Don't go to garden centres.

grizzly1911

savemoney wrote: »

we have a large independent garden centre about 8 miles from where I live which is cheap, its at Reighton
Plants can be cheap as 60-80p for Aubretia. Aldi another cheap shop but very limited range

I was after some Aubretia a mont or so ago couldn't find it anywhere. Meant to pinch some from Moms, but forgot, last time I was down.

ALDI comment is fair but then it isn't really their bag.

grizzly1911

annie123 wrote: »

Garden centres were invented for people like my mother in law.


The place was full of retired people with a big disposable income.
I stick to seeds/cuttings and the dead plant mark downs locally to me;)

Know exactly what you mean but sometimes nursing a cuppa for an hour or so because it fills the time.

The one by my mom also has a carvery.....

cootambear

annie123 wrote: »

Garden centres were invented for people like my mother in law.

She has 3 large expensive ones near her and likes nothing more than me to drive 40 miles to her pick her up and take her to one.

2Weeks ago we did this. She spent £3.50 on 10 sweet pea seedlings and then headed straight for the tea shop -£18 insisted on lunch there, then decided she needed a 20ltr bag of compost for said seedlings, about as expensive as you can buy it and 30mins wandering around the carp/dust traps that they sell and came away with something to collect dust.

She paid £35 for a minarette cherry tree for my birthday last year and £30 delivery charge to hers, so that I could collect it at my leisure :eek: I have 7 cherries on it, the birds have had the rest.

The place was full of retired people with a big disposable income.
I stick to seeds/cuttings and the dead plant mark downs locally to me;)

wt@ is one of them?

grizzly1911

wallbash wrote: »

You might be missing the point of the larger garden centres. Time to reflect on the large displays,look for the latest products and then have a sit down with a overpriced drink . Garden centres are looking for the 'lets visit for a couple of hours' visitor.
Easy to get a cheap bargain at a local SMALL establishment , stocking a limited range.

Totally agree.

Saw a telly prog once on a struggling establishment, they actually routed you past the coffe shop, to get to the check out, to improve things.

I know it is a package but the mark ups are ridiculous. I too have used local nurserymen in the past and the difference is staggering.

No different to Supermarkets though.

savemoney

Morrisons had aubretia for £1 a while back, you can grow it from seed I just throw a load away when I clipped mine back after flowering

I like the variegated varieties best though

As for Aldi like I said they have limited range fine when plants are on offer but usally no good if they want to increase your stock at moments notice

grizzly1911 wrote: »

I was after some Aubretia a mont or so ago couldn't find it anywhere. Meant to pinch some from Moms, but forgot, last time I was down.

ALDI comment is fair but then it isn't really their bag.

SailorSam

I'm only a learner gardener and i've been trying to grow things from seed or £shop and the biggest problem i've found is ......... you quickly run out of garden to put everything in.

lostinrates

I like garden centres for inspiration. The problem I have with lidl etc is that while the plants are fine, they aren't always what I want to grow. Also, I ant particular varities of things...not just things. IYSWIM. This is particularly a point with things like fruit trees. Our hobby atm, having moved to a new area, is visiting all the local nurseries trying to find real plantsmen/women/businesses. Where you get good value plants and excellent advice too. I'm trying to be organised this year to make orders for the particular things I want from specialised nurseries/growers.....e.g. roses, clematis. Not sure this saves any money, as looking through the catalogues I find stuff I would never have thought I want/need and my ''wish lists'' of particular plants gets bigger and bigger.

Seeds, cuttings etc are real gardening anyway, the sort I'm trying to get better at, not just plonking stuff in a suitable spot and watering...where ever I have bought it from!

On the plus side we found an amazing local nursery today that had the most tremendous range of things. Comparing prices to our local good but very expensive all bells ringing ad with restaurant garden centre makes me feel very happy!

forgotmyname

Get what you pay for maybe. Bought 2 apple trees from LIDL last year, One live one is dead.

So one tree cost £8 still cheap i guess compared to the £40 i paid from a garden centre.

cubegame

Depends on the garden centre. We happily buy stuff from our local ones as they regularly send round vouchers for 50% off any plant etc (which offers good value but does show the huge mark up).

There are plenty of nutters around to part with their cash though. I saw the guy who owns the allotment next to me with a trolley loaded to the ceiling with veg plants two weeks ago......spoke to him at the allotment and he revealed he'd done over 200 quid on plants. What's the point?

The main bonus about garden centres is they also tend to slash the price of perennial plants after they have finished flowering as their clientèle don't generally want them anymore.

We would rather avoid buying any plants from places like Lidl, Wilko, Tesco etc as they generally have them delivered and then let them die.....it's cheaper to throw them away than to pay someone to water them.

peter_the_piper

cubegame wrote: »

We would rather avoid buying any plants from places like Lidl, Wilko, Tesco etc as they generally have them delivered and then let them die.....it's cheaper to throw them away than to pay someone to water them.

Having spoken to a customer who came to buy his plants and works for sainsburys, this is exactly what happens. Can't water them on (I assume) elf and safety reasons, can't have water dripping on the customers or floors. Try to find a nursery you like and stick to them, they generally know what they are doing and rarely rip customers off.