Garden Centres - Is It Just Me ?

It's more wild than any life I'd want ta v much!!
Just give me a nice sedate water feature trickling and burbling away ..... and the odd frogster perhaps ...... quite happy with that

 

You couldn't make it up could you ?

He has no idea what the internet is, only that he doesn't like it

He is cash only because the banks are (insert expletives ….. and he'll use the language with people he doesn't know)

Weve tried to coax him into the new world but hes a lost cause

 

@andrews
But probably underneath a very happy bloke

 

Im afraid you probably will not find plenty, you may find the odd nursery, the nurseries have been squeezed by big business, the compost companies have recently changed how the deal with its clients, you can rarlely order a 1/2 lorry load of pro compost, you now have to order a articulated lorry of 22 pallets at a time, or go through another company to order small amounts, and if you live in a rural area with narrow lanes, they will not deliver. Retail compost companies like westland will try to get a contractual agreement from a nursery on the amount of loads per year, or you can buy 1 load at an inflated price. On ornamentals like pelargoniums (annual geraniums), the nice cutting raised ones, you can only buy these in from the breeder via an agent like colegraves or florensis, these come as plugs in trays of 84 - 142, and you have to sign a non propergation agreement, which means you can plant them on, but you risk being sued if you propergate from them, and some companies insist you bye a dutch trolley as a minimum amount (32 trays), some do smaller amounts, but you are then charged a higher price per plug,nand sometimes delivery charge on top, or you can bye it in already grown, which means the rule of charge x 2.4 of what it costs to the customer, and of course you are limited to the varieties the growers have in stock, which is the most popular, usually a red, white and a pink. Seed companies tie you in, so the end of a season, the seed returned, is only credited to your account, and the only way you can get that credit issued back to you, is by having new products from that company. Chemicals and feed, most deal only in pre season, then top ups, which means you have to order all your stuff early in the year, andvthey only do bundles, which means you have to have a pre arranged group of products,band this usually contains things like you have to have a pallet of a product in a volume, you know, unless you give it away, youll never shift it. Consequently, you dont have enough space, your outlay has doubled, the seasons are making it harder to grow, every shop seems to ge selling plants, very few young folj are coming into the trade, and the current cropmof horticulturalists are retiring, or selling up to developers, I checked a website just before I wrote this, and currently there are 107 gc/nursery up for rent or sale, its no longer a physically hard job. I have a 2.5 acre nursery, I grow most of my plants myself from stock plants or seed, and bye a few items in, fruit trees and shrubs, I sell plants, pots, compost, feed, and a few sundries I do jot sell plastic butterflies, twinkly dream catchers, kitchen sinks etc, webused to do everything pro former, order, pay, then its delivered, very few companies will deal like this, its order, deliver invoice after 30 days. As I said I am a small nursey, that grows most of the plants I sell, and this year, my invoices are starting to come in my initial outlay is in excess of £25,000, how, seed for planting, pots, plug trays, baskets, feed, new irrigation matting, the perforated polythene that goes on top of that matting (£78 + vat per roll), compost, and those plugs in the varieties that you cannot get from propergation. This is why many stop growing, bye in a mixed trolley, a few pretty points of sale, put them on a bench, most people do not know, even though a nursery is open most of the year, they get 6-8 weeks in spring to make the bulk of our money for the year, a spike in takings in autumn and christmas if you sell trees etc, the rest of the year its plodding along, the local diy store or supermarkets are selling Petunias and strawberries in January, even the shop Next is contenplating selling plants outside its stores, its no wonder some of these outlets start selling saucepans etc, I diversified by selling online, plants yes, but also going to auction and buying items to sell online. However There is a great opportunity in brexit, what ever happens, there is going to be tarrifs on imports, which levels the playing field for horticultural nurseries, and most of these larger gc will go, because they are owned by investment companies, who are the bean counters. I for one am relishing the challenge.
On a change on subject, its a great idea for gardening clubs and soceities to start working together, to produce plants, I did a talk to a garden soceity in Melksham wiltshire on Tuesday evening, and they produce and sell plants to raise money for local charities, the talk I did was on propergation, because some of the group are contenplating about a community nursey, run as a non profit organisation, for local people to by affordable quality plants, which I think is fab.

 

@Cuttings sorry, but that information is incorrect. The normal load for an articulated trailer is 33-34 pallets within Europe. Therefore, the figure of 22 pallets being a full load is incorrect. Unless of course 22 pallets come up to the weight limit.

 

Every lorry of compost we have ever had in the past was 22 pallets, on pallets that measure 40x48, it may have changed recently, when they extended the amount of weight a lorry can take 44 tonnes, I have not ordered lorry loads for approx 5 years. But they was always 22 pallets, and 11 pallets on a 1/2 load, it may be the weight, bearing in mind, a dry pallet of compist is approx 1 tonne, god knows what a wet one weighs, also compost is lighter now days, due to the reduced peat.

 

What's a garden centre? who needs one?

Okay, we sometimes visit them but prefer to use our local gardeners club if needed.

I can buy seed, I can propagate from seed, pot on and plant out. Cafe? that would be my kitchen!

Order things like seed potatoes online, in the comfort of your own home.....
...... Yes, your house CAN be a garden centre!

 

My local Wyevale has been taken over so I thought I would have a look around, garden products quite expensive, so I'll get myself a slice of cake and a cup of tea. The small piece of cake was £3.95, tea cost £1.95. I could get a roast dinner in town for that price.

 

Ive just realised the confusion, in the uk to uk pallets are 40 x 48 inches, like the Chep blue pallet, in the EU which use Euro pallets which are about 1/3 smaller and measure 31 x 47 inches.