MowingAround.com Blog

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!