ATC1983

Ok point taken - but so far noone has come back and told me how to approach the weeding issue - is it better to put down a course of selective weedkiller, then come back later for weedkilling, or kill one weed at a time, or manually dig? Bearing in mind the public I'm dealing with are looking for general tidy-ups - not entry into a national contest. I'm asking in order to help get it right in future.

No the issue was the strimmer wire got caught, and wouldln't dislodge. Also I wasn't using a self-winding head, and not being used to the new one kept feeding the line too far through on the separate opening, causing it to fly out after every 10 secs. Stupid I know - but I did say I'm a beginner.

ok - notes taken - the stuff I was using was this: [ame=http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B000TAOWIM/ref=s9_simh_gw_p86_d1_g86_i1?pf_rd_m=A3P5ROKL5A1OLE&pf_rd_s=center-2&pf_rd_r=08N0KX09DMGZ844W0HTY&pf_rd_t=101&pf_rd_p=467128533&pf_rd_i=468294]EverGreen Feed & Weed 100 sq m Liquid Concentrate Lawn Food and Weedkiller: Amazon.co.uk: Garden & Outdoors[/ame] Evergreen lawn feed and weed - I assumed this would be ok?

So after getting most of the stuff I need together to go into gardening I got my first job, yesterday, which carried over into today. I got a call from a guy wanting his front lawn cut and the front moss on his patio taken out. So I priced the job at £15, not thinking it would take too long, and that would cover the cost of weedkiller. The lawn was covered in weeds, and needed reseeded in parts. I bought two types of weedkiller - one for the lawn, which apparently does kill grass, and another just for the patio, which apparently kills grass as well. I did the job, but my strimmer played up, leaving me to handcut the lawn with shears - then I got the strimmer up and firing again and finished the cut. I then dragged off the debris with a rake and brush, and reseeded parts of the lawn, whilst applying the lawn weedkiller. My first question is is it ok to both apply a grass seed whilst putting down weedkiller? The bottle says not to do this, but I just used it in small amounts, my idea being that rather than redig the entire lawn overtime it would be possible to rechange the balance against weeds - is my logic flawed doing this? I then went on to hoe the weeds on his patio and put down moss killer on the worst parts. In total the job took me 2hrs 30, mostly because of the strimmer issue - and I now know because I'm taking so much time to clear up with just the rake and brush. After this the guy took me on today, and I quoted him £25 to do his back lawn, which was very much overgrown with weeds and a total mess generally. I also pruned back a tree at the back. He paid me £30 in the end. This took 3hrs 30, and again I reseeded, and put down the lawn weedkiller over the worst effected parts of the lawn. Again - was this the right thing to do? To eventually try to rebalance out the lawn by a combination of seeding and weedkilling? I can see my main drawbacks are: time spent raking / uncertainty over method. In total I made £38 profit, out of £45, which I'm happy with. The total work time was 6hrs, which I know is unacceptable, but I think I did do a good honest job and have cleaned the place up. Can any of you guys help with respect to time - I suppose this could be fixed by a blower - and an efficient weeding strategy / reseeding grass? Thanks in advance - bear in mind I'm a total beginner.

Just wondering what other people's methods are and what killer you're using to get it off and keep it off?

Is engine size important - it's just I was going to get a Ryobi off Amazon for £146 but there is a mikita at £186 - reduced from £370 odds. I think the Ryobi though has a higher CC engine. How much should one read into this? I mean I got a Ryobi hedgetrimmer at 30cc and the husqy was at 26cc - would the husy still be the meaner piece of equipment for cutting despite having a lower engine size?

Yeah I know but a lot of places people don't talk to their neighbours, or their neighbours are using equipment, I meant national, bad word I concede, in the sense of trying to cover a broad market.

Discuss: I'm offering hedge-hutting, lawn mowing, strimming, pruning and tree-work. I've already got my advert in Yellow pages (only under Garden Services it appears thoug, wonder if I need to re-list my advert for every search criteria on Yell?) So what is best - going national via something like Yellow pages hoping to cover a big area, or literally going door to door with flyers or business cards, or putting up notices in shops?

Hi was looking others' views on which blower/vac mulcher is best on the market for power and price? For those of you who read my other thread about starting into basic gardening I think this is probably the last piece of equipment I got to buy before I go out there. Have done one large garden for experience and it's come up very well, but it's taking forever to rake all the debris and soil - the garden hasn't been done in 3 years and it's weedy / moss as hell. So I've taken the approach of digging much of this out and, as the garden is so long and backs onto a park, putting most of the debris up against the fencing to the parkland. My conclusion is I should be using a blower / vac to dramatically speed up this process as the rake is to laboursome? Also just a question on lawnmowers - I got a Briggs and Stratton lawnmower at £270, self-propelled, which is good but very heavy and I think maybe too big for a lot of the properties and lawns I intend to pitch for. Can anyone recommend a nice light weight one, that is easy to turn, and is petrol driven to get around in?

Yeah that's the probem - at least 12 weeks with no work. Is it normal to set aside cash to get through the Winter? Someone was advising me to get a leaf blower and clear up leaves during the Winter months but would people actually pay for this?

I'm in Belfast and the figure I'd be working on is minimum £8-10 per job or £12 per hour. I would be looking at working two days mid-week and maybe Saturdays and Sundays if I could get it. I know some will hate me for saying it but I do intend to take a liberal approach to tax - I can't afford not to as in this part of the world so much business is already cordoned off by by undercutters who get left alone because of political reasons by the police and authorities, and it would break me just starting out having to pay up business tax and insurance as well as i/tax and ni. If I make reasonable money out of it, assuming I'm starting out in March, then I'll be a bit more up front with the authorities but I'm snookered at the moment. Business will be in three areas: Tree felling, mowing and hedge cutting, with a premium for tree felling. Transport will be a people carrier - with more space than a Berlingo, and maybe a trailer (not sure what range to go to - can afford up to £500 which would get me a nice brand new one). Advertising - I might use Yellow pages but will certainly be in local papers. What are people's annual advertising budgets? And is Yellow pages worth it? A lot of oldies will certainly still read the book rather than go online so I expect a lot of business will be with them. What are the start up costs for a website? Costs: Already own a Husky, and can go pure Husqvarna for mower, strimmer and hedge trimmer for under £1200. That combined with say an advertising outlay would put me in business for I estimate £1700 total. It's exhilirating thinking about it but it's scary at the same time.

Hi Would just like to canvass other posters views on these two choices as options in setting up a small scale gardening business. I'd be interested in whether generally people charge per hour or per job; whether lawn mowing or hedge trimming attract equal or different rates of pay; whether it's possible, or even desirable, to concentrate on one business line over another (ie if it's better solely to do lawn mowing or hedge trimming); what approaches people take with advertising - local gazette, or yellow pages, or gumtree, or whatever; how many jobs should ideally be done per day and at what rate etc I know it's a 'how long is a piece of string' query in some respects but would appreciate the personal experience more than anything of others in the field.

What about Husqvarna Hedge Trimmers - saw one today for the £250-350 mark depending on model. Any thoughts on these?

Yeah I bought - at great expense - all the ppe. Just sawed up a large pallet for fire kindle. For the record I've no history of working with machinery and to me it's as mystifying as the internet would be to people in their 70s. But thanks for all the advice.

Got it working again, took a while for engine to dry out, but working like a dream now. Brum brum.

Yes, I put the chain oil in with two stroke then tried to fire it up with that. Sadly this is not joke thread. Tried it earlier again; I refilled the tank after advice on the forum but haven't been able to get it started again, although I'm still getting the initial rev when pulling on the crank cord. Yes I was shown this on cs 30 - for all 20 seconds - so not being in a daily chainsaw environment it is an easy, albeit stupid, mistake to make. And I've only used the saw about 10 times since I got a couple of months ago. I'm going to start into gardening soon so will have greater need to use it then, but will be buying where possible only electric equipment to avoid this type of hassle. I maybe should have got an electric chainsaw but then they're so low powered compared to proper ones and there's nothing like the feeling of tree felling with a Husq.

I've taken the cs30, several months ago, but it was a 2 day course and have used the saw about 10 times since. I've just screwed up in refuelling, as use of a saw isn't a daily occurence for me.

Ok, have got the petrol, emptied the saw and refuelled, but no start. I've stripped the top off the saw and taken out the spark plug, and when I pull the cord can hear the petrol bubbling about inside it. Someone told me on here before what to do when you've flooded the engine - is it just a question of yanking the ignition cord a few times without the spark plug in?

What I said earlier and did today - chain oil / 2 stroke in a rough 50-1 mix, probably more like 40-1 mix. I'll just empty that out then refuel with petrol?

When I bought the saw it was fuelled on purchase, so would have been fuelled with petrol and 2 stroke before I took it away. I assume at least it would have been 2 stroked before sale.

I get you now - petrol and 2 stroke and chain oil in the other compartment. As I say it's the first time I've done this. I'll empty the fuel section now, then head off to get petrol. For 5 ltrs of petrol it would be 100ml of 2 stroke?

Ok, so should I buy standard unleaded - not diesel - petrol, then mix it with the pro performance 2 stroke oil? And the other oil is for the guide bar and chain?

What oil am I supposed to be buying - I've got the 2 stroke bit right, but what oil from b/q would I be buying if not the one linked above?

The saw's almost brand new.... I have a separate grease for doing those things - I can't think now what bloody oil I should have been buying...

Ok - but am I using the right oil to begin with? Just looking at the oil it does saw chain oil - this is the normal oil to which I add the two stroke? TBH when I refilled it I put 100ml in then a small amount of 2 stroke; then added the rest from the bottle, and guessed (cringe) a small amount of 2 stroke afterwards. I know this is totally the wrong way to go about things and is very arse about face. Will the saw still run with inaccurate mixtures, just poorly?