Coronavirus lockdown: Garden centres 'still have plants left to sell'
- Published
Matthew Bailey is general manager of Mortonhall Garden Centre in Edinburgh
Garden centres say they still have plants waiting to be sold, despite the impact of the coronavirus lockdown.
The industry warned last month that millions of plants may have to be thrown away after centres were forced to close under government restrictions.
But Matthew Bailey, general manager of Mortonhall Garden Centre in Edinburgh, said it was "ready to go" if the rules were relaxed.
And he stressed they had not been forced to destroy all their stock.
"We did give hundreds of flowering house plants away when the lockdown was announced to hospitals because we wanted them to be seen while they were flowering - but we still have thousands more high quality plants left," he said.
He said staff had been watering, feeding and tending to their plants since the restrictions came into effect.
Mortonhall is part of the Klondyke chain of family-run garden centres across Britain.
Steve Taylor has been watering the plants every day at the centre
Mr Bailey said: "We respect the current restrictions but as soon as we get the green light we are ready to go.
"We can run the exact same system as supermarkets are doing."
He said his centre had fitted screens on tills and sourced sanitiser and antibacterial wash to clean baskets, and had worked out a one-way system for the store.
Mr Bailey added that gardening was one of the most popular hobbies in Britain.
Matthew Bailey believes getting people outside and growing plants would relieve the "pressure cooker" of lockdown
He said: "Everyone is inside at the moment, which is causing an intense, cabin fever atmosphere - but if there was some way of them getting outside to grow stuff it would relieve the pressure cooker and would create another space for them to go to.
"Gardens are an extension of a house, another 'room' at this time which people could be utilising if they had the plants and seeds to work with.
"April has been the driest on record for about 300 years so it is good gardening weather at the moment and if people could be out working in their gardens it has to be good for their mental health."Matthew Bailey at Mortonhall Garden Centre
John Jenkins, 61, from Edinburgh, said it had been "really frustrating" not to be able to plant anything in his garden.
"I have all this time that I could be tending to my garden but I can't," he said.
"It's ridiculous that the garden centres are not open when the supermarkets are.
"So many people would have something to do if the garden centres were open and they could buy plants and seeds. All we are doing right now is existing."