MowingAround.com Blog

MowingAround Landscaping has experienced their busiest February/March ever.  The unusually mild weather has been one factor but the biggest factor is that we are being discovered!!  Customers are finding out that we understand the soil and how to set it up to optimize the health of the plants.  That combined with exceptional service, a friendly and knowledgeable staff and excellent sub trades.  I would like to put a word out to my excellent staff.  Not only do they perform quality work every day, they do it with a smile.  As one employee stated the other day, “I feel so good about the work we are doing because we are doing it right.”  My thoughts exactly.  When I started MowingAround back in 2000 I did so because I could see several important areas where other companies fell short.  One area was customer service.  At the outset I had a day timer that I carried with me.  I had a case load of about forty clients and it was difficult keeping tabs on the present work, scheduling future work but more importantly, I had little time to tackle any new work a client brought forward.   In 2007 I decided to invest in an operating system.  Outlook, a server and a blackberry.  Today I have no difficulties answering all queries from clients and any new work brought forward is dealt with in an efficient manner.  The power of the computer.   The second thing that I did differently than my competitors is I hired young, energetic staff with excellent customer service skills.  You can teach an employee the technical aspect of the job but you cannot teach someone how to be genuinely nice to your clients. The staff I have now are excellent people and it comes across in their dealings with our clients. The third thing I do is to continue to educate my staff.  I am constantly attending classes to upgrade my skills and that information is relayed to each staff member on a daily basis.  The more their skills improve, the more valuable an employee they become. I have also found that the more skilled they become the more I can challenge them with new and interesting work and that keep the mind sharp.  Lastly, I believe in an excellent work environment and that each employee is treated as equals and with respect and patience.  Show respect and it comes back.  It is truly a pleasure working with all of the staff.  We laugh while we work and that makes the days flow.  I am enjoying this work and the quality of our product is a evident.  MowingAround Landscaping, Victoria, B.C. (www.mowingaround.com). Colin Eaton.

What is it?  It is preparing your property for an event, for sale or to surprise your wife as a gift. 

MowingAround Landscaping, since its inception in 2000, has always received calls for cleanups or minor stagings but about two years ago that work went to another level.   My bi-weekly Business Referral Team (BRT) has HomeStyle Solutions as a member.  HomeStyle Solutions was started by Diana Barton and her sister Pauline Dueck.  They are the experts at looking at a home from the inside and out, and outlining what needs doing to obtain maximum return on your investment.   Doesn’t that sound like common sense.  Kind of like washing the car before you sell it or maybe getting a new paint job on the car because the $1500 painting increases the valley by 3-4k.   Same concept with Home Staging and our work,  knowing how to make the inside pop how to make the outset pop. 

Since 2008 we have completed dozens of stagings.  The last, on ten mile point, was a major all day ordeal with a full crew but when that property sold for its 4 mill asking price within a few days, then you know the investment paid off.  

I approach each property with a buyer’s mentality and what I think catches that buyer’s initial eye.  Sometimes that is as little as a weeding, some pruning and a lawn mowing. 

On a recent makeover I attended to find a 30 acre estate on the peninsula with an amazing house but the grounds have been let go for five years.  Himilayan blackberry has almost covered one complete side of the house.  Likewise, the rest of the house is almost invisible because of the overgrown landscape.  If I was to make an offer on this house prior to the makeover I would be offering alot less.  $10k to save $100 to $200k.  Nice return on the investment. 

Additionally, we stage for Birthdays, Weddings, Anniversaries.  Any time an owner wants to cleanup a property for an upcoming event we have the crew and expertise.  Love this work. Creating and maintaining properties throughout Greater Victoria in a healthy way. MowingAround Feb. 2010

What happens in a lawn maintained with synthetic fertilizers and pesticides?  As the title suggests, a chemical reaction.   I recently attended an event sponsored by the Canadian Cancer Society and carried out at Uvic.  The speaker was Paul Tukey, a one time gardener now advocate against chemicals on lawns.  Paul has started a business call safelawns.org that is dedicated to teaching people the harm believed caused by chemicals in lawns.  Paul sprayed pesticides for years until it affected his health. He has been told that even if he is never exposed again to these poisons, the level now in his body will never diminish!  Never!   And he is concerned that this exposure may have been a cause of the health problems his son faces.  Paul created an excellent documentary film entitled Chemical Reaction.  The movie centers around a small ontario town (sorry, forgot the name) that banned pesticides, only to have that challenged by the big corporations.  It took years in the courts before the Supreme Court backed the citizens!  Now this one little town that could has paved the way for municipalities across the country to enact legislation that stops the madness.  The big producers in the US, upon be confronted by Canadian towns saying no, set about passing legislation in most US states that prevents individuals, towns or cities from ever passing any local bylaw/law that would prevent big corporation from selling their pesticides.  An in Canada, these large companies have joined together to sue the Canadian Government, under the Free Trade Agreement because the highest court has prevented them from selling their product within our border.  That is one interesting battle.   In a day and age when we know these poisons are created to kill life forms, (whatever form it may be and however small but it is life), and that dead life is consumed by organisms down the chain, killing them, and here we are a life form that eats the sprayed plants.  Something not right about that picture.  The argument that these pesticides don’t cause harm.  C’mon.  At least give me a wink to let me know I know you are full of it. C’mon. 

 The following is a quote from Heide Hermary’s excellent organic horticulture bible ‘Working with Nature’:

“The following figure from Food and Agriculture Organizations of the United Nations are already outdated, but I have been able to find only very little current information.  According to these statistics, between 1980 and 1990

-pesticide resistant weed species increased from less than 10 to 110 (increased to 270 by the year 2000)

-pesticide resistant fungus species increased from 100 to 150

-pesticide resistant insect species exceeded 500′

If you understand how to enhance the living soil you will understand that sick plants rarely are attacked by insects.  Not always, but rarely.  So the idea of spreading poison on a plant to kill the insects, which fall to the ground and kill the micro organisms that will feed on that insect, and so on, is crazy.  Such action will only lead to soil and plants that are chemically dependant. 

Now about synthetic fertilizers, here is another comment  from Heide.

“In Canada, whenever a product is sold with the claim and purpose to supply plant nutrients, the product must be registered under the Canadian Fertilizer Act. This Act and accompanying Regulations apply to fertilizers only.  A different Act and Regulations apply to pesticides only.  Many substances contained in fertilizers and pesticides are not claimed to be either plant nutrient or pesticides, even though they may be used for that purpose, and consequently are largely unregulated in this country. Under both of thes Acts any substance that is not claimed to be an active ingredient (either a plant nutrient or a pesticide) is considered to be ‘inert’.”

Proper Practices.

I wrote a blog about the proper ways to organically feed and thus enhance your landscape and I invite you to view that but in short, mulch.  Mulch the grass with a proper mulching lawn mower.  Apply mulches on your gardens and flower beds.  Proper mulching cuts down your maintenance by 50-75% .  Not to mention the invaluable benefits to the soils.  Colin, Feb.2010

safelawns.org   Paul Tukey “Chemical Reaction” was the documentary

pesticidefreebc.org

Lot’s new at MowingAround Landscaping 2010.  I started this company in 2003 and it has been an interesting journey.  I started with a new truck, old trailer and used equipment.  Each has a story;

-The new truck was a dodge dakota, 6 cyl, 5 speed.  Looked good and the price was right.  It would be pulling a light trailer around a flat town.  I soon had concerns when I drove it to Nanaimo and it sucked going over the Malahat.  No torque at all, not to mention terrible gas mileage.  Then the final straw after about 7 months on the job.  A good friend (Choby) was standing at the back of the truck while I roped an old hedge plant to pull it out of the ground.  The truck stalled in first gear.  Choby grabbed the rope, dug his heels in ground and it stalled while he held it back. I wasn’t giving the truck any gas and it didn’t have enough ump to pull a 200 lb man forward!  So that was gone then and there and I traded it for the existing 2004 Dodge ram 2500 diesel.  Awesome truck.  Excellent fuel economy!  6 speed manual, single cab long box.  Only wished I had purchased an extra cab but I needed the long box.

-The trailer.  I had worked for Tony Badr of Jim’s Moving and he told me about a trailer that he knew off that was sitting on a empty lot.  The trailer had been left there and it was full of garbage.  I went down for a look and, not knowing a thing about trailers, thought I could make it work.  I pulled in a few days later, hooked on and drove to Hartland.  I had no idea if this thing was even roadworthy but I had insurance.  At Hartland I started to unload.  It was disgusting.  Then a rat, a big rat, comes racing out. I knew it was in there.  It was a hit at the landfill.  Apparently they do not get rats up there or so a worker claimed.  They have one now.  So after dumping the load of garbage I power washed the trailer, sanded it, put new lights on it and painted it.  MowingAround trailer #1.  It is gone but we still have trailers 2,3 and 4.

-Equipment.   I started with a used Arian Lawnmower, Tony’s handheld blower, a couple of rakes, maybe a shovel. trimmer and buckets.  Within 6 months I went out and purchased new equipment because of the limitations with the used stuff.  I could go on and on about equipment but let’s just say this job takes its toll on equipment. 

So off I went, trimming a lawn with the line trimmer, mowing with a belt driven mower and using the blower to clean driveways and walks.  And I did an excellent job.   Very neat and tidy.  That lasted about  two years and during that two years I had occassional help.  Gradually and with experienc e and time, MowingAround 2010 has become an established and respected landscaping company that provides design services, construction services and organic maintenance services.   Most importantly, through a combination of time on the ground and ongoing schooling, both myself and my employees understand our environment.  We understand how to create and maintain a healthy and organic soil and it is the soil that is the foundation of health for all of the living things that I encounter.  Healthy soil, healthy landscape, healthy owners.

I am excited about the quality of staff that now works full time with MowingAround.  Craig Gillespie, supervisor/manager, now in his fourth full season, has become an excellent horticulturalist that enjoys what he does.  Hard working, good with people and likes his work.  Good mix.  Kerry Martin has recently joined MowingAround, also as a supervisor/manager.  Kerry operated his own business for several years but we now join forces for the common good- doing it right!  Kerry has lots of experience, a great attitude and he also loves being outside and working with and creating landscapes.   Working with Craig and Kerry is Chris Olson and Nate Stevens, two hard working and experience hands.   We have an awesome team!

New on the equipment front is a John Deere 322T, new 14k dumping trailer.  These two pieces really add to our arsenal of tools. 

On the business side we are seeing more design and construction work than ever.  The word is out that we provide quality service, quality product with quality people.  Colin, MowingAround Feb 2010

It is February 2010 and it is a mild winter in Greater Victoria, B.C.  The bulbs have started to pop and spring feels like it has arrived.  It may even convince me of an early start to the season if it remains this mild until the end of February.  February has a habit of playing a game with us.  About five years ago I remember a February that for two weeks felt like july.  Hot and sunny.  Then I remember snow.  Or was that heavy rain.  Heavy rain and snow?

Victoria just keeps me guessing on the weather and I love it.  I never know what the weather is going to do.  I have a rough idea from watching the weather network online (and it is pretty darn accurate.  But don’t trust it 100% because weather here on the south island just keeps changing). 

Don’t get me wrong.  Working on a wet, cold day in pouring Victoria rain, with or without the wind, is not fun.  But when that rain passes and the sun comes out the plants love it then that rain is all good.

colin 12/02/10

There was a time in the distant past that I would roll up onto a landscape client’s property, see that the grass and plants were not doing that well, talk with a local gardening supplier, garden center, and try to figure out what the heck was going on.  I would usually be told the plant was in need of fertilizing or I needed a soil sample to zero in on what was going on.  Since that time I have come a long way in my understanding of plants, their environment, what they require, what they don’t require, and how to go about providing that.  I am not a fan of obtaining a soil sample and having it analyzed by a lab.  I have had many a discussion with some very intelligent  landscape professionals who disagree with my suggestion to forego the soil analysis.  Why then do I continue to recommend against having the soil of a property analyzed.  For one, you can take 4 different samples from different locations from a property and the same lab is going to give you 4 different results.  Now if you were to send that to 4 different labs, well good luck finding any common ground.  Add to that the change the soil undergoes while in transit, the change the soil undergoes from a cold day to a warm day, wet day to a dry day! The test may come back and tell you what your soil was lacking at the time the test was taken, two weeks prior!  But what about today, after it has rained for four days, followed by unusually hot or cold weather.  I just don’t think an analysis is worth the cash you outlay because of the constant changing of soil.  I do like the way that soil is analyzed by the Soil Food Web laboratories (ie. they check to see what organisms are present in the soil) and I wish they had a lab closer to Victoria, B.C. but would I obtain more soil samples? Probably only for turf because it is a monoculture not seen before European settlers and completely unnatural and a difficult one to keep weed free without chemicals. .  When it comes to flower beds, I believe the first step to health is the proper ratio of sand, silt and clay.  One can complete a rudimentary soil texture test to tell you if you have a decent balance of sand, silt and clay (and to also give you an indication of organic matter in the soil) and with these results,changes to the ratio can be made.  The next step?  Add organic matter to the soil.  Create a litter layer.  Mulch, mulch , mulch.  Give the organisms in the soil something to eat and that food is the mulch.  These organisms are so crucial to the longterm health of the soil and everything that feeds off of that soil.  Kill the organisms and you are left with chemically dependant landscapes and constant manual intervention to ensure this chemical landscape keeps working.  How to go about completing a soil texture test?  Take a glass jar with lid, something a little larger like a pickle jar.  Go to your flower bed or lawn, remove the top sod or litter layer and obtain some soil.  Fill the jar half way with soil, add some dishwashing soap and fill the jar with water.  Put the lid on, shake vigorously for a few minutes and then let the jar sit until it all settles and that can take some time.  Once settled, you will have a clear indication of the layers of sand, silt and clay.  The sand settles within one minute at the bottom, silt is next taking a good hour or more, then clay which can take a day or two to completely settle.  You then measure each layer as a percentage of the whole and with that information you review a soil texture pyramid that I have added to the top of this blog.  So in short, test the soil with this simple test, make the changes in the ratio at the outset, add mulch (organic matter) but don’t use bark mulch, and let water well.   The mulch will continue to break down and continue to feed the plants.  Let nature do the work now!

What an interesting month March/09 has been.  The weather for Victoria, B.C. has not been unusually cold, we are just use to unusually warmer weather at this time of year.  What has this meant for landscape maintenance and landscaping in general?  Well, the year is starting out slower than it was last year but all it will take is three or four days of warmer weather (ie. sun) and everything will begin to grow.  The slower time allows us to get ready for the year ahead.  MowingAround Landscape and Maintenance has moved into a new location, on Millstream road  in the Highlands.  We have outgrown our small city lot so with just over one acre, a house and detached two bay garage (with 9 foot bay doors), we are ready to go.  The new property now has an office trailer, cisterns catching water off of the roof of the house and soon to arrive, a water fall down the natural rock feature of the property.  Can’t wait to move in full time, one month from now.  Our approach or our change to organic gardening is seeing positive feedback from the community.  It seems that clients are ready to make the switch to a healthy and non chemical, no pesticide way of gardening.  I visited several of our client’s properties today and I was very pleased to see the incredible transformation the properties have made in one short year.   What has changed?  The flower beds are once again alive; the plants are showing tremendous health.  The soil is alive.  All because we have changed our habits.  We mulch the beds with organic matter other than bark mulch, we mulch the lawns as much as possible, and we only use organic fertilizers (soil amendments) on the lawn.  Not organic based, but organic fertilizers.  What is the difference?  By claiming to be organic based, the manufacturer only has to have a small percentage of the bag of fertilizer actually organic product, the rest is usually the synthetic fertilizer.  Organic fertilizers contain nothing but organic product.  They may not react as quickly to provide an immediate green up, but for the long term health of a property I would not offer anything else.   As April approaches, I am looking forward to warmer weather, good work with good people and helping customers understand the world that exists in their soil and the need to protect, not destroy, that soil.  Happy Gardening!

Landscaping, landscape, landscape design, landscape maintenance.  Landscaping in Victoria, B.C.  Landscape design in Victoria, b.c.  Ecological landscape design.  Organic Landscaping.  Victoria, Colwood, Langford, Oak Bay, Saanich, North Saanich, Central Saanich, Esquimalt, View Royal, Metchosin.  From designing to construction to ongoing maintenance, MowingAround landscape and Maintenanance.  “Everything we use preserves the health of your landscape and the health of your family while reducing ongoing maintenance.”  A healthy and properly functioning landscape is a self sufficient landscape that requires less manual intrusion, less ‘fertilizing’.

How fitting to be blogging about this subject in March/09 when it is just pouring rain in the beautiful but wet city of Victoria, B.C.   What do I like and dislike about landscaping in the rain?  Lots of both.  I love being outside any time, rain or shine but I do not necessarily like working in the stuff.  There is always fewer people out when it is raining so it becomes kind of this quiet retreat when it is pouring but on the flip side, nothing like a bead of rain running down your back in 4 degree celsius weather.  There is also nothing like digging in the rain, where every shovel full is not full of soil (as we call it in landscaping) but mud, slimey, slippery, get in everything mud/muck.  You get it on your boots, gloves, jacket, equipment, in your truck, in your shop and in your home.  But, having said all of that, you have to work when the work is there.  If you let the rain bother you it will.  I chose to ignore it, it is what it is.  Landscaping in the rain is not much fun, but it isn’t something I let get me down.  I just think about that dry summer a matter of 8 weeks away (or so I hope) and keep shovelling to stay warm.  Thinking about how much cleaning I have to do to all the equipment also keeps me warm (or hot under the hat!).  Sometimes I miss the Kootenays where precipitation in March means a big powder day up on Red.

How about I answer that question! At the beginning of my landscape career I would attend a client’s property and they would ask me to add some plants here, move others over there, create a bed here, plant grass there.  Time was limited so  I would complete the request without suggesting to the client that a longer term vision be put to paper.  Then I began to involve a designer.  What a difference in the level of service we now provide!  To give you an example,  I met a potential customer a short time ago who was initially looking at a few hedge plants for the back of her yard to provide screening from the neighbour.  During that meeting she also mentioned other ‘ideas’ she had for the property that would have to wait until her budget allowed.  We chatted at length and at my recommendation she involved the designer to help her achieve a long term vision. The difference?  For that reasonable fee, this client now has a blue print of what this property will look like and she is tackling different pieces over the next two years and as her budget allows.  The end result will be 100% more satisfying and she will be left with a beautiful landscape where professional thought has gone into providing a dream vision. I have no doubt this blueprint has also saved the client money.  It saved money because there is no duplication in work, the layout is set so pricing is more accurate, the irrigation company had a blue print to quote from (and several quotes were obtained as opposed to one company just working through something pieced together), and last but not least, the client knew exactly what she was getting before hand and that is priceless.  Whether it be a large or small project, I believe a designer is a cost effective measure.