association comment GIMA’s GYO suppliers tackling climate change


Grow Your Own ranges can offer a bit of a dilemma when it comes to buying products such as tools, seedlings and growing media. Plastic, pollution and conservation are all big issues for GIMAin this key sector as we enter into the main sales season.


Sarah Talbot, marketing manager for Haxnicks (part of Tildenet) says


the GYO brand’s new range of bamboo pots and seed trays has been a huge success with gardeners: “New manufacturing techniques have given us much more scope, so it really is an exciting time to be designing products. We are enthusiastic about the growing appetite for products made from natural materials, so look out for exciting new additions coming soon.” The plight of Britain’s peat is still an important issue for Dalefoot


Compost, who as well as manufacturing GYO specific growing media such as ‘Wool Compost for Fruit and Vegetables’, is one of the leading contractors undertaking peatland restoration across the UK. Its range of unique peat free composts has now been approved for organic growing by the Soil Association, the UK’s largest organic certification body. And land management and recycling are high on Durston Garden


‘Eco’ products used to be seen as a niche, specialist product, but shoppers’ perceptions seem to be shiſting. Ruth Posey, sales director for Burgon and Ball says the company had noticed a marked increase in gardeners trying to reduce their reliance on plastic in the garden: “The Grow Your Own category provides plenty of opportunities to offer more sustainable alternatives. Traditional wooden planting tools such as our Essential Tools range are a natural fit for the earthy, slightly nostalgic appeal of GYO and they’re also popular with younger, millennial customers, attracted by a more authentic way of gardening.”


Are you Plant Healthy?


The Horticultural Trades Association (HTA) looks at putting biosecurity at the heart of the horticultural trade. The tool is based on the recently published


Plant Health continues to be high on the agenda for the HTA and its members. The Healthy Plants, Healthy Business event, held by the HTA in association with APHA, brought together industry experts and representatives to discuss the issue. The event also saw the launch of the Plant


Healthy website which provides a self- assessment tool for horticulture businesses and organisations to improve the biosecurity of sourcing systems and advance plant health management practises. This free tool is available at: planthealthy.org.uk


14 | www.gardencentreupdate.com


Plant Health Management Standard (PHMS) – an initiative that Grown in Britain and the Horticultural Trades Association (HTA) have been working hard to advance, along with many other organisations. The standard provides a set of requirements for businesses to meet, with a view to protecting the horticultural supply chain and the wider countryside from damaging pest and diseases. Although initially developed for the UK market, the standard is set out in a manner that enables it to be adopted internationally. The tool is a self-assessment questionnaire


which enables a business’ current plant health practises to be measured against the PHMS. It will assist businesses to check that they are fulfilling statutory obligations; understand pest and disease threats; and set out a plant health policy. The tool is intended to help businesses


prepare for independent audits which will be available once the Plant Health Assurance Scheme is launched later in 2019. Currently the HTA is working with the Plant Health Biosecurity


Steering Committee to set up governance structures and appoint certification bodies, that will independently audit businesses. When the scheme is ready, and once successfully audited, a business will receive an assurance certificate enabling them to demonstrate that robust plant health management practises are integral to their operations. HTA Horticulture manager, Alistair Yeomans


says: “The HTA is pleased to be working with the Plant Health Biosecurity Steering Group, government, NGOs and businesses to develop the Plant Health Management Standard. Threats from exotic pests and diseases present a great threat to our industry and the wider countryside. As such it is essential that organisations work in a coordinated way to reduce the risk of environmental damage from these harmful organisms.” • Video footage of the full event is available to purchase for £15. Please email events@hta.org.uk for further information or to view the event write up please visit www.hta.org.uk/planthealth.


GCU March/April 2019


Products Limited’s environmental agenda, and according to director Dan Durston, will continue regardless of the way in which the UK leaves the EU, he says: “With the uncertainty of Brexit still looming and many companies finding themselves in unchartered waters, at Durstons nothing has changed, so we can, with confidence move forward into this new year knowing we are well placed for an even better and brighter future. The world as we know it is changing, but more importantly climate change is happening, and as long as we all keep that thought in the forefront of our minds as we go about our daily routines and adapt – we can and we will survive it.”


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