Marvin's Organic Gardens

I called Marvin's Organic Gardens and made an appointment to discuss my landscaping projects. Their Landscape Supervisor came to my home, listened carefully to my ideas about my yard. He then suggested materials and techniques to accomplish what I had in mind. He also showed me photographs of the materials used on other project by them. After we agreed on concepts and materials, he took some pretty detailed measurements of the project areas. He gave me a detailed, itemized proposal. The itemized proposal broke up the whole project into affordable smaller project. I thought this was great as it allowed me to pick the jobs I had funding for and not wait until I could afford to do it all. The installers were very professional, worked hard and kept me up to date on their progress. The improvements to my property greatly exceeded my expectations. I recommend Marvin's Organic Gardens and look forward to the next project they do for me.

When I called Marvin's to schedule the service as instructed, the person answering the phone didn't know anything about the Angie's List Big Deal. I was told to e-mail Wes, the person in charge of landscaping about it. I asked if I could have a phone number to call and was told no, so I sent an e-mail as directed. It was a full week later when I finally got a call from Wes's assistant. Up until that point, I felt quite uneasy, having just spent $1499, being told by the Marvin's store that they didn't know about the deal, and then hearing nothing for a week, and also I didn't want to delay as it was getting late in the season. The work was scheduled, and I was told it would take a couple of hours, which seemed short. Wes did come out to look at the yard to confirm that the front yard could indeed be covered for the purchased deal price. He also gave instructions on what to do after the overseeding. Two other men came to do the work, which actually took one and a half days. They were prompt, pleasant, and seemed to do a thorough job as far as I could tell. The compost looked good. There was supposed to be a follow up visit one month later to reseed as needed and fertilize, but when that time came around I did not get a call to schedule. I waited a few days, then made a call myself. I got a call back within a day, and was told that it was now too late in the season, so I should call back in the spring. So, the full service which I bought hasn't been completd yet. I will call them in the spring and hope it will be completd then. Net, communication was poor; actual work and product seemed fine.

I purchased an Angie's list deal for a discounted landscaping consultation. Consultation went well and decided to go ahead with significant landscaping in both my front and back yards totaling $2000. Scheduled date. Company no showed-no called for two separate appointments. When I called to see what happened they would tell me it was because of weather or they had overbooked. Since my yard was severely overgrown at this point, I went out to company headquarters (over an hour away from my home) and was instructed to give a 50% deposit on work (~$999) to "hold my spot better" and re-set a date. Company no-showed, no-called again. When I called they gave the same excuse as before. I expressed discontent with them not at least calling me to tell me they weren't coming and told them I no longer wanted their services and wanted my money back. I was told they would mail me a check. Two weeks went by, no check, I called again and they claimed they had the wrong address for me (even though they had the right address when they made the initial consultation and had a check from me with my correct address on it. Two more weeks went by, still no check. Called again, said it was still in the mail. Involved Angie's list dispute representative. They emailed back and forth with Marvin's for another month. Marvin's claiming the whole time: "the check was in the mail". Finally I contacted the Better Business Bureau and one week later received my check. ** No-showed, no-called for a total of three appointments. Took over two and a half months with pressure from Angie's list and the BBB to get a $1000.00 deposit back to me. Very unprofessional and inconsiderate for client's schedule, finances, and concerns. I understand things happen (weather, overbooking) for a landscaping company, but the lack of communication and holding of my money with no services rendered for months was unacceptable.

Please see above - I would never recommend this company or ever use them again. If my plants return in the Spring I will be making an official complaint with the Better Business Bureau. Be careful dealing with this person - he comes off as VERY likable and personable - but will attack with words if you aren't happy with his work - and all you want is what he promised. He never even apologized for hacking my Cherry tree.. nor the poor workmanship on the side of the house - and only told me to prove where he said things in writing.

The job went great from start to finish, primarily due to skill and attention of Wes Duren. The primary members of the crew from Marvin's -- Jake and Lucas -- were great too. Totally professional and responsive to our concerns and wishes. Wes developed original new landscape plan but was fabulous about seeking and accepting our input, and making revisions that we worked through together. Wes was 100% responsive about the landscape plan and installation schedule, which happened on time per the schedule that Wes proposed. The crew was working on a timely basis as scheduled, and were responsive and helpful as well. They were all totally professional. The new plants look great and substantial and high quality. We look forward to working more with Wes and Marvin's to finalize some remaining details that we intentionally left for Phase 2 of our landscape plan.

Their office called me, set up an appointment, and he arrived on time. Took about an hour and listened to my wants and how I needed to avoid conflicts with the homeowner's association. He was very helpful with realistic advice and tips to accomplish all I wanted to accomplish. I'll be calling him again at a better time for me and expect the patio extension and walkway/garden bed edging work to be completed in one day.

I learned so much from Wes. He was highly knowledgeable and professional.

He drew up a very easy to understand drawing of his suggestions for my landscape and gave me the 10% Angies List discount on top of the $75.00 coupon. He broke down the estimate into manageable pieces so that we could chunk up the work and manage our budgt better that way. I would definitely work with him when I decide to go ahead with some of his plans.

When the landscape plans came I was very disappointed. They didn't seem to me to reflect what I had told the person who had come to the house. So I did not follow up on any of the plan. There is at least one landscaping service in Cincinnati that will do a plan for free. I would start there rather than paying for a plan.

After looking at his design and pricing, we decided not to go with him.

I bought the Marvin's "big deal" with the intent of getting a professionally-designed plan for my yard knowing that I may or may not follow it and/or hire them to execute it. Their $5,500 estimate was out of my price range and I didn't like all of their ideas but I do like the overall plan and keep it in my idea book. I was not dissatisfied with their plan but never intended to follow it completely. I thought the $75 was a reasonable price and like that they are an organic gardening company.

He came out immediately was professional. Did a good job. Just pricing for the work discussed is too high right now. Will consider in the future.

My experience was great from the design to the planting. Wes spent about 3 hours on his initial visit determining what look I was going for and the maintenance level. At the end of the consult he provided a drawing with suggested plants and design. I absolutely love the quality of work, the plants chosen, and the final product. I loved it so much I have scheduled them to come back in spring for more work.

Company came to the house to identify the areas of concern and what I want to have done. They listened and made recommendations on what should / needed to be done. They were on time and prompt. They accomplished all the work in one day and so far there has been new grass growing where I did not have any before. I will call victory next spring when my hill side is green and lush with new grass.

Wes spent a long time listening to the types of things we had previously done in our yard and what we were wanting to have done. He took great care in designing a plan for our yard and then gave us time to look it over and research the plants he had recommended. We decided to make a couple of changes based on our preferences and to reduce the cost somewhat. A new price was set and within about 8 days after we paid a deposit, they started work and very quickly (in about 2 days) cleared out the areas and planted the new plants. They edged and mulched all our flower beds, even those where we were not having any new work done. They were reasonably neat and tidy. They accidentally discarded a couple of plants we wanted to keep and immediately replaced them with comparable ones. Wes was available for follow-up questions about the care of the plants. We have already made plans to have a them do a plan for some wall work. We are very satisfied with the work and service we received on this project.

Originally Wes came out in spring to design ideas for our yard. After we had our patio completed, we invited him back towards end of summer and he worked within our budget, again offering up loads of ideas. We are really happy with the work Marvin's performed. He came back and spent over 1 hour with us going over the proper care of our beautiful newly landscaped yard.

All went well. We were very pleased with the quality of the work, attention to detail, and the professionalism of Marvin's employees. We have enjoyed the back patio for over a year now!

Everything went great! Wes came out to give us a full landscaping proposal from an Angie's List Big Deal we had purchased, and we had his proposal along with a list of all plants he was suggesting and other materials that we'd need to purchase if we did it ourselves, as well as quotes for having the work done for us. We were very impressed with his ideas, level of detail and his enthusiasm for what he was doing. We decided to only do the front yard this year to keep the price down, and they were out at our place and had the work done in less than 2 weeks. Very impressed with how quickly they were able to do it, and everything looks great! Will definitely call them first for any future landscaping work that we want done!

Very well. Wes developed a beautiful plan and his crew did an outstanding job. Crew members were especially professional and impressive. Worked hard, did everything well, very personable, finished quickly. The only strange thing that happened was that MOG would not schedule the work until they received 50%. I've never encountered that before, but assumed perhaps they'd been burned a few times or were managing cash flow, so I really didn't mind. The only bad part was that they were supposed to call to schedule as soon as they received the money and they didn't. Almost a week after the check had cleared (I verified the date with my bank) I had to call them and it took a day for them to verify that they had received my check. However, after that kind of odd encounter, I will say they got right out the next day and performed the work in exemplary fashion. Given that all my other encounters with them were punctual and professional, I assume this was a one-time quirk. It certainly would not stop me from recommending Marvin's or from hiring them again.

It was way beyond anything I would suggest doing. The gentlemen was very nice and I found out some interesting things about my yard. They're a good company.

In a word: Phenomenal! Here's the full story: Marvins Organic Gardens (MOG) had installed a two-tiered, dry-stone retaining wall in backyard, low decorative wall in front yard and a rain garden in back in 2011; all fully landscaped last fall (Nov 2011). Come spring a couple a plants hadn't survived, so I contacted MOG in the summer to replace. Coordinated a date with Wes for a site visit, which he came out for personally and was punctual, professional, friendly and extremely helpful. After identifying the two plants that needed to be replaced, he asked how everything was looking for us. There were a couple things we didn't love (spacing, placement, non-thriving plants, etc.) now that things had a season to fill out, and it looked like the rain garden wasn't performing as it should. Wes was extremely knowledgable about how to address these issues (which plants to transplant and when, which plants will fill out more in the coming seasons, etc.) and had great ideas about how to make adjustments to really improve the landscaping. Plus, he knew exactly what to do to improve the rain garden. Since it was getting towards fall and we were flexible regarding when the work needed to be done, we let Wes just schedule it in when it worked best for him. A couple weeks later (just as he had estimated) Wes gave me call letting me know he was coming. Again, he showed up right on time and he got to work replacing the dead plants. He then confirmed the possible adjustments we had discussed on his initial site visit, and proceeded to make all those changes also! He had brought the necessary plants and materials and single-handedly replanted several plants, created a whole new landscape on the corner of the house, re-enforced the rain garden berm, and re-stored/re-seeded an area of the side yard that hadn't come back as well as he had liked. Wes also gave me some great advice about natural weed control methods. Wes is extremely knowledgeable, extremely friendly, exceptionally hard working and dedicated to making sure not only that I was happy but that the job lived up to the highest standards you can expect. All he had to do was replace two plants, but Wes went way beyond expectations and made sure we were completely satisfied. In every way, the experience was phenomenal. If I had time constraints, I'm sure Wes would have done his best to meet those, too, but I think it was helpful to not be in a rush. Wes did an exceptionally professional job and MOG is the only place I call for anything I need regarding my landscaping. I highly recommend them.

Since then I have visited Marvin's to purchase some plants and compost - they were very helpful/knowledgeable; the only thing that keeps me from being a regular there is that they are so far from our home.

We hired Marvin's Organic Gardens to do our front landscaping from start to finish as we had NO landscaping except a burning bush. Wes came out, took about an hour in his truck to draw up a plan (we thought this was excellent...he knew plants and could work designs well enough to be able to do this)! He came back a couple more times, once to tweak the plan to accomodate more of our wishes and once to confirm everything before beginning the installation. Wes was great to work with and has such a passion for landscaping that we were always very excited about the project once our visits with him were over. He went to great lengths to find the plants we wanted, and even installed a few extra plants at no charge. He also installed a fig tree for us on a Friday night. Lastly, we were so appreciative that he came back once the work was completed as he helped us identify the plant material we had forgotten about. Only one time did we not receive a prompt call back-otherwise we were quite pleased with the communications. Overall, they did a fantastic job for us and we now love pulling into our driveway and seeing our fabulous landscaping.

We originally bought a coupon for $75 for a plan and plants. The estimator came as scheduled and drew up a plan on the spot. All our other landscapers have spent some days making measurements and drawing up a full plan. I felt this was a little too hasty. In the spring, we went to the store two times to get plants. The first time they were too busy to help us. The second time we were told that only the landscaping people could sell them to us. We waited some time to call back the estimator. By then we had scrapped his original plan and needed work done on a garden that needed renewing. In the fall, he came out again and gave us an estimate, which we went with. We were glad that they would still honor the coupon even though it was out of date. They said they had gotten backed up with the demand. They severely cut back some old bushes, saying they would grow back. They added soil and planted grasses in the rest of the garden to hide the utility boxes. When spring 2012 came around, the grasses were puny and many, many big weeds and a strange woody plant came up with them. They were difficult to control. I realize that Marvin's is an "organic" garden, but I don't think that's an excuse to transport weeds into our garden. Also, the existing bushes that had been severely trimmed did not come back well. After an entire growing season, they still look like stumps with a few green shoots on them. I'm not happy with the results after a year. Update: Two years later, the stumps have still not sprouted very much foliage.

I responded to The big Deal advertisement emailed to me by Angie's List on behalf of Marvin's Organic Gardens. It took awhile a few weeks for the company to send their estimator out. I paid them for a complete landscape plan and design through their special The Big Deal. After the estimator came out, it took two months for him to get me the plans and the price was extremely high when compared to other bids. Needless to say, I did not use the company for any work.