The Planter Box Saga…

So I went to World Farm, a nursery at Yishun, 2 weeks back, hoping that I could buy some plants on the cheap and engage replanting services from its staff at a reasonable price.

World Farm has a very different feel from the nurseries situated along Thomson Road. World Farm, is literally a farm… it feels very kampong and people just leave you alone to touch, smell the plants. Those along Thomson Road are more commercialized and the nurseries are always busy, busy, busy with other customers that it seems to me, nobody ever slows down to REALLY appreciate the beauty of these plants.

Anyway, I really enjoyed my trip at World Farm, despite leaving empty handed. As World farm is busy preparing for the up and coming Garden Show at Suntec, the Manager said that they were really short-handed at the moment, and suggested that I contact a landscaper to help me on my planter boxes instead.

“Eh… ok, but I’m on a budget, y’know” I said.

“It’s ok, this guy is good and cheap” said, the Manager.

“So, agar-agar how much do you think the 2 planters will cost?” I asked.

“Aiyah, should be a couple of hundreds lah. Max of the max, 1K” he claimed.

Alright then, I contacted this landscaper, he came over the next day to check out my planter boxes and said that he would provide me with a quotation in about 2 days time.

2 days later, he quoted me $2XXX. I was like WTF….?

This guy is trying to skin me alive man. Hub, being the Forever Mr. Robert said “wah, ok what… very cheap. Half price from what our ID quoted us originally”

NO way! I can do everything at HALF THE PRICE.

That was it. I went down to Thomson Road yesterday (Sunday), since it was only 5 mins drive away. Drove past JM Flowers, saw the huge “50% SALE”, parked at its car park and all ready to start buying plants and the necessary equipments to do up the planter boxes.

Yesterday was the last day of sale; sadly, many of the good stuff were sold out. Nonetheless, I made my choices and picked the best looking ones available and caught one of the sales managers to sit down and discuss the charges required for delivery of plants and soil, as well as replanting.

It turns out that JM does not provide landscaping services, meaning that I’ll have to do all the “groundwork” of the planters myself, and JM can then take-over by laying the soil and replanting.

Ok, although I’ve never done anything like that before but I have done my research, I know all about the geotextile, the drainage cells and the type of soil that is suitable for my plants. All theory, of course.

Nonetheless, I’ve bought most of the hardware required and will start working on the planters soon.

The total bill: $700-$800 or so, since the soil will be charged as-per-use during replanting. Heh, luckily for the Monster Fern that we picked up earlier, will help us save quite a lot since the huge fern practically covers the entire planter that’s along the corridor.

Bleah. $2XXX, MY FOOT!