What people ask before the first visit

It depends on how many beds you have, how big they are, what the soil report asks for and how often you want us. The pricing section lists what moves the number, and we write it down before we start.

We book the soil-report visit first. The monthly visits begin once you've read the plan and said yes, in the next month we're open. A monthly visit is a few hours for a typical yard, and the plan says how many.

Wisconsin doesn't issue a state license for garden care, so there's no license number to show. The footer lists our liability insurance, and we'll send the certificate if you ask.

We walk the beds with you, ask what you're growing and what's struggling, and take small soil samples bed by bed for a lab. A few days after the lab report arrives we go through it with you and write the plan.

The soil-report visit is billed when it happens. Monthly visits are billed after each visit, with compost, mulch and plants listed on the invoice. We take checks and cards.

We reschedule a visit when the beds are too wet to work, because walking on wet soil packs it down. We tell you the new day, and we don't visit frozen ground.

Mark anything you want kept, even if it looks dead. Tell us where the hose bibs are. You don't need to be home, but it helps for the first visit.

We top-dress with screened compost and use OMRI Listed fertilizer only where the soil report asks for it. We use no synthetic fertilizers or herbicides. Every product has a label with re-entry times, and we leave a card with the times after each visit.

No. We care for beds, borders, shrubs, roses and vegetable gardens. If you want a lawn program we'll say so, and you'll be better served by a lawn company.

Madison and the towns around it in Dane County. The service area page lists them and says where we don't go.