As the weather turned back to the Indian Summer we'd all been hoping for, the GTN Bestsellers charts show that the biggest sales increases were Veg-2-Gro.

The GTN Veg-2-Gro chart is now showing a cumulative increase year on year of 11% (also up 14% on 2011) and talk at the Fleuroselect Home Garden Conference this week was of plenty more GYO growth.

At the Tozer seeds trial ground, many new varieties were on show, including some that are already being grown commercially and sold through supermarkets. Flower sprouts are likely to be big in M&S this winter, giving us the ideal ready-made marketing platform for the seeds.

Andrew Tokely from Thompson & Morgan is expecting several new varieties to be new bestsellers in 2014. British Basil is a hot tip – this new variety has a robust leaf and is more weather tolerant for outdoor growing.

T&M will also be selling a pack of mixed beetroot seeds in 2014. Given the perennial success of Beetroot Boltardy it will be interesting to see how a pack of 5 different varieties performs.

We know everyone is up to their ears in Christmas displays right now, but spare a thought about your GYO areas for next year now, while sales are still happening.

How will you make the most of more growth next year, and how will you attract and encourage new gardeners to grow veg in your area? Let us know by email trevor.pfeiffer@tgcmc.co.uk

GTN Bestsellers Top 50 sales volumes compared to the same week last year:
• Garden Products – down 3%
• Veg-2-Gro – down 2%
• Growing Media – down 11%
• All items index – up 20%

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