Is anyone doing bed prep now?

[Mac]

Ive had a "brainstorm" recently. In the past, Ive always done my bed prep (mainly bed edging) during the spring rush just before a property is mulched. However, I believe Im going to begin preping my properties during the winter so they are ready to lay come spring time. Does anyone else do this? Have you thought of it and decided against it? I realize it wouldnt work in all areas, but in Ohio, about anything for weather goes. Just about all of Dec was over 40 degrees and we havnt had snow on the ground for a good 6 weeks.

[HardDaysKnight]

We're talking about getting out there. I enjoy the winter off to
rest the bones, but the mild weather is making us feel a bit guilty.

[VoodooChile]

Your production costs will go up, because you will be setting up twice to perform a task you would normally do in one fell swoop. Thus, be prepared to charge your maintaince accounts more than you did last year, and to face the fallout of that cost increase.

From a plant perspective, I would be worried about turf damage and soil compaction. Yeah, the ground is thawed here, but it is also sopping wet and smeary, in that way that only freshly thawed soil turns to slop.

We did leaf cleanup a few weeks ago, and had to take care in the shadier areas not to blast the turf directly cause the grass was peeling right up, and not to drag tarps through those areas cause boots would leave skid marks and the dragging flatten everything out.

A headstart is a good thing, but maybe getting all your design/estimating/accounting/employee/advertising ducks in a row is a better use of your time???

[bigviclbi]

Any new job I line up in the next week or two and the one I already got I am definately going to build the garden walls and lay the soil down as early as I can. It was 60 today and I have nothing to do. Of course February might revert back to normal, but the big boys who double book the spring have been out there all month making money. Then the first week of May I can bang out all the planting. I definately wouldn't prep my maintenance beds though.

[Mac]

Voodoo, i dont see how doing prep work now will increase my costs. As I do it now, the beds are preped immediately before mulching. As soon as the spoils are all loaded up, they are dumped at the landfill and the mulch is loaded up and hauled to the jobsite. Are you saying you do it differently?

As it is now, I visit the site twice anyways and dont see the issue coming the first time in late winter and the second time in spring.

Is it really going to be an issue running a few wheel barrels around the yard? They dont seem that wet and Ive seen the evidence of a few larger companies doing this vary thing recently.

[VoodooChile]

Here's how we do Spring start-up.

1) A laborer runs a blower consolidating the last of the leaves.

2) I hand edge the beds, while a laborer follows me loading the spoils into wheelbarrow or Dingo.

3) A trained laborer does major weeding in the beds: Garlic mustard, dandelions, the obvious skank.

4) Once I'm done edging, I finish the cutting-back and weeding, while the other guys bring on the mulch.

Typically we've got me and 3 guys. We do both large estates on the lake, and small residential lots.

I can't see how to turn this into a two visit process, without adding additional set-up and clean-up time. One of the efficiencies of a single visit is that wheelbarrows full of spoils and weeds return with mulch.

Once things dry out here, we could get away with edging, but weeding and mulching would have to wait until warmer weather and herbaceous plants emerge.

Just because you are working, doesn't mean you're making money.

In this instance, any bid maintaince account would be less profitable with two visits. Conversely, a time and materials account would put more money in your pocket-- you would profit from the inefficiency-- but you still might have to reckon with a client who balks at an unexpected cost increase.

Another productive form of Winter work is visiting these accounts and generating ideas/proposals for new work. Sell the client on this before the Spring clean-up, and you could fill out a day or two at an account that used to only fill part of a day.

Just my two cents...

[bill scheffler]

Just dont work the soil when it's too wet. It will set
up like cement.

Dig up a little soil, put it in your palm and gently roll it into a ball.
Tap the ball. If it crumbles then you are good to go. If it stays
in a clump or ball it is too wet and when it dries it will be hard as a rock.

If we dig/rototill the soil when it is too wet we will get field
bindweed, you know, that nasty viney morning glory. It germinates in low oxygen soils and digging wet will ruin pore
spaces and allows this stuff to germinate.

Treating our soils like that is unprofessional, altho the homeowner
probably will never know. It's just a pain in the ass when the
soil is brick hard in the summer!

Bill