Check out our latest magazine... Read Online

A Green Thumbs Up

Advertising Feature: With spring on the horizon we sent Robert Veitch to meet the experts at GreenThumb who are working hard to create beautiful, healthy lawns for their customers, all year round

The boundless enthusiasm of Helen Sheriff, Gavin Hawkins, Mark and Michele Walton is something to behold. Ask them anything lawn related and their eagerness to offer a solution is obvious.

Helen and Gavin cover an area that encompasses Brighton, Ditchling, Hassocks, Lewes, Seaford, Uckfield and Hailsham while Mark and Michele’s area includes Burgess Hill, Haywards Heath, East Grinstead, Crawley, Horsham, and Billingshurst.

With a fleet of nine vans between them, be assured GreenThumb will cover your area.

Mark told me, “We offer an annual cycle to help keep a lawn strong, healthy, and looking pristine.” Gavin added, “A lawn is a living, growing entity that changes over the seasons and years and needs to be looked after.” Helen continued, “A treated lawn will have fewer weeds, less moss, and it will be healthier, greener and stronger, all year round.”

GreenThumb first put down roots in 1986 as a lawn maintenance service and has now grown to 220 UK branches. The branches are run by, and employ, people that live in the area in which they work. “Think of it as a local service with a national  reputation,” noted Michele.

They offer a range of treatments to help improve your lawns density, colour and overall health, including fertilising, weed and moss control, pest and disease control, aeration, scarification and more.

The GreenThumb research and development is ongoing and ensures they offer the best and most up to date products for your lawn.

The best way to get in touch is via the ‘Find The Local Branch’ tool on the website, which will put you in touch with your local team. A team member will arrange a visit, then undertake a survey to suit your lawn and your budget. The cost is dependent on the size of the lawn to be treated; front garden, rear garden, part of it or all of it, take your pick.

Services can be provided on a pay-as-you-go basis or by direct debit where prices start from £7.50 a month for a 40m square lawn.

Mark revealed, “direct debit spreads the cost evenly  over the year, but there’s no contract lock in. As long as customers have paid for the service they’ve had up to that point, they can stop at any time.”

Gavin was keen to point out, “In the long run our service can work out cheaper than DIY. Everything is provided, the lawn operatives are experts in what they do, and we use specialist products that aren’t commercially available.”

GreenThumb lawn operatives are City & Guilds qualified (formerly NPTC), so they know what they’re doing and what precautions to take. Their operatives are always happy to offer advice on good lawn care, such as watering and mowing, and will identify any problems that might be developing in your lawn. The advice they offer is based on education and experience. That rounded body of knowledge they all develop over time is available to put your lawn on a sound footing.

In addition, with an average length of service of almost a decade, and a low staff turnover, they must like  what they do, and be good at what they do. As Michele stated, “Our job is to give customers a wonderful lawn and to offer exceptional service.”

GreenThumb offer three lawn care plans; Basic, Standard and Ultimate.

The Basic plan includes five seasonal treatments, whilst the Standard and Ultimate plans offer extra  treatments, such as aerating and scarifying. Your lawn representative will explain the benefits of the various treatments and plans at the survey.

If your lawn needs a fresh start, look no further than the Lawn Makeover. GreenThumb can expertly apply seed and top dressing to give your lawn a totally fresh start.

Helen’s vision is clear. “I see gardens as outside rooms. As with all rooms in your property, you want the garden to look its best and a beautiful lawn will bring out the best in your garden.”

Whether you want a pleasant place to sit on a summers day or a hardy lawn for the kids to run around on, GreenThumb can help. Whether your patch is large or small, there’s a plan for all, and GreenThumb will endeavour to bring out the best in your lawn.

The grass can be greener on your side of the fence, and it’s thumbs up to that.

GreenThumb

Website: www.greenthumb.co.uk

Telephone the Brighton and Lewes area: 01273 020720

Telephone the Haywards Heath and Horsham area: 01273 491099

More from Homes and Gardens

  • Home Style: Modern Outlook

    Downsizing couple Pauline and Bill chose practicality over space, but didn’t compromise on their love of mid-century style

  • Blooming Times: Dahlia Mania

    Inexpensive, hardworking plants with blooms in a vast array of colours and shapes - no flower is perfect, but dahlias come pretty close, says Flo Whitaker

  • Home Style: Time to Heal

    After losing her husband, Tracy Nors threw all her energies into renovating a period terrace in the pretty town of Rye

  • Blooming Times: Spring into Summer

    Say the word ‘bulb’ and thoughts of spring immediately come to mind - but there are some bulbus characters to plant now for summer colour. Flo Whitaker selects a few of her favourites

  • Home Style: Farm Stay

    While living in a tiny cabin on the family farm, Freddie and Katie Pack saved up to build their dream house on a plot a few fields away

  • Home Style: Romantic Vision

    Tim and Jenny Backshall rescued a derelict timber-framed hall house, respecting its history while future proofing for generations to come

  • Homes Extra: Dining Style

    Sara Whatley is singing the praises of the dining table and looking at different styling options for it

  • Blooming Times: Spring Fever

    February is often labelled the cruellest month in the horticultural calendar. However, Flo Whitaker suggests there is still plenty of opportunity for growth

  • Home Style: Forest Idyll

    Moving the kitchen became the start of a much bigger project for the Buckinghams, as it created opportunities to change their new home

  • Blooming Times: What's in a Name?

    Botanical Latin may seem daunting, but it’s designed to be helpful and informative, says Flo Whitaker

  • Gardening: The Benefits of Hedges

    Gardeners are a flower-obsessed lot, greedily seeking out the latest, brightest blooms. That’s all very well, but ephemeral flowers need a stage to perform on. Plant a hedge - they add structure, benefit wildlife and look good all year round.

  • Home Style: Treasure Trove

    The interior of a quaint, white-washed cottage in Sussex has been transformed into a colourful home full of character by a couple of keen collectors.

  • Blooming Times: Awesome Alliums

    Easy-going and beloved by bees - now’s the perfect time to plant allium bulbs for a spectacular display next year. Flo Whitaker picks some of her favourites.

  • Homes Extra: Truly, Madly, Deeply

    Fall in love with your soft furnishings again this autumn and make it the season to snuggle up in style, says Sara Whatley

  • Home Style: Clear Vision

    Jacqui Elliott Williams has relished bringing this elegant Victorian house back to life with confident ideas, stylish choices and creative flair.

  • Homes Extra: Parasol Power

    Pretty parasols are enjoying their moment in the sun and making our outside spaces spin with style, says Sara Whatley.

  • Blooming Times Garden Lore - Fact or Fiction?

    The horticultural world abounds with bad advice and old wife’s tales, but some pronouncements are scientifically sound, says Flo Whitaker, as she asks, “True, or false?”

  • Home Style: Beaming with Happiness

    Lisa and Matthew Good wanted a property to add value to, sell and move on – but they ended up so enamoured with their renovation that they decided to stay put.

  • Sussex Homes: Transforming a dark and unloved cottage into a Greek Escape

    Helen Robinson has transformed a dark and unloved cottage from 1837 into a bright and inviting space with a Mediterranean feel in St Leonards-on-Sea.

  • Sussex Homes: Transforming a once unloved oast into a colourful and funky family abode

    Sam Fallon, who works in advertising and husband Nick, who works in publishing have transformed a once unloved oast into a colourful and funky family abode near Tunbridge Wells for themselves and their daughters Tilly and Isobel.