Forum

Winter gloves

We generally buy Ejendals Tegera 292 gloves for Winter but at £20 plus £4 delivery wonder if there are gloves of equal performance at less cost?

The specification we need as a minimum is compliance to EN 511 at level 1 for conductive cold , contact co

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Lawn Treatment

Hi All, 

I've been asked to offer lawn treatment for many of my customers. I've quoted £50 for anything below 300sqm which is probabaly a bit steep maybe? But that includes product itself, application and watering if needed. How do you price granular

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Cordless kit for own use

Well I have finally retired. After doing this on and off for most of my life, and enjoying most of it (!) I have sold on the equipment for a modest sum to someone I introduced to my customers and all is agreeable. Now I am left with my own garden and

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Liquid Iron Application

Hi all, looking to spray all our lawns with a liquid iron treatment fairly soon. For most lawns it'll be primarily to green them up and give them a little protection over the winter rather than to blacken all the moss off. This year i'd like us to tr

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STIHL BR800C

STIHL BR800C        The crankshaft broke at the fan wheel.  I am trying to see if anyone else has had or seen this issue.  I have called Stihl customer service August 27th & September 3rd with them guaranteeing a call back in 5 business days each tim

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Machinery Service

As some of you might be aware, I bought all new equipment this year as part of my endeavour to become self employed. I don’t think equipment need a service this early on, but have been randomly contacted by several local companies in recent days, I g

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Hedge Trimming Cost

Hi all

I'm retired now  but do check in here now and again to see what's going on in the trade . I need a 10ft high  Leylandii hedge height reduced by 3 ft -  It's length  is 21 ft  and don't need width doing and there is good access etc.  What would

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Green Waste disposal in South Bucks

The transfer station we use is shutting down.

Where do other people use in South Bucks? Our yard is based in Iver. I know we can use the transfer station in Slough but they are a pain to deal with (no tipping in shorts, need a hard hat etc!).

Your help

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Experienced pair of hands available in West/North Norfolk

Hi all, I am in the process of moving to Norfolk.  I am keeping the business going in the West Midlands with my existing employee's but I do need to find a few days a week for myself in Norfolk too.

I am already starting to network with gardeners in N

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Updates Regarding LJN

Hi All, 

 

As you may or may not have seen, we are looking to enhance Landscape Juice and try to develop the site in ways that would be useful to all. 

 

The comments on our last post highlighted a need for a Noticeboard page where members are able to ad

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Advice on removing very large spreading bamboo.

I have 3 large bamboo plants to remove. 

 

 They are about 15 foot high and about  6 metres in circumference, obviously well rooted into the ground and pop up runners around 10 feet from their epicentre.

 

The obvious answer would have been to use a digg

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Worn Goal Mouth

I mow a school games field.  It is for a small primary school, but the facilities are there for the public to use at other times too.  It is never going to look like Wembley.  The area around the goal mouth is worn away continually.  Once, about two

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Ladder and roofbars and a carpark height restriction - destruction

So, this week I finally got my roof bars, roller and ladder setup installed, using Ulti bars equipment.  Got it all working and secure and used the ladder at work for the first time.

My van itself is less than a month old, brand new, and I went to pic

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Sharpening mower blades

Morning everyone 

What are you guys that's sharpen your mower blades yourselves using to balance the blades?

And what website do you use to buy machinery spare parts from?

Many thanks 

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Synthetic lawns/Astroturf/fake grass recommended maintenance/restoration

Hello, many apologies if I am raising a topic that has many existing posts already.  I did a search, but there were so many results that I thought I'd try my luck with a fresh one.

I have been working as a self-employed gardener for 3 months now and t

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Self Employed Price work

Good morning, I'm looking for some advise/help.

I run a family fencing and landscaping business with my dad. He runs the landscaping side and myself the fencing.

Up until about 2 years ago all of our employees were PAYE. But after 1 fencing supervisor

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Bank account

Does anyone use mettle business account with free agent.

How do you find it 

Is it easy to use 

 

 

 

Jim

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How to expand the business - Vans and employees

WE ARE AT THE STAGE WHERE WE MUST BUY AN EXTRA VAN FOR OUR SMALL BUT EXPANDING BUSINESS.

BUT I DO NOT UNDERSTAND EXACTLY HOW TO DO THIS?

 

WHEN THE COMPANY PURCHASES ANOTHER VAN FOR IT'S EMPLOYEES IS THE VAN REGISTERED TO THE BUSINESS AND

TO THE BUSINESS

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Rushes

Can anyone suggest best treatment to kill off rushes, as per photo, from a lawn. I know that the main issue is drainage and poor soil, since this area was previously woodland which the householder paid somebody a load of money to convert to lawn. The

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Morally - What would you do?

We have a few long standing elderly/vulnerable customers who have no close relatives and apart from their garden maintenance we act as a confidant and social service.

Due to our ever increasing commercial commitments it is becoming increasingly diffic

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Stihl HSA 130T & HSA130R Vibrating/rattling noise.

Spent the whole day hedge cutting today (Privet) after a couple of hours my HSA 130T started to make a vibrating rattling noise, couldnt make out whether it was coming from the gearbox or the motor. swapped it over and started to use the HSA 130R and

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Jeyes Fluid for deterring rodents?

A commercial client has had a problem with rats causing damge around their AC units. They've had a pest control company come out and one of their suggestions was to apply Jeyes fluid around the buildings on a regular (fortnightly) basis and that woul

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Garden Equipment and More! Looking for Advice - New business owner.

Good morning folks,

I hope this message finds you safe and well.

I have lots of questions, so please bare with me! :D

Earlier this year, I took a leap and went self employed ontop of my employment. I currently offer a wide range of gardening services wh

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Faded Buxus leaves

Morning All. i have a customer with a number of very expensive topiaried buxus, in pots. Since trimming them the leaves appear to be dying, they are a very light green and easy to pull off the plants. I am told he waters them regularly and the soil w

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Stihl lawn edger

We have a Stihl petrol kombi unit and are considering buying a lawn edger attachment.

Do we go for straight or bent shaft?

Are they any good?

Its going to be used solely for cutting grass back against kerbs, concrete and tarmac on large commercial sites

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Employer H&S responsibilities

Hey, we do Grounds maintenance a mix of resi and commercial. I'm looking to get clear all my obligations for staff health and safety. Is there a company that advises which training, tickets, which RAMS, content for toolbox talks etc. etc. (all things

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Top dressing with silver sand?

I've always found top dressing difficult to apply in the pursuit of a level lawn. 

It is as they  say an up-hill task

I've recently made a grass terrace , semi circular , about 4-5m in diameter, (with brick retaining  wall . 

In my haste I may not have

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Ride on mower charge

I usually charge roughly £1 per minute for grass cutting with a minimum of £20 for any job size. And around £50 per hour with my ride on stiga mulcher. Although I'm aware this makes no sense whatsoever in regard to cost of machine. What do you charge

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Honda 4-wheel lawn mower

Hello every one

I want a new petrol Honda 4-wheel lawn mower that is good with wet grass (I know I should get an Etesa).

Do you have any advice on what model to get, please?

Thanks

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Compact Lawn tractor suggestions

Hi all, Sorry to ask but I'm new here and I couldn't find the posts about which was the best all round garden tractor for cutting, towing, and maybe with a front loader attachment for loading etcI look after an estate and told new owners that we nee

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Overseeding

Just after some input from you guys

Going to be doing a lawn scarification and overseed/top dress but because of the naff weather we have had it has taken me ages to get the weedkiller down on the lawn. I have to wait 4 weeks before seeding and that n

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Nature Loving Customers !!!

Had a brief chat with a once a year customer , where I just cut his knee length grass down . I happened to mention the abundance of wildlife in his garden , and that last year I saw some slow worms basking in the sun.

He looked at me and replied " Oh

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Clients contracts for wet Grass cutting

Hi all

Just, interested as we had so much wet weather. What do you do when the grass is so wet for your clients? I know you can cut wet grass, but I am finding sometimes clients turn around and say to wet on a dry day!

Do you have it in contract with y

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Stihl BG86c problems

Hi all, hope this is in the correct thread.

So i've had some BG86c blower problems recently. Long story short, i've replaced the carb with a genuine Stihl carb as my previous one wasn't priming, everything was fine once replaced but on full throttle a

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contract work

Does anyone on here do contract work for Ground Control

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Discussion on Best Landscape Business Management Software

Hi everyone,

I'm Marc, one of the founders of CQ Business Management Software. Some of you might remember us from our earlier days as Custom Quoter. Since then, we've undergone significant changes, not just in name but in the breadth and depth of our

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Re-turfing on flooded top soil

Morning all.

To start, i am a DIYer and by no means an expert gardener.

I have cleared my garden following the completion of my house extension - stripped up the old patchy lawn, rotovated sub soil and imported 10 tonne of topsoil which i spread over t

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How to quote various jobs for a property

Hi all,

I have been asked to give a quote for a property, the owner has said apart from the basics like mowing/weeding there will be various other jobs and is looking for 1 day per week. Now after reading plenty of posts on here about avoiding an hour

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Cherry Blossom Tree

I have a cherry blossom tree to prune in late summer but the length of each leading branch needs reducing by over 50 % ideally by more to ensure it does not encroach customers neighbours property wall and increase light .

Also lots of criss crossing a

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Pricing for School grounds maintenance

Hi all,

Just looking for some advice and guidance really.

I run my own living wall install and maintenance company, however I have been approached by a school to quote for the grounds maintenance.

We can do the project, but I am unsure how to price and

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Wolf Garten Multichange Tools

I have been using these for years but recently I have noticed the latch failing to hold when pulling.  I think one example got a stone lodged inside.  There seems to be no way to remove obstructions.  Has anyone been able to repair these or do I put

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Compost survey

Has anyone else noticed the poor quality of bagged , branded compost ? This seems to be a result of the removal of peat .

We are in the process of a large planting job requiring compost , much of it contains a lot of wood fibre and even small lumps of

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Coming to a large garden near you!!

Yesterday I went to a client to see this - there are two of them, and have been sold to keep their 2 acres of lawn comprising of 3 massive lawns, with hills,scattered trees and shrubs, together with a traditional square lawn near.  the house. TO cut

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Box blight?

So, I am restoring a garden, it is stuffed with Buxus - all are fine, healthy and looking good, even 2m away from this hedge are some that look wonderful, really verdant and 1st class. However there is about 10m of parterre hedging clipped to about 3

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John Deere Z530 Vs Z545 - HELP?

Over the last few months, I have been asking various questions about Zero Turn mowers. I have had some great responses which have helped me significantly in my decision. My choice was the John Deere Z530M with the addition of the Mulch Control Kit. T

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Petrol strimmer gave up

I have the stihl fs131 that has gave up today and i am looking for a new model do use have a recommendation on a decent strimmer 

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Stihl GTA extension

I know that some of us have the brilliant GTA pruner but has anyone got the new extension shaft & what do you think of it ?

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Cobra RM48SPH

Following on from our post re Honda 476 rear roller which seems to be plagued with gearbox issues now looking at the Cobra RM 48SPH, this having BBC and Honda engine around £1100 to help distinguish it from the cheaper Cobra models.

Queries - The hand

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We Need your Advice!

Hi All,

We have been having internal discussions surrounding Landscape Juice and how we need to be moving forward.

We are aware that since the passing of Phil, the site has changed, and we are looking to see what we can do to improve it in any way that

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Watering

We look after numerous housing developments and with new ones imminent we are once again being asked about watering, it's something we've always managed to avoid but it's becoming increasingly likely we can't for much longer, does anyone here offer a

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Full time gardener @ large private garden

Just wondering if there are any full time "employed" gardeners working at a large private garden somewhere that could give me some advise. 

I'm about to start a new career as a full time employed gardener looking after a 25 acre property with 3 acres

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Do You Listen To Podcasts?

Our very own Paul Baker is off to Belfast today to record a podcast with Robbie Lynn from Premier Lawns.

Robbie is creating a series of podcasts with landscaping and gardening business owners where they discuss the ins and outs of running a business i

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Potential Business

First off apologies as I am sure this has been asked before time and time again but I am considering gardening as a second career.

I retire from the police in April 2025 and although I will have a pension I will still need to work and want to work. I

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Scarifying and lawn care

Hi All,

Would anyone have advice on pricing a service offering lawn care - specifically a cut, scarify (1 or 2 passes) clear and then a feed or treatment using specific products? 
There's a fair bit of investment but it's something I really enjoy and w

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Sheep in the garden!

Today I went to the large garden that is my main place of work. Mercifully little storm damage, just debris and a few branches down. There had, however, been sheep, a lot of sheep. A gate had been left open by walkers and the flock got into the garde

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Gardening Business running costs

• Hi Folks
• I was wondering if anybody knows what there actual operating costs are per hour or per garden visit.Over the last few days I've been working mine out for next season taking into account hikes in insurances etc service costs the lot 🤦🏼I'd be i

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granular lawn fertilizer

granular lawn fertilizer do you need a license in northern ireland.

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Commercial Vs residential. What do you say.

Hi all, 

So since dipping my toe in to some larger grounds maintenance/commercial work a month ago or so and buying a ride on mower. I've gone and picked up another 3 larger sites in addition to my first development, so I can make more use of the zero

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Backpack blower

Hi guys! 

I'm in need of a new backpack blower, previously we've made do with a bottom of the range McCullough backpack blower which was bought on a small budget when I first started up. It's now gone way past the time to upgrade it but I'll be the fi

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Trailers for ride on mowers

So.. in the process of setting up the kit for the zero turn, I've been looking at trailer options and trying to work out the best option. 

I'm limited on storage space so I'll be sticking with a 8x5. Single axle utility trailer. The obvious starting p

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