Encouraging signs of a spring to remember

Alan Down, HTAPresident

Although the shortest month of the year,Februaryoften sets the tone for spring.Thereare some very encouraging signs and agreat deal of optimism about our industry having agood spring trading.Garden centres arereporting strong demand in their catering facilities and we all hope this leads to the buying of core gardening plants and products.

At the excellent GCA ConferenceinJanuary, economist Roger Martin-Fagghad some encouraging things to say about the UK economy.Key takeaways were that we should not believe every prediction churned out by the press and that things were not as bad as theywould likeustobelieve!Heis predicting we should come out of recession in Q3 of this year but, of course, he wasunable to predict the fine weather we need for strong trading

Clustered around my attendanceofthe GCA ConferenceI continued to visit avariety of HTAretail and grower members. My visits included Abi &Tom’sPlant CentreatGrange over Sands, JAJones amenity growers and suppliers, and Porters Fuchsias (HappyPlants) at Southport, Taylors Bulbs and Bridge Farm Group near Spalding and Perrywood Garden Centre and Nursery, Tiptree in Essex. Iwas especially impressed with the big investments in futureproduction facilities at Bridge Farm and Porters Fuchsias (HappyPlants). To be competitiveinthe futureweneed our industrytomake these big investments in growing facilities, mechanisation, automation, materials handling,green energy and more.

Irecently attended an excellent day at HTAHorticulture Houserun jointlybythe HTA, DEFRA and APHA.Biosecurity, plant health and import/exportofplant materialwas the main topic of conversation and it’sgreat to see thesetwo public bodies listening as well as informing on such an important subject.Minister of Statefor DEFRALordBenyon,joined a livelinkand we were encouragedbythe importanceheputs to maintaining plant health andbiosecurity.The supportof thePlantHealthyCertification Scheme is especiallywelcome but we do need more businesses to sign up to this.

As Iwrite, we areapproaching the end of National Apprenticeship Week and Ihope this has sparked interest in newrecruits. It’sclear apprentices arebadly needed in everysector of our industry. We knowthat for smaller businesses in particular there aredifficulties in employing apprentices but also in the deliveryoftraining and end assessments for all. This is an area the HTAisactively trying to resolve.

The Garden PressEvent in Islington in mid-Feb is run jointly by the HTAand GIMA and agreat placetodiscovernew products, plants and services. This one-day eventisalso an opportunity to network and startaconversation with members of the garden presssoperhaps pencil it in to your 2024 diary. Talking of pressrelations, I’ve also attempted to explain the difficulties we faceinfinding an acceptable and reliable peat replacement for commercial growers in the April edition of BBC Gardeners World magazine. Idiscoveredjust howdifficult it is to communicatekey points for such acomplex subject given just 300 words! Nevertheless, Ibelieve it is important we engage in discussions likethese at everylevel. Ihope youagree. With lengthening days and fresh young plants arriving from nurseries by the day,let us hope that we haveaspring to remember

TheHorticultural Trades Association is the UK industry’s leading membership organisation and welcomes all sectors of environmental horticulture. To learnmoreorjoin please visit: www.hta.org.ukoremail: services@hta.org.uk

TheGarden Press Event 2023: www.gardenpressevent.co.uk