This week we celebrated our 7th Birthday here at Ark Fencing & Garden Services. And boy those seven years have gone by quick! Sometimes starting something new is scary, and when we began, it was! But luckily, with lots of hard work and perspiration, things have worked out well!
The year we began this business was also the year we were married. After being together for eight years already mind you! People used to ask "how do you manage working together every day as husband and wife?" we just used to laugh. It was great. The best days were of course the days when the sun was shining and we were working hard on looking after all our garden maintenance jobs. That feeling when you get home after a hard day’s work, skin warm from the sun, money in your pocket and knowing it was all your own doing was fab. Of course there were hard times too, through winters and the financial crisis. But you live and learn. And we are still going so we must be doing something right.
In 2010 we were blessed with our beautiful little Summer Rose and that summer she came to work too. That was some juggling act, but she was a good baby and quite content which of course made it all that little bit easier.
In 2011 we took on our first labourer and I took a back seat on that side of things to focus on raising Summer at home and catch up on all that paper work and marketing! We still had the odd day out at work though, which she loved, and so did our customers! And here we are today. We all work hard, and put in maximum effort providing great results on our jobs and that's what makes the difference. When you try your best, nothing can stop you.
So there's a little piece of our history for you! But right now, spring is springing up and the days are brighter and a little bit warmer. Now comes the busy times!
I briefly mentioned lawn care in the last blog post. It is a good time to add some top dressing to your lawn and grass seed to thicken things up, adding some new healthy growth. It won't take long for the seed to germinate now and you'll soon see the results. If your lawn is in pretty good shape at this time anyway, it will benefit from regular mowing to keep it looking good.
If you have young children, you'll like to know that now is the time to plant those sun flower seeds - right where you want them to bloom. I can't wait; these are definitely one of my favourites since I’m such a big kid! It's also time to get those hedges tidied, if you haven't done so already.
We still have ongoing fences to build since all the storms back earlier in the year. We really have had a busy few months. One thing we have noticed this year is the price increase on timber! And all the suppliers seemed to put up their prices early, in February. Lately we have seen a steady increase in calls for garden maintenance. If things go well, you never know we might have room for another member in the team!
That's all for now, thanks very much for reading. If you want to find out more about us, take a look at our facebook page, we try to keep that up to date with our latest projects: www.facebook.com/arkgardenservices
