JULY UPDATE

July has been a fantastic month for us at Elmtree. We now only have 2 members of staff on Furlough out of 55, nearly back up to full strength. We have had work booked in on existing sites, as well as tendering for and winning new work. The outlook ahead is looking good and we are feeling confident that we will have a busy season in front of us. The...

July has been a fantastic month for us at Elmtree. We now only have 2 members of staff on Furlough out of 55, nearly back up to full strength. We have had work booked in on existing sites, as well as tendering for and winning new work. The outlook ahead is looking good and we are feeling confident that we will have a busy season in front of us.

The Ground Maintenance team is in full swing and as busy as ever. Stuart Hollingsworth, one of our managers has just come back from paternity leave as he and his partner Pippa have recently had a beautiful baby girl (a massive congratulations to you both!!). Dan Brown and John Leigh were working hard managing the ground maintenance side of things, with support from customer care manager Leigh Naden who is carrying out regular audits and site visits.

We have installed a one-way system for the lads to enable them to come safely in and out of the yard when loading the vans up in the morning and have also now taken delivery of our very own Elmtree branded face coverings for our team to wear.

This month we also completed a job at Juniper Homes in Lansdown, near Bath and planters at Fairfield school. Both sites are looking lovely and fresh.

Blackberry Hill Hospital, one of our sites for Vistry Partnerships was in the news this month. The new housing development will include 32 ‘flat-pack’ homes built by Modular housing company. The homes will form part of a wider regeneration project of the 21-acre site, which will include a total of 346 homes as well as retail and start-up business units, a community building and green spaces. Elmtree are delighted to be on board with this project delivering landscaping, whilst working with our client and other partners to help create an exciting new community within Bristol.

Click here for flat pack houses, bristol.

In other news: Some of you may know ‘Gaz’ Gary Atkinson who has worked at Elmtree for several years now as a fencing supervisor. He is well liked by all of the Clients he has come into contact with, whether it be Site Managers, Directors, and indeed other trades. He has a great sense of humour, infectious laugh and memorable Brummie accent

He has terminal cancer. His daughter very bravely had her beautiful golden locks shaved off to raise money for Bristol BRI Oncology Unit and to help towards a bucket list for Gaz.

Annaliza’s ponytail will also be donated to The Little Princess Trust to be made into wigs for children with cancer. We know that are many good fundraising causes at the moment but if you have any spare change then Annaliza, Konnie, Gaz and all of us at Elmtree would really appreciate it. There is still time to donate.

Click here for just giving

What about the next month? As always read our top tips for the August Garden:

August is traditionally a hot month and one of the main priorities is to make sure that the garden can cope with the summer heat. August also is traditionally the holiday month but with the restrictions in place due to Covid-19 the garden may well be the destination of choice this year. With this in mind here are some of our tips to keep you enjoy your gardens all month long.

Things to do:

• Continue deadheading and pruning activities.
• Feed and water all plants that need it regularly, avoiding the heat of the day watering early morning and at night when it is cooler
• Make sure that the birds have enough water too!
• Collect ripening seeds from plants that you wish to keep
• Water vegetables and fruits more frequently
• Prop up heavy laden fruit tree branches
• Last chance to plant wintering flowers such as colchicums
• Get ahead by planting spring bulbs
• Check plants every day so that you can pick when the fruits are at their best
• Don’t forget to be vigilant for pests and diseases
• Trim hedges, potentially their final trim towards the end of the month as they will not grow much after this.
• Continue to mow the lawn regularly
• Make a sowing of parsley to last throughout the winter
• Sow some salad crops – this is the last month for sowing salad crops outdoors, its worth a try although some might not mature. Crops such as lettuce, radish, salad onions and spinach will produce some fresh salad materials ready for early Autumn.