The Sketch Book and Shovel

When commissioned to design and landscape a new garden (especially around Glasgow) I am often asked to “have a look at the drainage”, or “do you think it’d look odd without a lawn, Nicky?” -  this is especially true for larger gardens or those which will be used by children or pets.

Lawn-care in the west of Scotland is a constant battle against moss, dampness and heavy clay soil; but still we all love to have that little bit of “green” in our gardens don’t we?  Lawns get muddy and need to be cut almost every weekend.  Lawns are nice but become a chore.  Not everybody likes chores.

So what about an artificial lawn then? Read the rest of this entry »

We are pleased to announce that we have become recommended regional installers of Perfectly Green artificial grass products!

We are set to reclaim the weekends for the good people of Glasgow and surrounding areas!

Perfect Regency	Perfect Buckingham
Perfect Ivy	Royal Grass Delite

“Perfectly Green supplies the most natural grass alternative and the best quality installation, to customers who want it. We pride ourselves on the standard of service and installation we provide due to our experienced, knowledgeable and helpful staff. Perfectly Green goes the extra mile to stand out from the rest, to provide you with a product and service that is second to none. We appreciate that the customer’s needs and wants are central to our business, so customer satisfaction is at the heart of everything we do.” Stuart Hedgecock, Perfectly Green.

We are looking forward to a successful and sustained partnership with Stuart and his team.

Nicky Patterson, Designer @ Gardenimprovements.com

Please check us out and connect with us at our profiles below!

Our weekly twitter digest:

• New Discussion Closing up gaps in a fence http://bit.ly/9HvUBR @ LJN #
• At GardenImprovements.com we always look out for cool and funky idea’s to inspire us. Check this out- http://bit.ly/1JuYzj #
• New Discussion Financing new machinery http://bit.ly/bdnqoI @ LJN #
• New Discussion Monty Don on Woodcraft http://bit.ly/bkE0K1 @ LJN #
• New Discussion Fly tipping by a local company doing work near my ladies place!! http://bit.ly/cgov5P @ LJN #
• New Discussion Working in the Commerncial Sector http://bit.ly/a20FTu @ LJN #
• New Discussion Suppliers of pergola/garden structures http://bit.ly/aYEmOI @ LJN # Read the rest of this entry »

A weekly digest of our tweets:

• FavBlogs: StudioG – I have a tiny little round up interesting accessories for your garden.  It’s all bird related … http://bit.ly/9SeuxL #
• Despite having “one of those faces” where ppl automatically assume they know me – I cant find a doppelganger anywhere…radio hosts perhaps? #
• If only we had a decent summer we could make use of these- http://bit.ly/3b1J8z We’re not holding out much hope at GardenImprovements.com! #
• Via LJN Forum: LJN – what is it worth ?: I started a post last week over our Hort Week subscriptions. Well, we got… http://bit.ly/cICj3k # Read the rest of this entry »

Landscaping and Garden Design – voluntary Customer Charter.

Here at GardenImprovements.com we aim to deliver a service that meets with your complete satisfaction.

We know how important it is to you that the goods and services that we say we can supply are delivered with the greatest of skill and expertise from management level right through to all operatives who work on our behalf.

Whilst it can never be 100% guaranteed that problems will never be encountered, we hope to demonstrate that we have the ability and the will to work with you to ensure you are provided with the best quality and service at all times.

With this in mind GardenImprovements.com have adopted this voluntary Customer Charter and commit to delivering on our promise.

You can be assured that we have the necessary landscaping skills and experience to meet your requirements.

We are committed to continuously seek improvement in all aspects of our business and we are actively involved in the training and development of our staff.

Our voluntary Charter requires us to aspire to the following:

* Continued self assessment and ongoing training were practicable. Maintaining proper records and accounts and staying up to date with current legislation, health and safety and delivering best practise at all times.

* Declare to any potential customer the length of time we have been trading and provide, if required, up to 5 customer references and allow inspection of at least one previous project.

* Put in place and maintain all the necessary insurance covers including public and employers liability.

This voluntary Charter also requires that, in the unlikely event of any dispute involving price or workmanship that GardenImprovements.com shall agree to have their work inspected by any independent person or persons who are satisfactorily qualified in Landscaping or Horticulture relevant to the activity that has been carried out.

This voluntary customer charter was initiated by the Landscape Juice network which provides a forum for UK landscapers and gardeners and seeks to improve industry standards through shared knowledge.

Well our 2009 garden building year was cut a week short by the snow and ice and we have had an extended break over winter of 4 weeks!  We are champing at the bit and raring to go for 2010, only as we return to work today we find everything still covered in 4 inches of ice and snow!  So to the design studio then and to make sure we are ready for the exciting projects we have lined up for 2010!

This year we will be building a number of exciting gardens around Glasgow and the west of central Scotland, including 2 primary school eco-gardens and our aim is to make sure we are documenting the progress in each project – so expect video diaries, twitter updates, blog showcase articles and even some press coverage!

We will be available (as soon as the ice thaws!) for consultations for your garden design or driveway build from Monday 18th January.

Wishing you a Happy New Year and all the best for 2010!

Nicky Patterson, Designer @ Gardenimprovements.com

Please check us out and connect with us at our profiles below!

We have now installed our chat facility at the GardenImprovements.com website so that new customers can contact us directly to quickly ask about our service before they proceed with their enquiry!  You can ask us if we work in your area, if we are available for a meeting, for quick tips, or for the name of reputable tradesmen who offer different garden services to our own – or whatever you want to ask!

Queries remain private from public viewing and you will always be chatting to me personally – messages are relayed to my mobile ensuring that I am readily available.  Messages will be accepted between 7am and 9pm Monday to Saturday.  If you want a query answered outside these hours simply drop me an email to studio@gardenimprovements.com and I shall respond at the first opportunity.

We were sociable before -and now we’re accessible too!!

Cheers!!
Nicky Patterson, Designer @ GardenImprovements.com

We received some mixed feedback form our December 2008 website revision with the flash navigation and music uploading.  I decided to remove the flash navigation and music altogether and changed the layout slightly to be simpler.

We have retained some the great fetures of the old site including our fantastic resources page showcasing all of our co-operative projects and our local business friendships as well as suppliers and helpful website links.  You can also now navigate to our main social networking sites such as twitter and facebook on the right hand sidebar and catch up on my latest updates via my twitter-feed at the bottom of the page.

We will probably be shifting the emphasis of our portfolio onto blog releases and onto our Facebook business page and a Flickr account.  We shall also shortly be announcing the launch of our YouTube channel which will serve as a video diary for our projects as well as showcasing our finished gardens and interviews with clients.  Exciting times!

The site will probably still be tweaked here and there but I would welcome any feedback you guys can deliever!

Cheers for now,

Nicky Patterson, Garden Designer @ GardenImprovements.com

Modern businesses need to provide transparency and good accessible information.  At GardenImprovements.com we are no different and have worked hard over the festive season to get our web presence invigorated so that we can present our new garden design and landscaping exploits to a fast-growing online market.

Social networking is fantastic for business-to-business networking and also allows clients to get more insight into our activities!  So why not get some more info on what we’re up to through our social networking:

Follow Nicky on Twitter

Join our Facebook Page

Join Nicky on Facebook

See us at Landscape Juice Network

Join us at LinkedIn

See our BT TradeSpace

Phew, quite a list but you should get involved! Look forward to hearing from you!

Nicky Patterson, GardenImprovements.com

Much of Glasgow has been bought, pulled down, built upon or developed in these past ten years and there have been tens of thousands of new properties built around the city.  New properties with gardens of course are where my interests are focused since they instantly require some form of landscaping and we have designed and landscaped more than a few in these past 4 years, but there seems to be a trend in the condition of the garden left to the new owners by the developers: If you have recently purchased a new-build property or are thinking of buying one; how much thought or relevance do you, or does the developer attribute to the garden at the point of sale?

by Nicky Patterson Read the rest of this entry »