UK: COVID-19 has transformed the gardening industry – so what are the new trends?
I’ve been heartened by the millions of new British growers who have sprung up this year – almost three million, according to research from The Horticultural Trades Association (HTA). Nearly half of these new gardeners are aged under 45.
By Craig Sams
Horticulture Weekl
25 November 2020
Excerpt:
Not only does the gardening industry have more customers, but growers as a whole are spending more as they stock up their horticultural armoury.
The HTA Garden Retail Monitor found that sales of gardening products were up 34%, 17% and 19% in June, July and August respectively in UK garden centres, compared to the same time last year. On average, individual customers were spending 35% more on gardening products.
Sales also surged in bedding plants (29%), seeds (59%) and gardening equipment (51%), while garden leisure categories were higher than in August 2019.
When the coronavirus reached our shores, panic buying swept across the UK. Walk into nearly any supermarket and you’d see swathes of shelves that were either severely depleted, or stripped bare. Meanwhile, food delivery slots had weeks-long waiting times.
For fruit and veg lovers, the lack of fresh produce was particularly grim. So individuals and those sharing community gardens decided that growing and harvesting their own fresh food would be a no-brainer. In fact, seed producers reported a massive rise in sales during lockdown. And in March, the Royal Horticultural Society said visits to their web pages with advice on growing vegetables had more than doubled compared with the same time last year.
Growers will know that homegrown veg not only tastes better than shop-bought food, but you also have the satisfaction of knowing you’ve grown it yourself, and, with no plastic or drive to the supermarket, have cut your carbon footprint to boot.
