Established gardens on the school streets of Mentone
Mentone has more schools packed into it than almost any suburb on this side of the bay, and twice a day the streets around them fill with people on foot. Front gardens along those routes get looked at more than most. The older homes between the station and the beach tend to have proper established gardens: a mature hedge along the fence, a couple of feature trees, a lawn that has been there for decades. They look wonderful when they are kept, and they show it quickly when they are not.
That is the kind of garden I enjoy most. The work is in keeping what is already there in good shape: hedges on a level line, edges crisp against the path, the lawn fed and cut to suit the season rather than scalped. I come down to Mentone from Black Rock 3193, where Wilson's Mowing is based, so it is a short run along the coast and easy to fit into a regular round.
Lawns between the beach and the highway
Mentone runs from the sand at Mentone Beach up to the Nepean Highway, and the lawns change across that distance. Close to the beach the soil is sandy and the sea wind dries grass out fast; couch and kikuyu cope best there and want a regular, moderate cut rather than an occasional hard one. Further back towards the station and Charman Road the ground holds a little more moisture, and buffalo lawns do well under the street trees as long as they are not cut too short in the shade.
I set the mower height for the grass and the time of year, keep the blades sharp so the leaf is cut cleanly rather than torn, and change the mowing direction between visits so the lawn stands up straight. Clippings are caught, and the paths and driveway are blown clean before I leave.
Hedges, beds and the gardener side of things
Plenty of people in Mentone are really searching for a gardener rather than a mowing service. Hedge trimming, garden bed maintenance and the occasional proper clean-up are the parts that make a garden look cared for, and I treat them as real work, not an afterthought. Pittosporum and lilly pilly screens along side fences are common here and grow quickly through spring; I bring them back to a clean face and a level top and take every bit of the trimmings away. Garden beds get weeded by hand, mulch topped up where it has thinned, and the edge between bed and lawn kept sharp.
If a garden has got away over a busy term or a long summer, a one-off clean-up resets it to the point where a regular visit can keep it there.
Regular visits or a one-off tidy
Most Mentone gardens settle into a fortnightly rhythm through the warmer months and stretch out to monthly over winter, though weekly is there for a fast-growing lawn in spring and a one-off visit is always welcome. You do not need to be home; a side gate and a quick message beforehand is usually enough. Regular work means the same person each time, and I will mention anything in the garden that needs your attention before it becomes a problem.
Nature strips in Mentone are often wide, with a council tree in the middle. They get mown to match the front lawn, trimmed carefully around the tree, and edged along the kerb and footpath.
A local, insured, one-man business
Wilson's Mowing is a one-man business. I quote the job and I do the job, so what you hear on the phone is what turns up at the gate. Every job is fully insured with $10 million public liability cover, I work Monday to Friday, 8am to 6pm, and the business has 60 Google reviews with a 5.0 rating. Quotes for Mentone are free and there is no obligation. Call 0452 652 494 or use the form below and tell me a little about the garden.