Corona Virus update

16th March 2020.  It has been a worrying time for everyone. Our rickety health service, problematic at the best of times, is about to be hit by a tsunami of patients. Everyone will have to do whatever they can to slow the spread of this virus. Given the abundance of mis-information available to all, we have taken the view that we should follow the 'official advice' from the government, and stay open until otherwise advised. Everyone from the W.H.O to the Chief Medical officer has said that closures need to be carefully timed to reflect the state of the spread of the virus on a continually evolving basis. Therefore, we are ready and willing to close when instructed.

  • We believe that our shops are by and large airy, outdoor environments where it is easy for people to be well-distanced from each other. Customers can spend their time outdoors, and they can pay with contactless payment and maintain a safe distance from staff and other customers at all times. Some customers have even remained in their cars for the entire shopping process: a 100% contactless experience, a 'drive through garden centre' as it were.
  • We believe we’re offering a valuable service for those wanting to grow vegetables and herbs, or make the most of their new-found time at home. Some customers are turning their gardens over to vegetables and herbs in order to supplement their diets and occupy their children in the months ahead.
  • We have mutiple growers and suppliers, many of them local, who will suffer catastrophic losses if their plants are not bought and sold at this critical time.  These are skilled people who work safely outdoors, whose vulnerable jobs can be maintained if they have a retail outlet.
  • We have advised staff to close the doors if the shops have more than a handful of customers and to feel free to reprimand customers who don't properly adhere to cautious social distancing.
  • We are keeping our till areas spotlessly clean with constant disinfecting; staff are washing their hands carefully and regularly.
  • We have told our staff to stay at home if they have any reservations about their health, and that their pay will not be affected nor will sick days be counted for the time being.
  • We sell some essential supplies such as firewood and many tools for a 'grow it yourself' life.
  • Currently, we have a delivery service where many items can simply be ordered by contacting us. All you need to do is phone us.
We will keep you updated.
It’s going to be a very strange and difficult time for everyone.
If / when we have to close, we plan to re-open with each and every member of staff and with all our wonderful growers and suppliers.
 
Please continue to support small businesses, wherever you live. A business such as ours supports 20 people directly, and dozens more growers and suppliers locally. Everyone from the husband-and-wife team who grow herbs to the nurseries growing trees, shrubs and perennials . From the family who make seaweed fertiliser in Wexford to the people making peat-free compost in Armagh. From the organic manure producers in Cork to the man in Glenageary who grows basil and chillies.... not to mention the bird food mixing wizard in Wicklow who has local birds hooked on the freshest and most elaborate seed mixes available. Little businesses like ours genuinely do have a 'trickle-down' effect in the local economy. Small shops also provide a really important social function. At this point, we know about half our customers by name, and half of our customers know us by name! They drop in with their dogs, their sick plants, their children, mothers, fathers and friends. We deliver their christmas trees and they drop us in coffees when we're busy. They make a point of supporting us and we make a point of supporting them. They challenge us to get hard-to-find items and we try to rise to the challenge. They teach us what they know about a specific plant, and we learn from them so that we constantly know more than we did the day before. They make a conscious effort to support us and we make a conscious effort to offer them something special in their neighbourhood. We think it's a win-win situation.