Garden centres were advised by design entrepreneur Wayne Hemingway at the GCA conference yesterday (Monday) to get political, get greener and get to grips with social media.

Hemingway said all successful industries kept an eye on the political agenda. He believed vast trenches of society were being denied access to gardening. “Young people can’t afford to buy a house,” he said, “and new social housing is being built with scant regard for open spaces like gardens and allotments. Are you going to work with this? You offer so much of what politicians want to give society at the moment. You must find a voice.”

He said he was shocked when a straw poll of delegates suggested that few drove eco cars and surprised that most were still selling peat composts, despite the RHS’s stance that peat extraction was unsustainable. “We assume that sustainability and gardening go together,” he added. “Why are garden centres silent on this?”

Hemingway’s list of opportunities includes collaborations with local chefs, healthy eating, food tastings, more events and talks.

He also said garden centres should take greater advantages of the opportunities to communicate with customers through social media sites like Facebook, Twitter and Pinterest.