Why plant by machine?
It is well known what a laborious, thankless, task large scale bulb planting can be. Ask your staff how they fancy planting 100,000 bulbs in grass? We all know what their reaction will be! We are all aware of what the cost implications are in such a labour intensive operation. The simple cost of planting will almost certainly exceed the actual cost of the bulbs themselves. This is even more apparent when planting smaller bulbs at higher densities. Then there is the issue of correct planting depth. At the start of the day, we can all plant bulbs by hand at the correct depth, and density, but as our back begins to ache, and we become tired, there is always the temptation to plant a little shallower, to make it easier. And to plant a little more dense, to get the bulbs in the ground “out of sight”, or for some sacks to get lost, so as to avoid the issue of planting them at all.

Even when all of these problems are resolved: “We have great staff” who “love planting bulbs 24/7”, and “we have the recourses to pay the staff anyway”, answers we don’t often hear from our clients anymore, does it really make sense to do things the hard way?

More common comments nowadays are;
“We would love to plant more bulbs, but we simply don’t have the man-hours to spare. Our members of staff need to be out cutting back the shrub beds and doing the last grass cuts of the season”.

“We have a special budget available for capital improvement works, but don’t have the time to plant bulbs”

“We would love to plant bulbs on that central reservation, but the road would need to be closed for a week, and the traffic management required makes it out of the question”.

“Yes, we have some money available, and a couple of workers available to do the work, but I simply don’t have the time to work out any schemes, I have too many meetings to attend”.

Then we have the answers to your problems;

Design service
After a brief meeting, provide us with some maps of areas you would like to plant, and we can do the site visit ourselves. At this time, we can already get a feel for the location, assess the soil type and condition, and make an informed proposal of what type of planting would be best for you.

Planting
After we have decided what to plant and where, we decide on a date, and if required, traffic managements are usually made by the client, but in exceptional cases, we can even take care of this for you. If you have a depot available, the bulbs will usually arrive the day before planting. However, if you have no depot space available, or you need assistance getting the bulbs from the depot to planting sites, our purpose built lorry can accommodate enough bulbs for a whole days planting, as well as the machine itself. The planting depth is set by the operator, depending on the bulbs that are being planted. The planting density is also set, so you get a consistent density over the whole project.
We mostly send two people with the machine, one to drive it, and the other to help filling the machine with bulbs, making good the occasional divots, and making various calls to clients to keep them informed of the progress. This person will also keep in touch with the next client to inform them of their estimated time of arrival etc.

Timing
Depending on the size, and number of sites, in good conditions, our machine can plant many bulbs in a day. It will easily do the work of 20 men, so due to the speed of work, we can ensure that your bulbs are planted at the correct time of the season, and also if traffic management is required, the downtime is kept to an absolute minimum.
The planting date is however conditional to the time of ordering. We can’t plant bulbs in October, if you don’t order until November!

Dimensions
The machine plants an evenly spaced band of bulbs 1 metre wide. The tractor is 1.4m wide, and the tractor and machine is 4m long. 50cm bed widths are possible, but do not look effective. The 50cm band width is usually used where a total width of e.g. 3.5 or 4.5m is required.

Cost
We don’t issue price lists. The price you pay, is the price it costs to plant your bulbs on your locations, not someone else’s! Having paid the site visit, and discussed the level of time commitment that you are able to make, we will give you a fixed price to complete the work involved.

Embankment planting
We are extremely proud to reveal the latest technology in embankment planting. We have been working closely with our developer to fabricate a new machine specifically for planting on embankments.
It is now possible for us to plant on gradients of up to 35 degrees which opens up a whole new array of possible locations. We foresee this technique being used on many locations where it is not possible to cut the grass with a ride on mower, due to the adverse gradient. It enables you to efficiently plant long flowering mixtures of bulbs to effectively cover banked areas, reducing the number of routine cuts throughout the mowing season.
This was tested last autumn on a trial basis, and although we are eagerly awaiting the final outcome, the results look extremely promising.

Sustainability
All of the products we offer will under normal circumstances perform for several years. Although some bulbs will flower almost indefinitely, the ones we recommend will flower for at least 6-8 years, and even longer if treated correctly. This will depend on the level of aftercare you give. For example, if you persistently cut back the foliage too early, eventually the bulbs will not produce flowers. If you always let them die down before cutting back, and occasionally give them a small feed of high Potash fertilizer, they will even improve over time.

Our commitment to the environment.
We always look for ways to reduce our impact on the environment, that’s why we developed our trailer to carry both our machine, and the bulbs at the same time. We use special plastic trays that can be used over and over again. The nets we use for other bulbs last for a whole season, and then go for recycling. The lorry that we use is certified Euro 5 which means it is one of the lowest carbon emitting Lorries available.
The carbon emissions targets of 2020 are fast approaching. It is vital that growth continues to be sustainable, communities engaged and waste reduced. We beleive that our custommers can take a bold and creative approach to meeting environmental challenges by planting good mixtures of bulbs. With current cut backs we are constantly aware of flower and shrub beds being grassed over. This not only looks boring but is also not good for wildlife. By planting a selection of our special mixtures, you will create more bio diversity by providing an excellent source of nectar for bees and other insects to feed on during a time of year when it is not so readilly available. We also beleive that the efficient use of your resources used to create these sustainable initiatives can not only improve peoples quality of life but also delivers cost savings though reduced mowing regimes while the bulbs are in flower.

Service
We planted or first bulbs with our machine in the UK over 10 years ago. Almost without exception, every one of our clients who have used our service, have come back again and again. This in itself is a testament to the level of service we are committed to. Our complete package is unique in Europe. No other company can offer you this “one stop shop” for planting bulbs.

Go on, give it a try!