Everything was going smooth with Jon and his business partner Julian. Until they began to fall from grace.
You want to talk about lazy gardening. Look at all the crap Jon and Julian blows underneath my plants. They're too lazy to bend over and pick the debris up that they created. If they do my lawn and plants this way, you can expect the same treatment if you hire them too.
Instead of bagging lawn clippings a few weeks after hiring Jon and Julian. They "mulched" the clippings into the lawn without asking me. They were being lazy and didn't want to bag the clippings. I asked them never to do that again since I fertilize my lawn regularly. Grass clippings are not beneficial to my lawn. Lawn clippings don't immediately decompose, which Jon likes to imply. They need to be 1 inch or less to decompose in a month, otherwise they will remain in your lawn for months. Clippings can cause a fungus outbreak or kill the grass. I had to tell Jon and Julian to come back and remove the leaves from my lawn one day. My security cameras showed that Jon mowed the lawn and his partner blew the leaves back onto the lawn. They thought that was good enough so they left. I had to send him the video footage of this asinine approach to lawn care.
Just watch his "partner" blow leaves and grass clippings back onto the lawn. Then they leave and do not have a care in the world. Jon can say there is no video evidence, but I have months of footage of him just mowing and blowing. Just watch the video:
https://youtu.be/3PhT1-4c194?si= awveRN2BMh67uq47
I shouldn't have to point out a weed in my garden, but I do with Jon. I can spot a weed from 10 ft away, but Jon and Julian cannot. Look at the photo attachment of the weed they just "couldn't see." If they were actually checking the garden like they were supposed to then they would have seen the weed. My garden was his sole responsibility. Jon and Julian was supposed to be caring for my 8 plants weekly. There were times where they didn't touch the garden until I said something. Yes, it's all on video camera. Them showing up, mowing, and leaving.
I have irrigation emitters for my plants and bushes. Guess who kicked out 2 of the emitters? I told him 2 weeks in advance something was wrong with the plant. He said, "it's fine." He had to replace that plant because it obviously wasn't fine and was being deprived of water. Look at the picture of the plant when Jon said it was fine.
I requested for Jon to scalp my lawn so I could overseed it. Guess who left lots of 4+ inch grass clippings for me to clean up? Then he had the audacity to try and spread the clippings around. Excuse me, but I need SEED TO SOIL contact to overseed. Not seed to grass clippings contact.
Jon and Julian broke a front lawn sprinkler head and left it that way. I discovered it the very next day because I check the sprinklers after lawn care companies leave. There was water gushing out of the line for the sprinkler. I had to have a sprinkler technician come out to repair it because Jon ignored it. Jon is pissed because he's not allowed to touch my irrigation system anymore. He replaced a sprinkler in my backyard and tried to tell me it's not going the right distance due to water pressure. It was because Jon didn't level the sprinkler. It was pointed 5 degrees into the ground after the riser pops up. My sprinkler technician came out, leveled it, and it's doing just fine. Don't let this small business touch your lawn or irrigation.
My last gripe is about me having to tell them to sharpen their mower blades. Jon told me that they clean their mowers and sharpen the blades weekly. Well, that's not entirely true. They were using my water hose to clean off their mower a few weeks ago. Then he left the water ON. I'm not your babysitter. Jon had also told me in the beginning they have a mower for good lawns and one for lawns with weeds. He began using 2 mowers on my lawn. The mower that they use for lawns with weeds and that has unsharpened blades.
One day, Jon used a stand up mower on my 1K sq ft back lawn for NO reason at all. He ripped grass out of my lawn using that mower. That mower is NOT for a 1K sq ft backyard. As Jon was riding the mower, he
had to cross over my $5K decorative concrete lawn edging. He scratched up the edging. That mower shouldn't have been on my property to begin with. It just shows a lack of common sense.
Please look at my lawn on the YouTube video. I would NEVER let this company fertilize my lawn. Why? They don't fertilize anything unless you tell them to do it. You have to tell them to do their job, otherwise they will not. They didn't fertilize my bushes or plants in the spring until I said something. By this time it was practically summer. Lots of landscapers just do not do their jobs. It's laziness.
When someone tells you they don't need you to mow this week. That doesn't mean you just don't show up and NOT take care of the garden. They got too comfortable with me. read more