Garden Re-leaf Day 2014 – the event designed to kick-start the garden sales season and raise funds for charity – will be Friday 14 March.

Boyd Douglas-Davies, the event’s founder, urged retailers and suppliers at this week’s GIMA Awards to get behind the third Garden Re-Leaf Day to make it the most successful yet.

The event had achieved its main objective to “get people into garden centres and get them gardening”. “The creativity in our industry knows no bounds and Garden Re-Leaf has shown that,” he said. “It has become a valuable vehicle for promoting our industry. It is OUR day and it is up to us to make the activity start in spring.”

It also raised more than £61,000 for the Greenfingers charity this year, bringing the total in its first two years to more than £116,000 – all helping to fund the creation of gardens at UK children’s hospices.

Garden Re-Leaf Day raised £61,379 for the Greenfingers charity in 2013