The grass is always greener ...

In my first life, gardening was never on my job description so when I bought a house that came with a lawn and borders, I really had no idea what I was doing. The lawn was a bit bald in patches and a bit lumpy so I knew I ought to do something and so last spring bought lots of boxes of promises. Boxes from B&Q with photos of gorgeous stripey lawns on the front that claimed to be “fast growing” or “moss eating” or “thickening” at the same time, and I followed the instructions, measure and weighed and sprinkled and watered and hoped .... nothing. So I bought some more seed – more expensive this time, it made all sorts of claims and again came with those tempting green lush photos all over. Nothing.

Having just cut the grass that is there for the first time this year, I have to admit defeat and look for a better solution and so I googled and researched and did some homework. Oh my days! It’s a whole new world!

To get the lawn that I want I will have to go back to basics – it seems I need to prepare the soil, remove old vegetation, dig or rotivate, put in some manure (especially if sandy soil) and leave for a few weeks to settle THEN remove any weeds, tread the area several times, rake the area in different directions and then add in general purpose fertiliser .... oh my days.

It seems that I have fallen for the marketing tricks – boxes with lush photos promising greener than green, thicker than thick, lawns that are stripey and look like cricket pitches .... and taken in by the marketing instead of realising that to make a REAL difference, long term, I need to do some work, take some time, get rid of the crap first and tackle the underlying soil rather than the "sprinkle, spray and pray" method I had been hoping would work. Then it struck me. This is what I tell my clients all the time.

If you really want to cultivate a mentally healthy workplace with a climate that encourages high performance and where people want to come to work and do a great job, you have to do the dirty work first – preparation, get rid of old habits that do not serve us well, rotivate the ruts and dig up complacency, remove anything that is suffocating or strangling, work hard on the visible stuff as well as continuing to agitate where necessary .... taking time to cultivate a strong foundation so that you reap what you sow and good stuff takes root and blooms and delivers exceptional results.

No more fancy marketing for me – having now done my homework and I realise that "sprinkle, spray and pray" isn’t the way to get the long term result I want ... time for the real work to begin.

If you have been distracted by the marketing and boxes of promises but want to really make a difference to the climate of your workplace - establishing a mentally healthy organisation where people can grown and bloom and develop, please give me a call and we can chat about how our PETES approach could be just what you are looking for? Don't make my mistake and spend lots of money on a method that simply won't make a long term difference.

[email protected] www.abdcct.co.uk