Dave's Garden, a gardening website, has a really fully featured database of gardening companies and customer reviews here: http://davesgarden.com/products/gwd/ Maybe it will help you steer clear of the worst businesses so you can save your $$ for more plants!
A berm makes a great wind break. And we all like to break wind once in a while. Like this tiny ad:
try a month in the "gardening gardeners" program to see if it soothes your soul