New ways to keep gardens blooming through the crisis
Businesses forced to adapt as pandemic puts pressure on the horticultural industry
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Many of the Eastern European workers relied upon for this work have not been able to get to farms, sparking an appeal – backed by the Coastal West Sussex Partnership – for UK workers and students to take up opportunities.
Meanwhile, the ornamental side of the sector – which includes all non-edible produce such as flowers and bedding plants – has been badly hit by the closure of garden centres. “Sales have come to a complete standstill,” Mr Hall said. “With everyday that goes by, more and more plants are heading to the skip or to the compost. These plants are so seasonable, there’s only one opportunity to sell them and it’s now.”
In response, local businesses have come up with new ways to get plants into the hands of residents keen to busy themselves in the garden.
When the pandemic prevented Matt Skinner, from Bracklesham Bay, taking up a new job as head of sales, he and his fiancée Camilla were wondering how they would provide for their three young children. They decided to try to sell plants directly to customers and prevent them going to waste. Matt said: “A lot of my friends and colleagues are in the same place, looking at millions of pounds worth of stock that’s destined for the bin.”
The couple set up Hope Plants with the aim of doing a few local van deliveries – but after a ‘phenomenal’ response on social media, orders have gone ‘through the roof’. Matt is now coordinating eight delivery vehicles a day to keep up with demand.
“It’s a perfect storm really in that the weather is fantastic and people are stuck at home, looking at their gardens,” he said.
As well as bedding plants, their range of grow-your-own vegetables have proved ‘very popular’. “A lot of people said they’ve got kids at home and are trying to find creative ways to educate them,” Matt said.
Many customers have welcomed having something to keep them focused, he said, adding: “It’s heartwrenching, so many people are housebound and lonely. For people’s health and wellbeing, plants make such a difference.”
Meanwhile horticulturist Ben Cross, who usually supplies florists and wholesalers with millions of cut flowers a year from Crosslands Flower Nursery in Walberton, has teamed up with Beachtown Blooms in Littlehampton to create a nationwide letterbox scheme so that people can get flowers delivered directly. Demand for flowers was high, he said, adding: “They are very good for mental health and a bit of joy and colour in these days of quarantine and isolation.”
Mr Cross, whose campaigning raises awareness of British flowers, said: “I think we’ve adapted fairly well and a lot of people seem to be enjoying the service.”