Focus DIY Stores.

I hope this is the right section to start this new thread. If not could one of the admin people move it please?

I went into Focus DIY in Chard, Somerset today. Wanted to check out prices for some timber and get some fence preservative. Preservative was pretty good price, the timber was very expensive.

Had to have a look in the outdoor gardening section as I had seen big SALE signs. The plants were all in a shocking state, a lot of them just about dead, but they were still for sale. I found two trays of ten small Chrysanths They still had some flowers on them but the soil/compost was bone dry. Reduced from £3.99 down to 45 pence per tray. I bought both and a large crysanth, also in a poor state but with some promising new growth at the base of the stem. The large on cost me 45 pence as well.

I do like chrysanths and have been reading about them. I thought £1.35 was a bargain if I can rescue just a couple of the plants.

There were hundreds of plants on display and most of them looked like nobody had paid any attention to any of them for quite some time. How can ANY business allow thier stock to get in such a shocking state? The waste is horrendous. I was so un-impressed by the state of things I didn't buy any of thier bulbs. If they cannot do even the most basic of maintenance of thier live plants, there is no telling how they treat thier other stock.

Anybody else run into this sort of thing?

Chopper.

 

Yup, out local garden centre has plants that are dead / dying from neglect. I suspect that after their "peak selling period" they are largely ignored to save time, but it does annoy me.

They are rarely more than 50% off, which is still not cheap enough for me to buy a possibly-dead plant, but I have had a few bargins that I have retrieved. I bought a half-dead hanging basket this Summer. It comprised solely [probably why it didn't sell!!] white-flowering ivy-leaved geraniums which, as it happens, I had been considering as a plant-of-choice for my planters next year. So I took all the plants out, potted them on, used them as stock plants, and now have loads of baby plants from cuttings coming along nicely for next year. All for a few quid. Anyone want the wire basket? [:D]

 

The problem with the sheds is that they often have people in charge of the gardening section who know little about it. The expertise of many employees, is often limited to "a rough idea where are certain things you need" when you ask them.
These big companies are not willing to pay a reasonable rate for expert knowledge. The stuff they sell in their gardening sections is just "product" incurring a similar level of "wastage" as is allowed for in fresh foods, so the margin added to the product covers this. But they ain't always so good at removing poor quality stock or drastically reducing it in price as the local manager sometimes may have excessive losses in other sections and so wants to protect the overall margin.

Our local garden centre belongs to the Wyevale chain. The senior staff there do know what they are doing, but even there, not so much the rank and file. They are presently having a "25% off sale," but have cleared large area of the outdoor section, so the plants left are of reasonable quality.
It's impossible to keep completely on top of the job when plants are picked over by customers. When we buy plants there through the year, if I find something wrong with the one I want, I'll point out the defect at the checkout and always get a reduction. We bought a tortoiseshell rhodo last year, the only one they had, that had a bit of frost damage the "head honcho" reduced it from £40 to £20, but the girl on the checkout would have been just as happy to charge me the full price.

As you say the shed wood prices are horrendous. I never buy timber in the them, other than some 3" X 2" scant I purchased in B &Q for the battens when I dropped the kitchen ceiling about five years ago as it was at a really silly price. There are three woodyards within easy reach of where we live.

 

The only reduced plants I will buy are herbaceous perennials (and hardy at that). My reasoning - it takes a lot of neglect to kill them and at this time of year they will look shabby anyway!

Ironically, they were also selling 'baby' perennials, of a similar size and state of growth, but for full price

 

Totally agree with what others have already written. I feel quite sad to see what have been healthy plants killed off for the sake of a drop of water! I have brought the odd "bargain" and most have recovered, but would be dubious about buying a neglected tree as often they are so potbound I'd be worried they'd never recover enough to be a good specimen.

Re wood, just a thought, if the wood is for an outside project you might pick up some bits and pieces at your local recycling plant. I was lucky and managed to get a whole load of timber which was perfect for repairing a garden shed, saved me about £100 so well chuffed!

 

I found a book about taking cuttings, cost me a quid. So had a look at the two trays of Chrysanthemums that I bought. Taking each of the plants out of the tray I found the root ball was very compact and bone dry.

I got nine healthy looking small plants after trimming away all the dead buds. Potted them on from the tiny sections of the tray into 3" pots. New compost and watered them well. Left them in the polytunnel. I understand they are tender plants and will need some extra frost protection over the winter, which I can do.

Also got a whole tray of healthy looking cuttings. Did what it said in the book. Used good compost and some rooting powder. Only time will tell, but if I only get a few plants from the exercise it will have been worth the gamble.

No matter how much reading I do, or asking questions here, there is going to be some trial and error for me. If what I have done doesn't work I will be trying to find out why and not doing the same thing again. We all have to learn sometime don't we?

I sent an email to Focus. I think it was quite polite, but I did let them know I thought thier products looked badly neglected and put me off buying anything else. Wonder if they will even bother to reply.

Chopper.

 

Thanks for your comments silu. I was in Focus to buy something else and just had a look at the timber. I have some good contacts for a lot of materials, including wood. I also have a very comprehensive tool kit, which I make good use of. My new decking at the front of my polytunnel and the staging inside the tunnel, is all recycled decking boards. A good friend runs a compnay making moulds for concreting. He always has masses of offcuts and I can just go and help myself to whatever I want. Usually take a box of tea bags for his blokes, just to say thankyou. I like to recycle whenever possible.

Chopper.

 

"Sadly"

or maybe not!!

 

B & Q's timber prices as are many of the other commodities they sell, are horrendous. Far better to go to a woodyard. Even a bit of trellis I bought for £9.99 in a little corner shop DIY store, which are never known to be really cheap, was when I checked, nearly £15 in B&Q.

 

Same thing at my local Wyevale. They had wrapping paper in the XMas Sale last year (when they flog off all the Xmas decorations that didn't sell). I bought some thinking it a bargain ... but then found it cheaper, un-discounted, in W H Smiths in town!

 

Not every B & Q has a timber cutting service. A friend went into one for some timber but knew it would be too long to go in his car (it's one of those new, expensive, daft, short, little,Toyotas). So he went to the tool department, found a saw, cut a couple of feet off one end and presented both pieces at the checkout!