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MAINTENANCE - OUR SERVICES INCLUDE: Lawn Care Service The English Gardener dispatches a team of certified lawn mower operators, who usually visit every week. We provide weekly grass cutting, weed whacking and edging from April through the end of November as required. Our service is weekly (but adjusted for seasonal fluctuations, such as droughts and high temperatures) mowing, edging and trimming throughout the season. Our lawn staff is trained to patrol while working, observing closely for early signs of pests, disease, drought, etc. We use mulching blades on our large commercial mowers, and bag clippings during heavy growth. (Bagging and disposing of grass clippings may or may not be included in your seasonal price, )This reduces the need for excessive chemical treatments. The seasonal fee includes scheduling variations due to the weather. Customer is responsible for keeping the lawn area clear of obstacles (such as toys, tennis or golf balls, etc.), access to the property, notifying us ahead of time as to any areas that should be avoided for any reason. The customer is also responsible for the removal of any leaves if fall clean up is not included in our services before cutters begin cutting. Please advise if you will have lawn furniture or other items in the work area, so we can make arrangements with you to your satisfaction. Please note that rain or inclement weather before your scheduled lawn cutting visit will postpone the visit. For example, if your lawn is scheduled to be cut on Thursdays, but it rains on Monday, the cut will be postponed until Friday. Customers are also responsible for arranging lawn fertilizing or treatments if needed. The EG does not apply pesticides. Coordinating a lawn cutting schedule with lawn applications must be planned to avoid a return fee and untimely cutting of your lawn. Please provide in writing (by fax is great) when your lawn is scheduled for treatments, or at least inform us when a treatment has been applied. Also insist that the application company dates the flags they leave, so we know when it is safe for our crews to cut the lawn. Finally, please remove the application flags in a timely manner. EG is responsible for cutting grass, weed whacking the edges, edging concrete surfaces, and disposing of clippings during heavy growth periods. Snow clearing Service Snow clearing services are performed for accumulations of two inches or more,in a timely manner and is usually provided during the night before 6 am. The regular schedule for snow clearing operations is between 1 am and 6 am. The exception is when snow falls late at night (after 1am), in which case the crews will have your property cleared as soon as possible. Snow clearing will also occur during the day if accumulations reach four inches, otherwise the regular schedule is followed as it is safer and more efficient for snow to be cleared at night. Notice the client is responsible for clearing some snow if accumulations are below two inches, otherwise ice may form from compacted snow. Drifting snow and clearing snow deposited at the apron of the driveway by the municipal plows is included when we visit. If the municipal plows clear your street after we visit, you may either request a call-out to clear the snow deposited at the apron, (or to clear drifting snow), for a call-out fee, which is usually around $10. This call-out is provided as quickly as possible, subject to the availability of a snow plow operator. If you clear this snow yourself, consider using a steel shovel if the snow is very heavy or icy, with a snow shovel as well. A comment here on snow clearing is in order. Weıve been clearing snow for a decade, and Buffalo winters are known nationally for blizzards and lake effect snows. Snow clearing is the most difficult operation to deliver, as each clientıs basic freedom to go somewhere is constrained when it snows. We affirm how frustrating it is when conditions beyond anyoneıs control close you in, you get stuck, traffic inches along, etc. We are proud to have cleared many record snow accumulations during our service. Our fleet of 15 plowing trucks, 20 snowblowers and the staff of 30, brave dangerous conditions with sub zero wind chills and feet of snow, often work double shifts and long hours, to clear snow. The mechanic also performs many miracles as equipment requires major maintenance. All in all, while the ³fair weather² months from April to November are much more pleasant, the ³foul weather² months of December to March are just something we all learn to deal with in Buffalo. We will do our best to keep you clear. Customer is responsible for maintaining an obstacle free work area, which includes making sure the newspaper isnıt buried in the snow, holiday lights and wires are kept away from the walkways, and vehicles are parked so snow can be cleared efficiently. We recommend clients keep the snow in front of the garage door cleared (unless we are hired to do it, of course) to prevent ice from accumulating. Notice during very large snow accumulations sidewalks and all entryways (if you have this service included with your snow clearing service) may not be cleared, (but one entryway will be cleared) until we come back. This allows everyone vehicle access as quickly as possible. Gardening and Flower Bed Service The English Gardener enjoy keeping some 25 gardens in peak condition year round. This is our favorite service to provide as the talents of our staff are revealed in these gardens. Under the direction of our head gardener we will provide regular weeding, trimming, pruning and deadheading (this is important to encourage continued blooming of certain flowers). Attention to detail and special customer requests characterize this service. Twelve or twenty-four visits during the season, which includes regular weeding, deadheading of flowers, and general flowerbed maintenance. This is important to promote continual blooming of certain varieties, and to keep the garden in peak condition throughout the season. Each gardening session will vary in duration as the needs of the garden change throughout the season. Generally the time requirements of May, June and July are double compared to August, September and October, but each garden is unique. Notice the frequency and duration of visits is directly related to the health and appearance of the garden. Clients may choose either twelve (12) bi-monthly visits, or twenty-four (24) almost weekly visits, from May to October (notice there are 26 weeks from May to October). Customer is responsible for monitoring the garden environment, including watering. If your garden visits are every two weeks, please be sure to carefully remove any weeds which are producing seed. Some weeds produce seed in ten days! If the seeds are dispersed, thousands of weeds will germinate. It is recommended that the customer cuts flowers and puts them in fresh water to enjoy inside the home. EG is responsible for grooming and deadheading the plants, informing the client of pests and diseases, supporting plants with stakes when required, and maintaining the spaded edge or border between the lawn and garden. Splitting of perennials every three years or so is an extra service and is discussed with the client in advance. Pruning Service Trimming, shaping and pruning of your hedges and shrubbery to prevent loss of control, twice a year. We also clean out underneath the shrubs to control diseases, promote air flow, and remove the clippings. Additional visits to prune your shrubbery can be provided at your request, (privet hedges often need 3-5 trimmings), for an additional charge. Customer is responsible for keeping shrubs and trees free of holiday lights and other electrical hazards, and for arranging for fertilizing, preventive treatments and watering. EG is responsible for trimming shrubs previously agreed upon and removing clippings, twice a year. Spring Cleanup Service A comprehensive and intensive spring cleanup to remove winter debris and thorough fall leaf cleanups. These seasonal cleanups are important in order to reduce the risk of diseases and fungus. A general clean-up and removal of winter debris (such as fallen twigs (but unusually large branches such as a 2 inch caliper may require a fee) and (late falling) leaves which is important in reducing the risk of diseases and fungus that winter over in the decomposing leaves. Spring clean-ups may include edging and/or turning the beds, installing mulch, peat moss or soil amendments, by special arrangement. Client is responsible for providing a means to dispose of trash (usually a trash can outside somewhere), but organic debris is taken away by us and composted. Please make sure all animal excrement is picked up, as we will not handle it. Please arrange for the removal of any branches larger than 2 inch caliper, (the diameter of the largest branch), excessive amounts of garbage, litter, all animal excrement and the repair of any snowplowing damage not caused by us. EG is responsible for removing leaves, sticks (2 inch caliper or less), repairing snowplow damage caused by the English Gardener and gathering together, loading and disposing of organic debris. Notice the spring and fall leaf clean-ups (listed below) are related in that if weather permits we will do fall leaf clean-ups often into December, which minimizes the extent of the spring clean-up. Fall Cleanup Service Essentially the same as a spring clean-up, except there are several visits and the concentration of leaves is greater! Still important for disease prevention, and leaf removal makes for a healthier lawn.Customer is responsible for removal of larger branches, garbage , litter and animal excrement. EG is responsible for removing leaves and twigs smaller than 2² in caliper in beds and on the lawn. If you compare the descriptions of both services you will see why they are both important. If we are instructed to carry out a spring clean-up and no fall clean up was carried out the fee will be approximately equal to the sum of both fees. (Unfortunately we are often unable to repair some damage caused by leaving rotting leaves in beds over winter.) that winter over in decomposing leaves. 12-Month Program This is our most popular, customized service program. It consists of the Lawn, Snow and Seasonal clean-ups. Other services can be added. The fee for this service can be paid for with 12 equal, monthly installments. In conclusion The discipline of scheduled, consistent maintenance ensures the health and beauty of your garden. Many clients choose a twelve-month package, which includes lawn cutting, fall and spring leaf clean-ups and snow plowing. Additional services may be added to the package as well. Twelve-month packages are invoiced in twelve equal, monthly installments. While the twelve-month package includes many of your outdoor regular maintenance obligations, it is only a suggestion! We encourage our customers to design their own maintenance packages, which we then price accordingly. Services not required every year (such as mulch) are provided per your approval. Your garden has unique characteristics, which we will learn while working at your property. After a full year of service, we review and analyze the success of each service program. [Back To Top] |
Copyright İ 1998 English Gardener, Ltd. | Tel: (716) 833-8000 | Fax: (716) 446-9109