Hello Gardeners,

Another autumn/winter season is upon us - all too soon, it seems. Once more it is time to start putting the garden 'to bed', preparing the lawn for its winter rest, tidying the beds and borders (but not too tidy as we want the Ladybirds, Lacewings and other beneficial beasties to have somewhere warm and dry to over-winter), bringing our tender plants into the warm and then sitting down to plan for next year.

There is nothing new to report with regard to the maintenance work; this sort of work just rolls on, like the seasons. Some of the work has been difficult to finish because of the dryness of the ground - we have had no rain in this corner of Essex since 20 th August, by my reckoning, and it is now 17th September.

I am disappointed to report that our entry in the BALI Awards this year did not make the grade but, like Robert the Bruce's spider, we will try, try, try again! Click here to see the project.

On the landscaping side of the business, we have laid our largest area of artificial lawn this summer and, even if I say so myself, I think it looks stunning - take a look at the photographs and see what you think. The artificial turf used was "Play Lawn", laid on an impact safety underlay; a rubber-crump infill was used on the surface to keep the blades upright and to add another safety dimension. It now provides an all weather surface for the young footballers of the household! And an added bonus for the grown-ups is NO maintenance!

	Double click on images to enlarge

The build-up of our professionally trained staff goes with the addition, in April, of James Alison, a B.Sc. Landscape and Amenity student, who is spending his sandwich year with us. He keeps us up to date with all the latest ideas from college - and we put him in touch with the real world! It is proving to be a good partnership.

Keep browsing our website - I think you'll like what you see and if you need any help with any aspect of gardening and landscaping please be sure to ring our Upminster Office or email us.

Colin