It is really hard to run a garden centre and make a living. People have little interest except between the months of march and maybe september. Once you get to the end of june sales have peaked. Supermarkets have the advantage that they can buy in plants for a couple of weeks and knock them out. You can't do that for tree's and shrubs.
To be successful as an independant garden centre you have to be more than just a shop that sells plants. Especially when supermarkets are after taking away the bread and butter away from the gardencentres.
Near christmas for example the Poinsettia is a popular plant which used to help sustain gardencentres through the winter months. The supermarkets own that plant now they sell at or below the cost price for a gardencentre.
If you want to have an interesting and diverse garden then you need to support your local gardencentres or they won't be there when it comes to buying an interesting plant for your garden.
Keep a look out in Asda at the end of the seed growing season. I am using all the little pots and propagators I bought at that time last year and they were really cheap - 20 little pots in a plastic stand 50p. They also reduced the grow bags and compost.
Sounds like I will need to pop across the A30 to St Austell to have a gander - bearing in mind that as the weather is forecast as dire in Cornwall I wont be getting into the garden or up the lottie this weekend! Hope to sow some cerinthe, leeks and early lettuce seeds in modules and repot some geranium cuttings taken last year.
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It is really hard to run a garden centre and make a living. People have little interest except between the months of march and maybe september. Once you get to the end of june sales have peaked. Supermarkets have the advantage that they can buy in plants for a couple of weeks and knock them out. You can't do that for tree's and shrubs.
To be successful as an independant garden centre you have to be more than just a shop that sells plants. Especially when supermarkets are after taking away the bread and butter away from the gardencentres.
Near christmas for example the Poinsettia is a popular plant which used to help sustain gardencentres through the winter months. The supermarkets own that plant now they sell at or below the cost price for a gardencentre.
If you want to have an interesting and diverse garden then you need to support your local gardencentres or they won't be there when it comes to buying an interesting plant for your garden.
Keep a look out in Asda at the end of the seed growing season. I am using all the little pots and propagators I bought at that time last year and they were really cheap - 20 little pots in a plastic stand 50p. They also reduced the grow bags and compost.
Sounds like I will need to pop across the A30 to St Austell to have a gander - bearing in mind that as the weather is forecast as dire in Cornwall I wont be getting into the garden or up the lottie this weekend! Hope to sow some cerinthe, leeks and early lettuce seeds in modules and repot some geranium cuttings taken last year.