their shortcomings on the LAWN guy! “Oh, his blades are dull”. Well, guess what? I change them, freshly sharpened EVERY DAY. Know why they get dull? ‘Cause we’re fighting through the ecologically unsound mess you’ve created, you dumb, greedy, nitrogen mongers!!

Want to go greener? That’s the new buzzword these days. Then tell your lawn treatment company to back off the nitrogen!!! It’s better for your lawn, it’s better for the groundwater, it’s overall better for the environment. Do it today. We’ll all be glad you did.

Well, Spring is here. You can feel it in the air, and as a landscaper, I can feel it in my bones. While happy to be at work, the daily ritual of ibuprofen and icepacks can be a bit much. Still better than sitting at home all winter.

I walked thru the nursery in the rain yesterday. Tho damp, with water dripping from my cap, it was still a beautiful sight. Here, en masse, all these living, colorful plants, full of different textures. I just wanted to start arranging them as if in planting beds. The combinations were endless.

I get excited when the nurseries restock. All winter long, they are vacant, dreary places. Stretches of nothing where, but a few months prior, had stood row upon row of plants. And now, like rows of soldiers awaiting a command, they stand waiting. Waiting for new homes. Feel like adopting?

These plants, shrubs, and trees want to live with you. Wouldn’t you like to give them a good home? They don’t need to be walked, and rarely fed. Just a little water, and some occasional admiration of their beauty.

It’s time to renew your gardens. Call me. We can design a new look for your property. Out with the old, in with the new. Or perhaps, just some new plants to keep the old ones company.

Don’t worry about my back, I’ll get over it. I can take the pain. I’d much rather be digging in the dirt, planting new shrubs and trees at your home.

It’s an exciting time! As a landscaper, I can never wait until I get that shovel into the soil for the first time in the season. The first load of mulch was dropped off at our shop today, and the aroma, that deep, earthy smell, was just incredible!

The phones are ringing, despite our bad economy. People apparently still have funds, they’re just holding on to them a little tighter. But I’m finding that people are optimistic, and that they are willing to spend a few bucks to keep their properties looking nice.

So, are YOU ready for the Spring? Are there still leaves lying on the lawn and in the beds? Never got around to mulching last year? Well, what are you waiting for?

We start back to work Monday, March 16. While our work list is growing, there’s always room for more. Call us NOW. The sooner, the better.

Some of my clients have begun to get Spring fever already. The phone has come to life, surprising for February. And there are many things you can do NOW, in anticipation of Spring. March 20th is the first day of Spring this year.

• Planning – come up with an overview of what needs to be accomplished in the landscape this season. Could be maintenance, renovations, or an entirely new design.
• Lawn preparations – get ready early with overseeding, or application of pre-emergent crabgrass treatments (P.S., you can’t do both at the same time)
• Spring cleanup – this is self -explanatory. Clean up last years’ leaves, dead grass, and branches that have fallen over the Winter.

Of course, we can help you with ALL of the above. If you are considering new plantings, this is the time to discuss it with us. The nurseries are beginning to prepare for the new season, and will start to receive their new plants some time in March. We can offer early pricing, and possibly arrange some extra discounts for orders placed early. But don’t delay. We don’t know for sure how long we can entice our vendors to give us extra savings, but we can pass these savings on to you if you act NOW.

I don’t like to complain, but sometimes you really need to let off steam. I’d like to warn all my friends, colleagues, and competition of my HORRIBLE experiences with YellowPages.com.

These folks promised me the world. New business, more calls than I could handle, etc. Guess what I got? Zip, zilch, zero, nada. I would have been better off giving all that hard-earned money to charity, for all the good it did me.

I won’t name names, but my sales rep was non-existent from the time I signed the contract, until just after I called to cancel. Plus for all their promise, I couldn’t find my own website thru the search engines, no matter what I typed in for a search. Now, I may not be a computer expert, but neither are my clients. And I can certainly find things when I search on the Web.

I figured, if I can’t find me, neither can prospective clients.

The folks at YPC insisted that I was indeed receiving all the clicks I was paying for, and their reports backed up their claims. Folks, the proof is in the pudding. To me, Zero calls means Zero success. They did admit to a small problem, which they supposedly corrected, but still no new business. At least from them.

If I thought it would do me any good, I’d sue them. But that’s just throwing good money after bad.

Friends, there’s an old business adage that says, ” If you’re happy with someone’s work, you’ll tell 2 or 3 people. If you’re unhappy, you’ll tell 10.” Well I’m trying to reach as many people as possible to tell them “Save your money, don’t use YellowPages.com!!!”

Think I’m unhappy? Not as unhappy as YPC once this ball gets rolling. Pass this info on to those you know. Thanks for letting me vent.

Post Script 2/21/09 I’m now with an Internet service that has, in ONLY 2 WEEKS, done what YPC couldn’t do in a full year! My company shows up on almost EVERY search, that’s 9 out of 10 times, within my keyword parameters. Why couldn’t YOU do that, YPC??