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  jason fitzpatrick March 11, 2010 at 4:23pm

  Yes lm the same, not had one phone call from my advert. Had a couple of inquiries from my regular customers.
  There are 5 new gardeners advetizing in our local mag (comes out once a month) and they are before me so they mayby getting the phone calls, but l think its the weather as its still very cold
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  Lawncare-4u.co.uk March 11, 2010 at 8:54pm

  its a bit of everything i think.
  
  no new calls for me this fortnight at all............................
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  Dan Frazer Gardening March 12, 2010 at 7:17am

  I have been picking up a few regular jobs, clients seem to be thinking ahead about their gardens and want someone in place to maintain it properly. Few hedges, one-off tidy ups and lawn treatments.
  
  I think it's been ok up here north of Glasgow though. My daffodils have been in flower since early February!
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  chris nangle March 12, 2010 at 8:00am

  its a strange thing my phone has been dead ,until the last week a bit of sun and four orders come in
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  William McCombe March 13, 2010 at 11:41am

  I'm getting enough work to keep me ticking over with one employee, but I agree, business is slow. The weather has been better recently for working in so it would be good to get more enquiries. Edinburgh is near the coast so not as bad as gardeners and landscapers in the borders and highlands trying to make a living. There is still snow on the ground!
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  Patricia Fox MSGD March 15, 2010 at 11:23am

  umm, sorry to say but our phones & email have definately started ringing, however our rush normally starts quite early in january, and this year it didn't start happening until early feb, so we feel we are a month behind our normal flush of new enquiries. Having said that we have had the best start to the year we have ever had, and invoiced more in February than we have ever done in 6 years of trading. Interesting though i belong to a SGD Cluster Group, and several of the other garden designers in my group are finding it very slow. I think the name of the game is to step up your regular marketing activity and maybe try a few new ideas, i even found that just dropping some of my flyers in local florists (3 weeks ago) has already paid off with 1 new garden commission. Hope things pick up for you soon.
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  Richard Boyd March 15, 2010 at 7:07pm

  Spend across all sectors that we monitor is significantly down, which ties in with the double dip theory. It feels exactly like September 2008 did and the level of enquiries match exactly the same pattern.
  
  This country needs a change of government and whilst I hate to admit that I voted Labour last time (sick of the Conservative sleaze) if Labour get back in expect a very hard time for the UK over the next few years.
  
  The UK AAA credit rating is weeks away from going down the pan which will make things even more difficult, if that happens...
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  Patricia Fox MSGD March 16, 2010 at 1:01pm

  Yes i think you are probably right.
  p
  
  colin said:

  i think you will find that there is a big divide in when people start planning work for design and landscape projects to general maintenance
  
  Patricia Fox MSGD said:

  umm, sorry to say but our phones & email have definately started ringing, however our rush normally starts quite early in january, and this year it didn't start happening until early feb, so we feel we are a month behind our normal flush of new enquiries. Having said that we have had the best start to the year we have ever had, and invoiced more in February than we have ever done in 6 years of trading. Interesting though i belong to a SGD Cluster Group, and several of the other garden designers in my group are finding it very slow. I think the name of the game is to step up your regular marketing activity and maybe try a few new ideas, i even found that just dropping some of my flyers in local florists (3 weeks ago) has already paid off with 1 new garden commission. Hope things pick up for you soon.
• PRO

  Philip Holmes July 11, 2011 at 9:01pm

  The enquiries started early this year, I put it down to our honest approach. By the way Pat, have you settled with the clients I built your design with, they said they have held back money, basically because the design didnt work!! as it was a driveway I can understand thier frustration!!

  You, as you know, still owe me money for that work and you have not replied to my recent letters, Im now completed the design process and have agreed a quote in Fyfield, so I wont be far away if you want to settle up.
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  Chris Auld July 11, 2011 at 9:14pm

  Oh Oh i sense a dispute here.