Time to get busy

This is a great time of year in our industry; winter is a distant memory, the sun is out and Chelsea Flower Show is in build up.

We're into a new season and it's time to grow some gardens and grow our businesses too.

The customers too, are keen to crack on and enjoy their gardens and make the most of the warmer, lighter evenings, to light their bbqs and get some quality time with their families.

So think now about what you need on your vans over the summer and make sure you've got all the spares you need to maintain your clients' gardens too.

For irrigation, systems make sure you've got double and triple tap packs, irrigation timers, batteries, sprinklers, drip-line and pipe joiners.

For ponds, make sure you've got spare UV lamps, some G4 sealer and a PondoVac.

For garden lighting, make sure you carry spare lamps, heat shrink and cable connectors.

As a contractor, you don't want to get caught short and not have the spares you need to get the job done on the day, and you definitely don't want to have to make a special trip back just for the sake of some spare parts that cost a few pounds.

Don't forget to make sure you check out our Essentials range too, we've got all the basics at rock bottom prices. We've got trade quality gaffa tape, tarps, floor protection, flex tubs gloves, rope, rubble sacks, line marker spray, flagging tape, brick lines, safety tapes, WD40, hand wipes and screwdriver bits all at proper trade prices, not the prices you might see in your builders merchants.

Stock up now and have a good summer.

Spring has sprung!

This is a great time of year; we're done with the worst of the winter, the sun is starting to feel a little warmer, the light has changed and the days are getting longer. Soon we'll be putting the clocks forward and British Summer Time will be officially underway.

In our industry, the season has started and it'll be flat out until the end of the year and unless you're organised, life will be harder than it need be and your business will be less profitable than it ought to be.

So think now about what you need on your vans over the summer. Make sure you've got the right tools for the job and ensure they are sharp and well maintained.

Make sure you've got all the spares you need to maintain your clients' gardens too.

For irrigation, systems make sure you've got double and triple tap packs, irrigation timers, batteries, sprinklers, drip-line and pipe joiners.

For ponds, make sure you've got spare UV lamps, some G4 sealer and a PondoVac.

For garden lighting, make sure you carry spare lamps, heat shrink and cable connectors.

As a contractor, you don't want to get caught short and not have the spares you need to get the job done on the day, and you definitely don't want to have to make a special trip back just for the sake of some spare parts that cost a few pounds.

Don't forget to make sure you check out our Essentials range too, we've got all the basics at rock bottom prices. We've got trade quality gaffa tape, tarps, floor protection, flex tubs gloves, rope, rubble sacks, line marker spray, flagging tape, brick lines, safety tapes, WD40, hand wipes and screwdriver bits all at proper trade prices, not the prices you might see in your builders merchants.

Stock up now and have a good summer.

What to expect in 2015

Coming out of one of the wettest winters ever recorded, it was a huge surprise to everyone that 2014 was, on the whole, a good year for our industry.

No-one could have expected that after all the rain, 2014 would have been one of the nicest summers for many years. Sustained periods of warm sun coupled with long days had the desired effect of tempting people back outside to start using their gardens. With the first warmth of spring, everyone jumped at the chance to get outside and, as the heat of the summer began to build, we all started to enjoy being in the garden once again; sitting back with the newspaper and a cup of coffee on the terrace, relaxing in the sun after a long day at work, having family and friends around for a weekend barbecue and not to mention the occasional dinner party or hot-tub drink.

It's hard to imagine that this time last year the BBC gorged itself on endless reports showing the flooding over great swathes of Somerset and the Thames Valley; people's houses and businesses submerged under meters of water, livestock having to be moved to higher ground, whole areas unrecognisable from the air and you'll remember at the time, it felt like the rain would never stop.

Luckily, all the al-fresco living that we enjoyed triggered something of an upsurge in gardens being built and gardens being renovated. Customers really saw the value in spending on their gardens, they saw an immediate benefit of being able to enjoy their outside space. Furthermore, because the summer wasn't a one-week-wonder, customers have continued to spend money on their gardens over the winter with a view to maximising the summertime in 2015.

So, with the forward momentum of 2014 pushing us into 2015, let's all look forward to a busy and buoyant season this year.

The green shoots of recovery...

It's over, the worst recession for 100 years is finally over. 

UK growth has finally recovered to the levels of 2008 and with more and more positive economic data being released on a weekly basis even the BBC are having to find another way to dish out bad news.

That said, the economic growth does seem to be quite London centric at the moment but over the coming months I think we can expect the growth to ripple across the country, people will begin to feel more affluent and more inclined to start investing money in their gardens.

So what now? 

At Landscapeplus we want your business to be successful and we want your business to grow so the more we can do to help, the better it is for you and the better it is for us too.

We are your one-stop-shop for technical landscaping product and we want to supply everything you need to build your gardens besides plants [nurseries] and heavy materials [builders merchants]. So please tell us if there are other products that you think we should be supplying because we want to know. 

A big part of our business ethos is about creating healthy, long-term business where we partner up with our customers and our suppliers and we work hard at developing mutually beneficial relationships. 

So please feel free to tell us if there are other products that you have trouble sourcing or that you can't get at the right price and we'll do our best to supply them. 

Call or email your suggestions and we will source the products, put them on test if they are new or unfamiliar and negotiate the best rates for you.

It's time to make the jump from Halogen to LED lighting

You might have heard that halogen lighting is going to be phased out in the next few years and so everyone will need to switch across to LED lighting in gardens.

LED now provides everything you need from garden lighting - it is low heat, so no chance of a child burning themself by touching a light, the lamps are guaranteed to last for 100,000 hours, the light is now the same warm light that you are used to and LED is quicker and easier to fit than halogen.

However, if you’ve tried to buy LED, you’ll probably have found a chaotic mass of incompatible light fittings, confusing drivers and different power supplies – so how are you supposed to choose?

At Landscapeplus, we have stripped away all that complexity to provide you with exactly what you need, as a garden professional.

It’s so simple that you only have to make one main decision before choosing your fittings.

Our LED system is quicker and easier to install than halogen, the fittings are all compatible and best of all our LED system is dimmable and with soft-start, is just that bit nicer than halogen.

So, what do you need to know?

The main thing you need to know is that you can have Standard Power zones and High Power zones and each have their own family of fittings.

So, as long as you put Standard Power fittings onto the Standard Power zones and High Powered fittings onto the High Powered zones, you’ll have no problems.

Better still, within a garden you can have as many zones as you want, some with Standard Power and some with High Power and that’s absolutely fine as long as you put the right fittings on the right zones.

So to sum up, LED lighting is now the right choice for you, the garden professional, and with running costs 90% lower than halogen, your client is going to thank you every time.

So, if you are ready to start using LED then call us at the office on 01666 577577 and we’ll talk you through it in detail.

Things to remember to do...

It's a busy time of year for landscape professionals, moving from late summer into autumn, so I thought I'd give you a quick reminder of a few things that you can take care of for your customer to ensure that their gardens look their best.

1. Drain down the irrigation system before the winter; the plants don't need the water. For tap-based systems, switch off the water supply, remove the controller, shake out the water and take it inside and let the water out of the filter unit.
2. Check garden lighting over properly; inspect cables and fittings for damage, check the lamps still work, check the switch still operates the lights and if it runs on a dusk sensor or timer, adjust this to suit the winter hours.
3. Consider whether the garden lighting system needs to be overhauled or added to, as the garden has evolved and developed over the years.
4. If your client hasn't got lighting then now is the time to install it so that they can look out onto their garden during the long winter months. They get a professional lighting systems and you do a bit more business with them, a win-win
5. Check pond pumps, clean out the filters and replace UV lamps if necessary.
6. Invest in an Oase PondoVac (or get each of you clients to) and you can remove the sludge and debris from the bottom of the pond.
7. Fit a pond cover net over water features for the next couple of months or until the leaves have fallen. That way, your clients water feature won't become clogged with leaves.

By being proactive and not waiting until something has gone wrong, these easy fixes help your client, save them money and help your business at the same time.

The world of lighting is changing

Halogen vs. LED, the choice is yours...

You may have noticed but over the last few years, garden lighting has changed beyond all recognition. Why? Because there is a new kid on the block – LED lighting.

Halogen lamps have been used in garden lighting for a number of years and they replaced, to a large extent, the old-fashioned mains voltage lighting such as the PAR38. It's true that there are other lamps around such as compact fluorescent and cold cathode but for this article, I’m focusing on the most important lamps in our industry, the ones that do the lions share of the work.

Anyone who has used halogen lamps will know that although it is a predictable light source, it is by no means perfect. For example, halogen lamps produce a tremendous amount of heat (so the light fittings can become very hot to touch), the lamp life is not great and running halogen lamps uses a lot of energy – just try multiplying the number of fittings in a garden by the wattage of the lamps and you’ll begin to understand the running costs.

More recently though, LED has come onto the market and it’s arrival seemed to counter all the issues of the halogen lamp ie LED lamps generate little heat, they have a very long lamp life and use a fraction of the energy to run. LED also has other benefits such as colour; any colour in the rainbow, which can either be held on a tone of your choice or, can colour change imperceptibly throughout the whole spectrum.

So, LED is the answer, yes?

Well not quite, until now there have been two problems with LED:

1.   As a new technology, manufacturers have been developing their own ranges of LED fittings, in isolation, which has led to confusion and product incompatibility issues between different manufacturers and sometimes even between ranges from the same manufacturer! The reason that this has occurred is that LED fittings must be correctly matched to the right driver (the electrical device that regulates the power to the fittings) for them to work and because the manufacturers had been doing their own thing, it had got to the stage where no one really knew which drivers would work with which fittings.At last though, this issue has now been resolved and by using the Standard Power LED driver or the High Power LED driver you can, to a large extent, mix and match your fittings without the risks of incompatibility.

2.     The other issue that has dogged LED lighting is that of understanding the light output of an LED lamp compared to that of the more familiar halogen fitting and it is this issue that has often discouraged Designers and Landscapers from taking the plunge and moving from halogen to LED. For example, when confronted with a 1w, 3w or even a 9w LED how might it compare with a 20w, 35w or 50w halogen, can I be certain of the light output and am I sure enough to recommend it to my client?

 Well to help you on your way, you can see the Landscapeplus.com lighting comparison images which will help you compare and contrast the different lamps that are available and give you a real sense of the light output you might expect.

So at long last, LED lighting, which everyone thinks of as simple and straightforward, is now just that, simple and straightforward.