Garden Centre's - are they a Rip Off

alanthemanc

On Bank Holliday Monday, as usual, it was p......g down, so the only place everyone thought of going was the garden centre. Anyway, I saw some individual small plants at £1.50. A mate of mine said they grow them for 50p.
So thats £1 profit on each plant, and thats megga profit.
A big Hanging Basket, £28. ( about 10 plants fullly grown ) profit around
15 quid.
I could do with a greenhouse.... what do you think. Alanthemanc

mellman01

Yes they can be, you have to think before to purchase anything from them, I find ours can well be, my gripe is with compost, J Arthur Bowers what a load of old crap, the bags we had were infected with mould flies did a lot of damage to my Chilli and pepper seedlings damed stuff also had bits of plastic and potery in it, it's rehased cheap council stuff not worth the risk, none of my plants did well in it I was lucky to save a lot of them, so don't touch the stuff it's junk, Grrrrr!. :evil

cloud9

We have a wonderful nursery near us called Cherry Tree Nursery. It's a Sheltered Work Opportunity Project run by people with mental health issues. They work as volunteers. It's a peaceful, healthy environment for people who are sometimes quite poorly. They are helped to deal with their mental health issues and are given access to other professionals who can help them with other issues like housing, benefits etc. The plants they sell are amazingingly healthy and robust and they only charge a little over the cost price so they can keep ticking over.

dreamdaisy

I only every plants that are reduced in price from the chain garden centres, for good quality plants (not that I buy that many, can't stand gardening) we go to independant nurseries as they offer a far better standard of plants at a more reasonable cost, staff who are knowledgeable and helpful and they often have a better range and more unusual plants. My last purchase from Wyevale was three clematis for a third of their original prices. My neighbour kindly planted them for me (I forgot about that bit!) and all are thriving. All three cost less than £5. DD

liesa

i think the prices they have in the garden centre are terrible, i have just recently bought myself a little greenhouse, a walk in one with only a tight space to turn around, 2 shelves, have gorwn radishes, beetroot lettuces, spring onions, cress, tomatoes, and sunflower seeds i did with the grandchildren, i just wanted to do something for me, get me out from my chair... fresh air makes me feel good to lol

daylily

Hi, garden centres are great...........
For looking round and having a coffee.
You want plants at a reasonable price even the supermarkets are OK.
I've always found garden centres overpriced.