Thursday 4 March 2010

Plug

Ok, I don’t normally plug anyone or anything, yes I give the odd mention of Dobbies and the evils of attempting to go there and come back with nothing… lol, but I feel I really must give a mention to Creative Garden Ideas’.

As my regular readers may know I am attempting to start a new border and need lots of compost as the soil beneath is rubble. I wanted some large bags of compost/soil without having to order one of those huge ‘dumpy’ bags… It would seem Dobbies, B&Q, Wickes etc will all deliver the smaller 10/25ltr bags but for some reason won’t deliver the larger bags… Now what on Earth is a single person meant to do? Imagine if you’re elderly, yes you may well be able to get the bags into your boot but what about then getting them to your house/garden??!
Yes I do have a boyfriend, but that’s beside the point. I find it mental, that they will deliver small bags but not the larger 75 or 100ltr bags.

Twice now I have ordered landscaping materials from CGI and they’ve come so quickly I barely had time to blink!

The most recent was some bark chippings and sand to help drainage, I ordered on Tuesday afternoon and this morning, 8am here it was being delivered!

Seriously, I cannot believe it. My first delivery was at 06:50, as I was just getting up for work.

Their delivery details do state all items are delivered ‘curb side’ but both times now they have left my bags up by the house, delivery is free and there is a minimum order of £30, which I am pretty sure if most of us are buying compost we’re likely to spend at least that!
So if you’re not too keen on lifting huge 100ltr bags of compost/bark/sand and would like to have it delivered instead, I would definitely advise using this company.

Prices aren’t bad either, especially with the bulk buys.

Ok, enough of the plug now... I'm just far too impressed!

Onto some plant shots :)

Brachycome plug bought a few weeks/month ago has flower buds, I’m now attempting to harden them outside during the day ready for the big-wide-world.


Aquilegia has a nice crown of new growth


Newly planted pot, Viola, Muscari


Grape Hyacinth - Muscari


12 comments:

AustenOnly said...

Thanks for this, Liz.Im going to investigate. I am disabled and cant lift but as Im not obviously disabled if I ask for help at a garden centre I often get a grumpy assistant...and I don't necessarily want to tell him my life story to justify why Ive asked for help, but nor do I want to be cussed at.....Im going to look into this!
Thanks!

Julie
X

Curbstone Valley Farm said...

Glad you finally found a company you like! Your Muscari looks so promising. We planted some for the time here, along side our new daffodils. They're starting to poke out of the soil, but not quite as far along as yours yet. Crossing my fingers they bloom!

Kate/High Altitude Gardening said...

Always nice to find a company that does things right. That's rare around here!

Love your pics. That Grape Hyacinth is just gorgeous.

Anonymous said...

Dear Liz, It is so pleasant when one gets excellent service from a business.Unfortunately, these days, this seems to be a rarer and rarer event. I think that it is good to tell others when one is satisfied in order that hopefully, the company concerned is rewarded with even more sales. I do hope that CGI benefits from your advertisement.

Anna said...

Another happy customer here too Liz although I did not recognise the name at first - they used to be called CPL when the bulk of their business was coal and coke delivery. I still think of them by this name:) I have ordered compost and manure from them a few times now and the service has been excellent. As you say not too bad price wise as well :)

ShySongbird said...

So glad you found such a good company Liz, I have never heard of them but have had a quick look at their site and will look more closely when I have more time.

I missed commenting on your previous post (SORRY!) but I thoroughly enjoyed looking through all the lovely photos of the Iris, Violas etc. I particularly liked the Snowdrop photo and was fascinated by the 'blue winged) Hoverfly :)

Yoke, said...

Liz, get in contact with local farmers/council. They often have/know of someone who has been building or moving earth/wanted to get rid of soil. It is the way of doing things like that, and if the local community has a bit of spirit left,
Do you have/go to a farmer's market nearby? you could ask there also.

Good find, that company.

Liz said...

Hi Julie,

I hope they can help you with your orders... If you regularly order compost and such it may be worthwhile buying one of the huge dumpy bags I think they're 1m3 or something!

Liz said...

Hi CV,

I hope your Muscari are closer to flowering now? Mine are still a bit away, but I would expect in the next week or so for them to be in flower :)

Liz said...

Hi Kate,

Indeed, most companies you would expect delivery to take days if not weeks, so I have been very impressed with CGI... Shame they have quite a small variety of rocks/pebbles as I think I'll have to go elsewhere to get the final touches whih I need...

Otherwise, great service and I can see myself using them again before the season is out.

Liz said...

Hi Edith,

I know it's somewhat wrong to plug companies - at least for me it doesn't sit too comfortably, but with these I just had to give them the time because I am pretty certain many gardening 'friends' will be buying their composts for the year ahead and it makes sense if they can save themselves hassle of lifting heavy bags...

It's certainly well deserved praise, and I hope as a company they manage to continue such great service :)

Liz said...

Hi Anna,

Ah yes, they do still use the CPL on their invoices and I recieved a strange welcome pack from them... lol. It outlined their coal, firewood services and such... Shame I don't have a solid fuel fire ;)

I'm glad I'm not the only one who has found them to be excellent, I was wondering whether my experience was purely because they're based in Chesterfield so are not far from us... Clearly not!