Tree planting Now is the perfect time to get new trees into the ground. They are best planted in the late autumn, especially bare rooted varieties. The soil in the autumn is warm and moist so gives trees the time they need to produce new roots and acclimatise before the onset of next summer’s heat.…
GROW offers new course on workplace sexual harassment Our Garden Retail Online Workshops (GROW) e-Learning platform is offering a new course to help recognise and prevent workplace sexual harassment (November 2024). Available to all GCA member garden centres and their teams and to Horticultural Trades Association (HTA) garden centres too, this is the 95th course…
Booking goes live for our 2025 GCA conference – main theme & charity day revealed We’ve launched the overarching theme for our next annual conference and have declared booking now open for the event (November 2024) ‘The Unique Garden Centre Experience’ is the main theme of our 2025 Conference, which takes place at De Vere…
Catering sizzles & Christmas sparkles in September’s BoT Catering served up the best results for September according to our latest Barometer of Trade (BoT) figures. Seven of the 13 categories logged were up in the figures submitted by our garden centre members when compared to September 2023; with the year-to-date variance up 0.91%. Growth Our…
Our Westland Horticulture-sponsored Rising Stars finalists FOUR individuals from member garden centres have been announced as finalists in our Rising Stars programme sponsored by Westland Horticulture (October 2024). The staff were put forward by their garden centres for the scheme and took part in a series of workshops during 2024. Our finalists GCA inspector, Gordon…
Free retail security webinar for members Three retail security specialists will speak to members at a free webinar on the topic next month (November 2024). The online event will be chaired by Tammy Woodhouse from Millbrook Garden Centres and takes place on Wednesday, November 13 from 3-4.30pm. Informative & useful Peter Burks, our Chief Executive,…
Tub-tastic! If you’ve cleared out your patio pots and tubs this month and removed your summer-flowering plants, then you can now replace them with biennials and bulbs for a gorgeous display of colour in the spring. Winter colour Ornamental cabbages are also good, with attractively shaped heads of white, green or purple foliage, if you’re…
How to plant an apple tree Now’s a great time to plant an apple tree. Choose your spot Choose an open, sunny but sheltered site in almost any soil, but make sure that the ground is neither prone to water logging nor has a high lime content (above pH7). The ideal soil for apples is…
Don’t let the garden go into hibernation this winter The winter months need not be dull in the garden. There’s plenty to add life and colour. Choose mixed planting in containers for added colour and life when everything else seems dull and grey. Flowering evergreens, clusters of berries and blossoming bulbs in containers and pots…
General gardening tasks for October There are a number of tasks that gardeners could consider doing during October. Trees, shrubs, roses and fruit bushes can be planted from the middle of the month onwards. Prepare the ground in advance by digging it over and mixing in lots of compost or well-rotted manure. Planting Add some…