The power to do the job.
Hour after hour.

With the season fully on the turn and warmer days now starting.

The early established weeds and final seasonal fall of leaves and remaining branches that can and should be cleared; this is as good a time as any to get it done.

Save some of the garden detritus you are clearing up though and create a few small “scruffy areas” with that cleared matter.

To provide the homes back you may have just cleared out entirely.

These small areas can become good compost zones later, or just give your garden natural life that helps you and keeps bugs and predators or pests away while bringing in the sounds and song or sights of nature in your own space and place. Some leaf matter, twigs and other seasonal fall such as pine cones and needles, moss and thatch from lawn scarification and lawn grass clippings etc.

All great little homes or niches for critters and furry friends to you and your garden.

The last few weeks have all been about horsepower though for me.

Serious grunt work for a solid and tough machine to deal with a big task, and then more soon after.

I’ve had personal jobs to do down at my allotments and I had bought a new upgraded brushcutter to do a lot of the serious ground clearing, stubble removal, weeds and nettles clearing and culling as well as some more finicky or requiring finesse technical strimming through to solid bulk removal of grass to clear a path or new lawn area.

Those of my clients and friends who have seen me in action with a strimmer know me well enough to grasp I take no prisoners with it and the weeds or scrub is going quickly. So my Work machines get a fair work out. My personal ones though for the allotment; they get it harder. 🙂

I had a 2 week window to get 4 allotment plots into shape for the impending season. ( 5m x 24m x 4 plots = my allotments.)

All my current SOTG client workload had been set up and in hand prior to allow me to do what I needed + the lottie jobs to be strimmed and trimmed after Office Hours work was completed and before the light faded and stopped work.

Even taking into account the machine failure which prompted the emergency brushcutter upgrade…

None of it happened.

Blame Hyundai.

Today the Brushcutter came out though after the long and ridiculously poor aftercare and delivery.

Sales and their dispatch were top notch and fast as can be inside of a 24 hour period.

Warranty, parts and Customer services though. Very much luck of the draw and on the day depends how well your issue gets treated, dealt with, quoted for or even informed.

That and the rest is for the machine review, so sorry; small rant in F Major over Hyundai.

(When a safe and working unit got fueled up and primed, it does do the job though!)

So, apologies to those that had booked in for ground clearing and brush cutting over the next 2 weeks, there may be a week delay as I play catch up due to being down a cutting machine. Which will mean I won’t be able to allow the usual extra hour extended overtime run off if the job was thicker or heavier or due to stubborn terrain and extra strain on the machines or parts.

Any client wishing to cancel the booking may do so and a full refund will be issued when you confirm you wish to take that option if they feel the 4 or 5 hour slots won’t be enough to get the amount of work you want done in a single day.

Please note; due to recent confusion I’ve been asked to clarify.

I must point out that all Brush Cutting and strimming is done in an hour block booking and for every 45 minutes of Cutting with a machine the operator is entitled to a 15 minute noise and vibration break.

This mainly applies to the Petrol Powered Units that are used to Cut or Strim Brush or Grass or Hedges and Edges. Though even the smaller electric or BAttery powered units require a break after long periods of time.

(This is due to Vibration damage over time and is a health risk posed to operators of this kind of machinery.)

While often this time will be spent refuelling the machine or tending it or the harness and safety equipment worn to operate the machines for this length of time at a single go. It is also for the operator to take on board fluids or food, check in as safe and operating at optimum levels givens task and tools and location if lone working or at a remote Client Space. It may be used for W.C breaks if needed.

It is advised an extra hour start up and clear up is also booked for light strimming work.

This allows for fueling downtime, as well as line or blade breakage and jams.

Or as mentioned above; the terrain or foliage to be reduced or contained is heavier and denser, or has a much larger bore or width of material requires blades or line replacing or upgrading.

This can only often be discovered onced once the initial border rejuvenation process has started and the brush line, hedge, thickets or copse is cleared to reveal under the mass of foliage is littered with larger objects than can’t be cut with a Brush Cutter and Strimmer.

This often has to be cleared by hand or hand tools and can halt operations due to safety to machines and operators.

Light to Medium Brush and Scrub taming, Hedge baseline tidy, tree avenue wants a finesse.
– Min 2 Hour Booking incl Fueling/Tooling time.

If it is more than a few brambles and some invading weeds and nettles requiring line thicker than 1.9mm or a flat disc or flat metal blade of 3 teeth or more; then it is classed as Heavy Brush cutting or Heavy Scrub clearance.

Medium to Heavy Brush and Scrub taming, Hedge baseline tidy, tree line clearing or driveway management.

By Appointment Only.

Full PPE Deployment and Safety Operative.

This requires Prepayment to ensure Full PPE Deployment and Safety Operative can be booked as well as tool and blade costs are met.

So they are in stock for the job, as is fuel and lubricants and other machine sundries.

There is also a Security Deposit Charge for Machinery costs for coverage of undisclosed or hidden machine damaging incidents that cause Shadow of the Gardener downtime due to Time, Motion and Machine loss on site.

The payment required will be no more than the machine replacement cost and tooling to cover the task required by the client.

So a days fuel, lubes and line or blades + Machine replacement cost like for like = £200 prepayment security deposit required

In case of machine failure due to site damage not of nature and not down to Operator error.

The Invoice will reflect this when the job is completed and the deposit balance will be removed if no site damage or other Line or Cutting tools and fuel or lubes were required to complete the job.

A MINIMUM BOOKING OF 5 HOURS FOR HEAVY STRIMMING IS REQUIRED.

That has to be a consecutive booking, so a 5 hours slot all in one go unless there is a Machine issue or Emergency.

Or Health and Safety requires work to stop.

Half a days prep + half a day clean up after is advised to be booked when booking the initial cutting order to avoid under running the time to cut the length and material you want clearing.

Having a cleared working line prior to the heavy strimming can save time in the long run or costs as Strimmer line is cheaper than blades as is a strimmer line to run and power than a heavy blade. Staff can also move and operate faster and safer on a pre cleared cutting line for the heavy strimming and brush cutting machines and units that are required to run the heavy blades or mulching heads to clear that thick ivy or thorn and bramble, or years of hedging gone wild that needs taming. It also means clearing up is made easier and more efficient once the final cutting has been done.