Rescape Gardening & Landscaping

Bought through: Living Social
Voucher for: Two hours of professional garden maintenance (Value $100)

Rescape Gardening & Landscaping

I'm lucky enough to live in a home which has lovely front and backyards and I enjoy seeing them on a daily basis - it really is positively soothing and pretty much this side of paradise on a lovely warm day in Melbourne. Unfortunately, no one in my house is that great at gardening or clearing, and apart from the occasional run by Alister with his lawnmower, the grasses just grow and grow and grow... 

Before: Front Yard

This voucher popped up just when Spring was whispering she'd be here soon, and I snapped it up as I knew I would never get around to moving the lawns while the weather was being so changeable (and all that rain just promoted the continued growth!)

After: Back Yard

Booking Mark from Rescape Gardening was a little tricky, after initially answering my call and saying he'd get back to me, I

After: Front Yard

didn't hear a peep for almost two weeks even though I had left a couple of messages and even a detailed text with my voucher code and contact details. I patiently assumed that he would be pretty busy at this time of the year, as a lot of local councils have a big push for their green waste pick up ahead of the start of summer. He finally got back to me and we sorted out a weekday he would pop by and work on the gardens. 

Mimi the mouser

By this stage the grasses were out of control and almost up to my knees - I didn't envy his job - and my housemates and I decided that if he needed the extra time we would pay it. We also requested that he clear a disused compost bin from the backyard - we had recently stopped using it as it seemed to draw mice and rats like flies to honey and while my cat is a decent mouser, I don't think you can expect your pet to play full-time pest control advocate.

Before: Sidewalk

After: Sidewalk

Mark turned up at the time he stated - between 11.00 - 11.30am and had a quick chat to Alister, further clarifying from my texts about what we'd like worked on. Alister mentioned clearing the compost bin and Mark said he could do that and also put weed killer down the side walk pathways for about $35 for both - a reasonable price. 

Alister left to do his own work errands for the day and after a couple of hours, Mark contacted me to see if I would approve an extra hour as there was easily enough work. For an additional $27.50 per hour including GST, I happily gave him the go ahead, and monies were transferred via direct debit.

I was pretty excited to see how the place looked after all that, and was impressed by what Mark had achieved in three hours - I know it would have taken me far longer and made me much grumpier if I had to do it all. The local council provides a red topped green waste bin that is picked up fortnightly and we should be able to get rid of all the excess rubbish within the month. 

Bin removed, but not the compost...

Unfortunately, while Mark did take away the compost bin, I think we were hoping for too much to expect him to take away the compost too! As you can see from the photo, it's looking rather embedded with the shrubbery and I guess this is more of a waste management job. 
Alister suggested we wait till it gets completely dried out from exposure and then break it down into the soil. I guess all those eggshells could encourage earthworms to come stay!

Pros: Turned up at a good time; reasonable prices; good cutback on lawns, shrubbery, and weeds

Cons: Initially hard to contact