Why are we late with your planter(s)? May 30, 2020 20:09

I have decided to write a post on why we are late delivering your planters at the moment - and we are late, some of you have been waiting a very long time. When people say we are living in strange times I want to explain what that actually means.

I have been especially motivated to write about this after today's frustrating experiences: in short my timber supplier has no decking timber and screwfix has no screws. This is a problem for a company that makes wooden planters.

The supplier to my timber supplier can not deliver any decking to them for 2 weeks, such is the demand for decking at the moment. They have 27 articulated lorries out every day delivering just decking. Obviously I buy a lot of timber so my timber merchant has rung round for me and managed to get some decking in next week, but that is still 7 days away.

In the morning I noticed we were low on screws so went to the Screwfix website to place an order for some decking screws. For the first time that I can recall Screwfix didn't have any and delivery would be in 2-3 days. I managed to get some similar ones but they are double the price.

Trellesses used to be easy to buy. Between my home and my workshop is a B and M where I could pop in and buy a trellis or two. They are now sold out and require a 30 minute queue just to get in the store. I rung around trellis suppliers, many of whom didn't even answer their phone and managed to find a supplier. It is relatively local but is still a 30 minute drive. So that is a 90 minute round trip to buy some trellesses.

Paint too used to be easy to buy. Between Wickes, B and Q, Screwfix, Toolstation and Homebase I could get any colour easily. Now they are sold out and/or are not supplying paint at the minute.I am not totally sure what I am going to do now, I will cross this bridge at the beginning of next week.

As you can see everything is more difficult and time consuming at the minute and goes some way to explaning why I am late with your planters.

However stick with us, we will get your planters to you eventually. We delivered these planters a couple of days ago and the customer liked them so much they have already ordered two more,

Nice view May 16, 2020 10:45

I have been to many beautiful, and expensive, homes delivering planters but I don't think I have seen a view like this before from someone's garden,

Oldfield Road, Sheffield.

Some more photos of wooden planters from customers May 7, 2020 20:23

Two large Aston planters painted with Cuprinol's Natural Stone,

Some decking planters painted with Cuprinol's Urban Slate,

Some smooth style planters,

Note that with this planter the dry weather has shrunk the timber a little so that you have the gaps inbetween the timber. It wasn't deliberate but looks good I think!

Wooden planters on wheels painted and stained April 20, 2020 20:16

Here are a couple of wooden planters I made a while ago for a customer. Smooth style wooden planters painted with Cuprinol's Silver Birch and Wickes' Warm Oak.

Another customer happy with their decking planter April 12, 2020 20:12

Karen from Fareham emailed,

"Thank you so much for the planter I ordered.  It was very well made and just what I needed. Please see photo ….painted, planted up and in position."

Decking planters February 4, 2020 20:58

A couple of previous customers have sent in some photos and ordered some more planters. Loving the lighting on this first photo of planters on wheels. The customer wanted the bamboo to act as a movable screen for privacy reasons.

This second photo is of a large decking planter, seven rows of decking high, stained with warm oak,

Decking planters on wheels December 9, 2019 20:21

Delivered these decking planters yesterday, some on wheels and some without. When the decking was delivered to us it was very wet hence the darker rows that are full of water. That will disappear in a couple of dry days and the appearance will be uniform.

Decking planter made of 5 rows of decking and painted with Cuprinol's Black Ash December 5, 2019 20:19

Delivered this decking planter to a customer's home, which was a converted shop. Because of its location people were cutting across their front space so the aim was to use this planter on their boundary to protect their privacy. Have had a few customers who purchase planters for this reason. This decking planter is almost two metres long, 25cm wide, 5 rows of decking (60cm) high and painted in Cuprinol's Black Ash - our most popular colour!

Wooden planters for bars and restaurants December 2, 2019 14:31

Haven't posted for a while. Have had a few bars and restaurants over the past 6 weeks seeking wooden planters on wheels so that they can move them around.

A courier company took these to Glasgow,

Took these to Bournemouth,

These went to two different restaurants in London,

Repeat customers for our wooden planters October 5, 2019 17:16

Always reassuring when previous customers want to order from us again. Both of the photos below are from repeat customers

Decking planters painted in Cuprinol's Urban Slate,

Decking planters painted with Cuprinol,

A couple more happy customers September 27, 2019 20:20

Delivered this Aston style trough wooden planter stained with Wickes' Warm Oak Woodstain earlier this week,

Another customer sent me a photo of a decking planter that I had delivered a few months earlier,

Both customers are repeat customers.

A two-row decking planter and a block style wooden planter with spaces between the rows on wheels September 21, 2019 18:37

A customer from Bristol sent in this first photo of three decking planters painted in Cuprinol's Silver Birch planted with lavender,

She wrote "Very pleased with the planters all planted with lavender in a nice sunny spot. Great service thanks."

Last week I also delivered the following wooden planter to a customer in London. It is a large block style planter with spaces between the rows on wheels / casters.

The customer, who has a colourful instagram page which you can find here, https://www.instagram.com/lakwena/, seemed very happy with it.

A couple of testimonials from happy customers September 11, 2019 20:38

Carol from Lichfield bought two block style wooden planters stained with Wickes' Light Oak,

"Just to say thank you for the great quality planters. I am very pleased with them and will have no hesitation in recommending you."

Caroline from Staffordshire bought two large Versailles planters painted in Coastal Mist and wrote,

"Planters are in position, trees installed, they are wonderful, far better than my previous ones".

Smooth wooden planters painted in Cuprinol's Porcelain Doll September 8, 2019 19:51

Delivered these wooden planters to a customer over the weekend. They are smooth wooden planters using the smooth side of decking planks. They were then painted with Cuprinol's Porcelain Doll which is a very, very light pink, and had four wheels attached. Customer was very happy.

Versailles wooden planters September 1, 2019 17:57

Approximately a year ago I made some Versailles planters for a homeless charity next to St-Martin-in-the-Fields church off of Trafalgar Square in London. The planters were delivered half assembled and it was a project for the homeless to fully construct them and paint them. The charity recently ordered some more planters so I was able to see the previous planters I had dropped off in situ,

Long and narrow Versailles style wooden planter stained August 28, 2019 20:46

Delivered this wooden planter to a customer at the weekend,

It is long but narrow (35cm) and not tall (40cm I think), built according to the customer's specs. So rather than use our standard 85mm corner posts thought it better to go for 70mm corner posts. Also used 45mm timber for top and bottom rails instead of the usual 45mm x 70mm. Finished with Wickes' Light Oak woodstain.

Decking wooden planters on wheels August 24, 2019 19:54

Paul from Oxfordshire sent me a couple of photos of some wooden planters that I had made for him that he then stained. He wrote, "I am very pleased with the two planters. I have planted bamboos in them and they will provide a lovely screen for our patio area."

Corner decking planter painted in Cuprinol's Silver Birch August 22, 2019 20:46

The customer was very happy with this wooden planter made of decking,

It is painted in Cuprinol's Silver Birch but we can paint your wooden planters in any colour.

(Hopefully back to posting more, just been very busy over the summer).

Back posting about wooden planters! June 22, 2019 18:19

Haven't posted for a long time, just been too busy making wooden planters. It has been a very busy time and I will admit that customer service suffered a little. I like to get the planters to the customers in two weeks from the time of order, unless it is a big order. However it has been on average a 3 week wait for the customers and sometimes closer to a month for the larger orders.

I have gradually caught up over the past 6 weeks and in about a week it should be back to a two week wait. I have taken lots of photos of wooden planters during this time, and here are a couple of photos that customers have sent me over the past two days,

I built a huge L shaped decking planter for Nicole in Warwickshire and she emailed to say "It looks wonderful and it does a perfect job as partition between the gardens.",

James bought two decking planters that I posted to him and wrote "they have arrived and are perfect",

Photo of a wooden planter with trellis from a happy customer April 22, 2019 18:39

Was sent this photo of a wooden planter made of four rows of decking with a custom sized trellis. This was made to occupy a space on a balcony on an apartment in London - had a few customers like this trying to greenify their bit of the urban jungle.

Large decking planters painted in Cuprinol Willow on casters / wheels April 18, 2019 19:41

Delivered these large wooden planters made of decking to a customer's home during the week. They are on casters / wheels for ease of movement and to make it easier to maintain the decking underneath the planters. The chosen colour was Willow, which is the most popular of the lighter colours (Ash Black and Urban Slate being the most popular),

Getting creative with painting wooden planters April 13, 2019 14:28

Following on from the April 6th entry, the customer has now painted the two block style wooden planters and sent the following photos, don't think I have ever seen such creatively painted wooden planters!

Wooden planters delivery April 11, 2019 19:32

At the weekend I drove through London to deliver the following planter to the National Theatre,

When driving around London I always lookout for the planters in front of the shops to see what they have chosen and I saw these wooden planters in Kennington,

I thought these wooden planters, made of scaffold boards of irregular height, looked terrific and something that I had never seen before - very creative. They were outside a shop called The Sugar Pot in Kennington if you wish to ring them and find out where they were made (I don't want to step on anybody's toes so I wouldn't make them).

Today's wooden planters April 6, 2019 22:00

Privileged to have made these two wooden planters for a customer. He rang me two weeks ago to say that his wife had died and he would like to buy two planters to plant some plants in memory of her. First however he wanted to come to my unit to check the quality of the wooden planters. He visited, was happy with the planters he saw so we made him these two which he was very pleased with,

These are cubed block style wooden planters. Note that the corners are still wet from the clear wood treatment that I apply to all endgrain.