Anticipating the coming season...

It's been a quiet couple of months in Halifax and I can't wait to get back out of the house into the fresh air and do some gardening. I've had my usual six week break over the winter and now I'm practically climbing the walls. With almost no work coming in, except for a little bit of tidying up after some builders ruined the front garden of one of my clients, I'm getting impatient to pick up my regular clients once again. I'm still ambivalent about builders; while I should loathe them for their cavalier attitude to the garden,trampling through borders and across the lawn with gay abandon, I still have to thank them for creating work for me which wouldn't otherwise be there. It saddens me when I see the destruction they have caused but I know that with a little bit of time, hard work and faith in nature's ability to bounce back, everything will come good and by the end of the Autumn, all the mess will be long forgotten. Having tried to work around one set of builders last year, I have a sneaking suspicion that one of my other main clients is going to decide to get on with the building work which they have vaguely threatened for the last 3 years...Turning my thoughts to the coming season, I'm interested to see how the effects of the recession and growing unemployment change the profile of the gardening and landscaping business. Just having done a Yell.com search for gardeners in Halifax, I noticed that I am now the only gardener paying for a priority listing through Yell.com (last year there were three). There are a total of 27 businesses listed under garden services in Halifax so it's going to be interesting to see how that progresses over the coming year. A part of me wonders whether we'll see a little blip in the number of gardening companies starting up this year - people taking their redundancy packages and setting themselves up a little gardening business. I'm not sure whether this will be a good or bad thing for the industry. My fear is that people will think that gardening is an easy job to do, with little learning - a job that pretty much anyone can do. While gardening is a job that pretty much anyone can do to a certain extent, it's not one that you can just go into with no preparation and expect to succeed. It has taken me four years to build up a good but small round of clients who I work for regularly. If I get one large client a year, I think I'm probably doing OK. This year, if I get one large client I think I'll be doing exceptionally well. I don't know if we will see any new businesses start up but I wouldn't be surprised. I think the current climate will be one of mere survival until things settle down a bit.Well, I don't want to end this blog on a down note so I'll try to think of something more upbeat to cheer myself and my readers up. Although it all seems doom and gloom at the moment, I know that Spring is only a crocus or two away. There are all those mad tulips and daffodils to look forward to, all that manure and compost that will need digging in once the snow has gone,and before you know it, you'll have a to-do list as long as your arm. As soon as the bulbs start flowering, we'll be headlong into the inexorable growing season and hardly have a chance to catch all those favourite flowers. Remember the smell of those first Spring days? They're not all that far away now.
Votes: 0
E-mail me when people leave their comments –

Comments

  • Oh god, please let it keep snowing... the house is so clean, the laundry is all done.....
This reply was deleted.

You need to be a member of Landscape Juice Network to add comments!

Join Landscape Juice Network

Open forum activity

Peter sellers replied to David Benson's discussion liquid moss killer
"Pro kleen liquid iron sulphate direct from Pro kleen around £21 for 2x5lts delivered. We put 2.5lts in a 12lt knapsack, thoroughly wet area, avoid hot windy days.
Have used it for years highly recommend."
21 hours ago
Martin Ashdown posted a discussion
We chat over knowing your numbers, eating frogs and RASI forms. Please like and share to help us grow this channel.https://open.spotify.com/episode/0PwhpTOoJrhqiyRRK32qM7?si=252f7534...
21 hours ago
Dave Colton replied to David Benson's discussion liquid moss killer
"I haven't use liquid iron but do use soluble iron sulphate, takes a wee bit more mixing as it's a powder but I find it goes further and is cheaper than the liquid, I get mine from agrigem."
yesterday
David Benson posted a discussion
i have to treat some small areas of lawn with a lot of paving round them and one area there is a swiming pool. my usual way is lawn sand and a broardcast spredder but this is not ideal for this job, what liquid killer do you recomend for a knapsack…
yesterday
James Brett liked Martin Ashdown's discussion Two Ordinary Blokes in Business Podcast
Sunday
James Brett updated their profile
Sunday
Bryn Edmondson updated their profile
Sunday
Sam Bainbridge replied to Dougie's discussion Looking for a new roller machine
"Horrible in the wet just shows we are all different. I wouldn't even consider hayter for the terrible collection reason"
Sunday
Groundleader replied to Peter sellers's discussion Retirement advice
"This is definitely NOT my field of expertise, but I'd guess what most buyers might be interested in, could include:
1)  What's the realistic market value of your "hard" assets (vehicles, machinery, tools, materials etc).
2)  For the "goodwill" part…"
Saturday
Greenlawns replied to Dougie's discussion Looking for a new roller machine
"I've used Hayter harrier 56 pro mowers for 30 years . They're the best for maintenance,  admittedly not great in the wet , but I wouldn't change . "
Saturday
Sam Bainbridge replied to Dougie's discussion Looking for a new roller machine
"Interesting with the weibang I've had 1 for 5yrs bought new and it's been fine nothing to report as of yet which compared to the honda new needing a new back end after 18 months."
Saturday
Sam Bainbridge replied to Dougie's discussion Looking for a new roller machine
"Buy an old Honda roller mower, the new ones break in 18 months and cost you £500 that is then repeated every 12 months.
Either a honda or others the same which actually came out of the same factory with different names, sharp, lawnflite, kaaz, all…"
Saturday
Max alam posted a discussion
Im looking for my first 100 founding members to join and use canopy and i have approx 65 spaces left.. if your in the UK running a garden maintenance / landscaping company and could be intrested , feel free to enter the waiting list.Thecanopyapp.com
Thursday
Tim Bucknall replied to Daniel Gillings @ DC inc's discussion Rumble strips in lawn!
"Can you change the direction of mowing? Always using a roller mower in the same pattern can cause this.
 "
Thursday
Max alam posted a discussion
does anyone find themselves spending money on an invoicing and qouting app? do some of you use tradify to manage bookings and schedule?whats the best way to manage workflow when you get busy in the season ?
Apr 27
Paul Errington replied to Daniel Gillings @ DC inc's discussion Rumble strips in lawn!
"Try using a Turf Teq Power Rake to smooth it out. It will mill off the high spots and work the spoil into the low bits."
Apr 27
More…

how good does this look?

Im looking for my first 100 founding members to join and use canopy and i have approx 65 spaces left.. if your in the UK running a garden maintenance / landscaping company and could be intrested , feel free to enter the waiting list.Thecanopyapp.com

Read more…
0 Replies
Views: 38

Invoicing / Quoting

does anyone find themselves spending money on an invoicing and qouting app? do some of you use tradify to manage bookings and schedule?whats the best way to manage workflow when you get busy in the season ?

Read more…
0 Replies
Views: 49