July

In the business

Gardening rounds and lawn-cutting operations will be in full swing this month with plenty of regular maintenance to be attended to. This is a time that many regular gardeners’ diaries are full and therefore now is a good time for the newcomer to launch their business.

Tax due. The only thing this month to dampen your spirits is that your second payment on account to the Inland Revenue will be due at the end of the month. You should also, if you haven’t already, give some thought to completing last year’s tax return. If you would like the Inland Revenue to calculate your tax bill for you then you must send them your completed return before 30 September. Obviously the later you do this, the more time you will have to wait before finding out how much your tax liability is going to be. My advice is to complete your form as early as possible. This way you can accurately budget for your tax liability in your forecasts.

Services you can offer

• Garden sitting service for holidaymakers.
• Garden clearance.
• Hedge trimming.
• Lawn care and cutting.
• Seasonal pruning.
• Garden coaching.
• Wood treatment of fencing, summer houses, sheds etc.
• Planting seasonal bedding (last chance).
• Preparing ground for new lawns ready to be laid in the autumn.
• Rose care – deadheading and feeding.
• Prune wisteria.
• Fruit trees – thin out remaining fruit after June falls. August

August

This is often the quietest month of the year. Gardeners with gardening rounds will find much of their work concerned with maintaining order and beauty in the garden as opposed to undertaking any heavy work. Lawn-cutting services will not be affected by any downturn in work, but the same cannot be said for those running general gardening businesses. It is here that the ‘quiet’ period will be felt most, but this should not impact too drastically on your sales provided you’ve been prudent and forward planned.

In the business

Next month you’ll find your services in great demand as the autumn begins in earnest. If you’ve worked hard during the winter, moved mountains in the spring and had a busy summer so far, why not take a break and have a holiday? I shut my business completely for the latter two weeks of August and take a well-deserved holiday. Obviously, if you are operating either a gardening round or a lawn-cutting service, this will not apply to you. But for anyone else operating an all-year round gardening business, now is as good a time as any to take yourself off and recharge those batteries in anticipation of the autumn deluge!

But don’t forget to:

• Review how your business has operated during the last months and identify the areas you need to improve on.
• Decide now whether or not you’re going to keep your business open all year round. If you decide to keep your business open you will need to plan your autumn and winter sales strategy.

Services to offer

• Garden sitting service.
• Watering service.
• Beds and borders maintenance.
• Lawn-cutting.
• Seasonal pruning.
• Fruit trees – last opportunity to summer-prune apple and pear trees.
• Hedge trimming.
• Garden clearance.
• Rose care – deadheading.
• Preparing the soil for new lawns to be laid in the autumn.

September

All too quickly our summer is gone, evenings are getting shorter and we’re heading towards that least favoured of times – winter. But don’t despair. Autumn is one of the busiest times in the gardening year and certainly there is no shortage of work for you to be getting on with.

In the business

You have until 30 September to send your tax return to the Inland Revenue, should you wish them to calculate your tax liability for you. Otherwise you must send your tax return and pay your tax due on or before 31 January.

If you’re operating a gardening round or lawn-cutting service, and you are planning to close your business for the winter months, then September may well be your last month of trading. Whether or not you continue through October and November will depend on climatic conditions. My experience has been that regular clients are keen to have their gardens ‘put to bed’ by early October at the latest. Remember, too, that from now on the days will be getting shorter, which will result in you having less working hours available in your diary.

Services you can offer

• Pre-season greenhouse service. Now is the time to have broken window panels, leaks and uncooperative doors sorted out before the bad weather begins.
• Autumn garden clearance.
• Leaf sweeping and removal service – this is a very popular service. Few people enjoy having to wade through and sweep up seemingly unending piles of leaves.
• Planting time for new trees, shrubs.
• Transplanting time for many evergreen shrubs.
• Scarifying service. This involves removing dead grass, weeds and moss from the lawn’s surface. Hiring a machine is usually more cost effective than purchasing one.
• Aeration service, reducing compacting on the lawn which has occurred during the summer period. Generally achieved by using a garden fork, but depending on the surface area of the lawn you may find that you need to hire a machine. Don’t be tempted to buy one.
• Turfing. Ideal time to lay new turf.
• Cut down and divide perennials.
• Clean beds and borders of spent bedding plants and dig in some quality compost.
• Garden ponds cover with netting to prevent leaves from covering the water.
• Seasonal pruning.
• Give hedges a final tidy-up.

October

Towards the end of October many seasonal or part-time gardening businesses will close. Lawn-cutting services will most likely have completed their final cut by the time the month draws to an end. General gardening businesses will still be very busy.

In the business

If you’re shutting your business now is the time to finalise your accounts. Don’t be tempted to put the books away promising to look at them again prior to re-starting, because there is no better time than the present to analyse your seasonal performance.

• Cast a critical eye over your expenditure and look at ways of reducing your costs and making your operation more efficient.
• Sales did you achieve your seasonal targets? If you exceeded then great, now set even more ambitious ones for next year. But if you failed to meet them you’ll need to know why. If this was your first season in business, then perhaps you were over-ambitious. Don’t be too hard on yourself, but do look at ways of improving your performance and maximising profit.
• Services – now is as good a time as any to prune the list of services you offer. Get rid of those that you feel just weren’t worth it, or that you particularly didn’t enjoy doing.
• Prices – by the end of your first season you’ll have a better idea of market rates in your area. How did your prices compare? If generally you found that your prices raised no objections, or that you didn’t lose any work to a competitor, this indicates that you may have been undercharging.

Services to offer

• General gardening clearance.
• Leaf clearance.
• Pre-winter wind check. This is where you ensure that all stakings for trees and shrubs are secure and replace those that aren’t.
• Hedge trimming where necessary.
• Digging service. Autumn is the best time for digging over soil and then leaving it for the winter frosts to break down.
• Turfing.
• Cutting back remaining perennials that have finished flowering.
• Continue where necessary lifting and dividing clumps of perennials.
• Fencing – repairs and erections.
• Seasonal pruning.

November

There is still lots to do this month clearing out gardens and preparing them for winter.

In the business

Depending on the weather you will find that you now have time for getting on with bookwork and business planning. Similar to those operating seasonal rounds, now is a good time to review past performances and work out future strategies.

Services to offer

• Garden clearances.
• Leaf clearance.
• Winter digging.
• Turfing.
• Greenhouse repairs.
• Fencing erection and repairs.
• Fruit trees – winter pruning.
• Hedge trimming – conifers.
• Planting – bare-rooted roses.
• Winter pruning of deciduous trees and shrubs can now begin.

December

Happy Christmas!

Cold and rain will now be an unwelcome visitor to your business. However, don’t despair. Before you know it you’ll be turning over a new year in your diary and looking forward to the spring.

In the business

There is still lots to do in the garden. My experience has been that the worse the weather the busier you will be. Make sure that you have adequate clothing to see you through this period. You’ll need a good set of waterproofs (make sure you get a waterproof high visibility jacket for when you’re working roadside) and some decent fleeces.

Services to offer

• Christmas trees. Quite rightly there is increasing interest in sustainable Christmas trees. You could put together a package, which includes supplying and fixing the Christmas tree indoors, returning in January to plant the tree outside.
• Garden clearance.
• Winter pruning.
• Rose pruning.
• Supplying and fitting greenhouse insulation.
• Removing unwanted shrubs.
• Winter digging.
• Composting.

Managing your diary

It’s essential that when you are asked to do something that is not possible because it is not in season, for example laying a new lawn in August, you book the work in for a later date. For example:

• Start booking autumn scarification and aeration treatments in summer when you discuss lawn care with your clients.
• If you’re asked to do some digging in the height of the summer when the ground is like concrete, book the work in for the autumn. Agree a price, book the work in your diary and confirm the appointment in writing.

If you adopt this strategy then difficult months become easier and you won’t find that you wake up in the small hours of the morning worrying about having enough work to see you through the winter months.

Summary

• Get into the habit of forward planning. You should be planning your winter sales campaign in summer, your spring campaign in winter and so on.
• Be imaginative. Wet and windy conditions may mean that you can do little actual gardening, but there will be lots of fences to repair, greenhouses damaged and so on.
• Continually monitor your performance against your business plan and don’t be afraid to revise and review your business goals.
• Use your diary – by far the best tool in your armoury. Make it work for you!