A straw poll of garden centre businesses about the re-opening of their restaurants and coffee shops has revealed that half are planning to partly re-open after lockdown restrictions are relaxed on Saturday July 4th, only a few are planning a full re-opening and a third are not intending to re-open their catering operations at all for the time being.

"We are reopening on the 4th and will try to keep our offer as close to what it was before.  Looking at our Garden Centre takings I'm expecting demand for catering to be as high if not higher than last year..."

"It does not make economic sense for the moment, even given the extra draw to the site we know catering is to a garden centre and the resultant retail spend..."

"This is going to be harder than opening the garden centre as there are so many balls to keep up in the air at the same time. Overall we won’t be rushing..."

""I do not believe we will make any money during the first week but should at least cover our costs.  Onwards and upwards!.."

Last week The Duchess of Cambridge joined families from East Anglia’s Children’s Hospices (EACH) to plant a garden at The Nook, one of EACH’s purpose-built hospices near Norwich and media coverage of gardening and garden centres went into orbit again...

Garden centre volume sales for June are up year on year, with a week of sales data still to add.  After just three weeks the GTN Bestsellers All Sales Index shows total volume sales to be 5% ahead of the whole month last year...

Greenfingers Charity supporters across the UK took part in the thirteenth #FloralFriday to highlight the work it does in children’s hospices across the UK...

June sales of Growing Media have already set a new record for the month, and there’s still a week of sales data to go! Last week’s sales were 55% up on the same week last year reducing the overall year to date deficit for sales while centres were open to 22%.

Last week saw the most new entries into the GTN Bestsellers Growing Media chart we’ve seen for a long time:

• Melcourt All-Purpose Peat-Free Compost 50 litres was the highest new entry at No 26...

Ayrshire garden centre owner, Michael Hayes of Hayes Garden Land in Symington has set up a JustGiving page to raise money for the family of Philip Moore who died after a tragic accident at Westlands Dungannon factory.  The appeal has raised £1,645 so far and as a result Michael has reset the target to £5,000...

Garden and pet product suppliers are being offered the chance to grow their social media presence, thanks to a new service organised by Gardenex and PetQuip...

A new HTA industry survey reveals that over half of British ornamental growers (52%) expect a further downturn in sales from June to August as they have not been able to plant crops during lockdown, and this is now resulting in increased imports.

• 65% of larger retailers surveyed are importing more bedding plants than last year, almost half are importing more hardy nursery stock and 4 in 10 more herbaceous perennials.
• Almost three quarters of retailers in the survey (72%) said that they were currently unable to get the stock of bedding plants their business needs from UK growers...

GrowNation has announced a new series of service tiers to help garden centres get online with the features and pricing structure that best suits their individual needs...

Blagdon has launched its new Amphibious IQ scrappage scheme offering consumers £25 off an energy-efficient pond pump when they trade in their old one for recycling...

EGO has added two brand new attachments for its battery-powered mowers.  A new Rear Roller Kit helps gardening and landscaping pros obtain sought after stripes.  A new mulching kit helps to keep customers’ lawns healthier.