April’s top tasks to tackle Not sure what to be getting on with this month? Here are our top eight ideas to get you going and inspire you to get gardening: Sow onions, beetroot, purple sprouting broccoli and winter cabbage. Sow your first carrots, parsnips and leeks. Plant potatoes later in the month. Cut back…
Easy edibles Finding the time to create a veg garden and look after it isn’t easy, we appreciate that. But you can still eat fresh produce without having a dedicated and time-consuming veggie patch in your outdoor space. Here are eight edibles you could consider planting to help pep up your dishes. Asparagus Asparagus can…
Bags of salad leaves ready-to-use are some of the first things you see in the supermarket fruit and veg sections when you stroll in – all year round they are there. GYO salad But now is the perfect time to sow and grow your own salad leaves, cut and come again Lettuce or Wild Rocket.…
We’re delighted to announce that Ben Harrison, who is Operations Director of Haskins Garden Centres, is our Chairman Elect for 2024/25. He will then become our Chairman at our annual conference in January 2026. Prestigious position Ben says: “I’m delighted to be taking on this prestigious position, having previously been the organisation’s Treasurer. I’m really…
Our members and their teams are being urged to put forward staff for this year’s GCA Trust Dick Allen Scholarship Award Scheme by Monday (March 25, 2024). The scheme is open to staff within GCA garden centres and the two recipients of the award will be invited to attend the International GCA (IGCA) Congress later…
As humans we tend to overestimate what we can do in a year and massively underestimate what we can do in ten years. Humans. Funny creatures aren’t we. If only we could better understand how the human animal works, I truly believe we could solve many of the biggest challenges in our world. As humans…
Our Barometer of Trade (BoT) report for February 2024 saw clothing romp ahead at +20.9% with catering just behind at +19.55% when compared with the same month last year. Just three of the categories recorded by us were down when likened to February 2023, according to the figures submitted by our member garden centres. Clothing…
Our Garden Retail Online Workshops (GROW) e-Learning platform has launched five new online compliance-based courses covering health and safety this month (March 2024). This batch is the second of three releases across this subject, which will see sixteen e-Learning courses in total on various food safety and health and safety topics added to GROW. Five…
Prune Roses and fruit trees should be trimmed back Perennial shrubs and ornamental trees will need pruning for shape Clip heathers and lavenders too Cut back loose hanging ivy branches and remove any that have attached themselves to guttering and wooden window frames Also cut late flowering clematis back to the ground Cut back buddleia…
If you only manage to get eight things done this month in your outdoor space, depending on its size and what you use it for, then these are the ones to go for: Sow under cloches beetroot, broad beans, Brussels sprouts, early carrots, lettuce, radish, spring onions, spinach, turnips, parsnips, early peas and salad leaves.…