Tag: National Gardening Week

Tips to brighten your summer garden with Dobbies

Garden Centre announces winners of community competition at monthly gardening workshop

Showing support for National Gardening Week (29 April – 5 May) Dobbies, the UK’s leading garden centre retailer, is encouraging gardeners to brighten up their garden with summer bedding plants at its free Grow How session in its Edinburgh store, taking place on Saturday 4 May. 

Plus, all stores across the UK will simultaneously announce their winners for Dobbies Community Gardens.

Gardeners of all skill levels are invited to attend the session that starts at 10.30am and lasts around 10-15 minutes. They will be introduced to summer bedding plants, and get helpful hints and tips on how to introduce colour to garden beds this summer.

From Begonias, with their large flamboyant blooms, to Sweet Peas with their delightful fragrance and wide range of colours, there’s something for every garden, no matter the size.

Dobbies’ garden experts in Edinburgh will guide attendees through specific bedding plants that are in season in May, as well as how to create colour themes in pots or baskets by pairing large flowers like Dahlias as the focal point and enhancing space around them with summer bedding plants like Begonias, Petunias and Impatiens (Busy Lizzies).

This year’s winner of Dobbies Community Gardens from Edinburgh will also be announced at May’s Grow How session, with all entrants invited to attend to hear the result.

Dobbies Community Gardens launched in March to offer support for community and charity groups in Edinburgh to help transform, restore or start their indoor or outdoor green spaces.

Dobbies Edinburgh store will announce the local group that they have selected to receive support through products, tools, plants and volunteer hours to make their indoor or outdoor green space flourish.

Ahead of the session, Dobbies’ Plant Buyer Nigel Lawton shares some expert advice on creating colour themes from bedding plants. He said: “Summer bedding plants can bring that special seasonal vibrancy to all shapes and sizes of garden space.

“The key is to combine plants with their needs; most summer bedding plants perform best in full sun, but some, such as Begonias and tobacco plants, can tolerate little shade.

“We would encourage people in Edinburgh to come along to this month’s Grow How session for help and advice on how bedding plants can breathe new life into gardens, patios and baskets.

“We’re also looking forward to announcing the winners of Dobbies Community Gardens and learning about all of the green spaces we will help to transform in the year ahead.”

For more information about Dobbies’ Grow How session and to make a booking, visit dobbies.com/events.

Grow the perfect plants for your patio with Dobbies

Looking to create a blooming patio this National Gardening Week (1-7 May 2023)? Dobbies, the UK’s leading garden centre, is hosting a free Grow How session in its Edinburgh store with a live demonstration on how to design your perfect patio with stylish pots and plants.

Taking place on Saturday 6th May at 10:30am, this interactive workshop is suitable for all levels of gardeners, from beginners who dream of growing and nurturing beautiful plants to brighten up their patios, to experts searching for new ways to enhance their outside space.  

Dobbies’ gardening experts will demonstrate how to select the right pots and plants, with an emphasis on striking the perfect balance of colour and style. Key plants that will be a focus as part of the event will include Hydrangea and Senetti, and the team will advise on the correct tools, peat-free compost and watering for a successful season.

Marcus Eyles, Dobbies’ Horticultural Director, said: “We are constantly searching for ways to inspire people in Edinburgh to get involved in gardening.

“Growing plants for your patio is not only good for the environment and your mental health, but it is also a fun way to get the whole family involved in a project.

“You could even be inspired by the Coronation over this special weekend. National Gardening Week this year has a focus on ‘creating a Coronation container’. If you’re looking to create a regal display, consider plants in deep shades of blue, purple and magenta for a striking look reminiscent of King Charles III’s royal gardens. Pansy and Viola plants are great for this as they work well in containers and will give your pots a wonderful fresh look.

“We are really looking forward to this workshop and hope we inspire some beautiful new patio plants.”

For more information about how to take part in Dobbies’ Grow How session, visit Grow How | Dobbies Garden Centres.

#sustainabledobbies supports National Gardening Week

The UK’s leading garden centre retailer, Dobbies Garden Centres, demonstrates its support for the Royal Horticultural Society’s (RHS) National Gardening Week (26 April – 2 May) with the launch of new sustainable products in the Edinburgh store and the start of its #sustainabledobbies campaign.

Market leaders in the garden centre sector, Dobbies is committed to educating about the importance of soil health and delivering environmentally-friendly practices and products, and sustainable solutions.

Dobbies supports the RHS’s aim to enrich lives through plants and make the UK a greener place. This year, the RHS is encouraging everyone to get their ‘dose of Vitamin G’ by taking a few minutes each day to connect with nature. Dobbies will share dedicated National Gardening Week content focused on #sustainabledobbies which will build and develop throughout 2021 both online and instore.

A key part of Dobbies’ sustainability pledge is to reduce the use of peat, plastics and pesticides in its product range. The team are on track with the commitment made in 2020 to be 90% peat free in 2021 and 100% peat free in 2022. The retailer has also worked with nursery suppliers to produce a roadmap for an annual reduction in peat use.

Dobbies is launching a number of new sustainable products in the Edinburgh store and online. Landing in store this week are biochar products from Carbon Gold – Carbon Gold Biochar Fertiliser and Biochar Soil Improver – with Dobbies being the first leading garden centre to stock these products.

Carbon Gold’s biochar products are 100% peat and chemical-free, FSC Certified and Soil Association organic approved, and are used by professionals the world over, including conventional and organic crop growers, tree care specialists and even elite sports greenkeepers. 

Biochar is so high in carbon that adding it to soil permanently sequesters CO2 from the atmosphere. In fact, biochar acts like natural magic in the garden, with significant and permanent benefits proven to boost the health and vitality of plants.

A garden centre first, in the next month Dobbies will launch compost bag recycling in store, in partnership with Evergreen. This will initially launch in 10 stores, with further roll out planned in 2021. New pot recycling stations will also be installed, building on the success of the pot return scheme, as well as a commitment to increasing recyclable plant pots and single use plastics.

As part of #sustaintabledobbies, there is additional focus on the safer range of pest control products, to reduce the impact on beneficial garden insects and wildlife. The retailer does not stock weedkillers that contain glyphosate or slug killers that contain metaldehyde, and rodenticides have been delisted.

Graeme Jenkins, CEO of Dobbies, said: “At Dobbies we pride ourselves on providing the best gardening products, services and advice, and it’s also our responsibility to care for our environment.

“Sustainable practices have been a core focus for some time and we are pleased to support National Gardening Week with #sustainabledobbies.

“It’s our duty to raise awareness and promote better sustainability practices among our suppliers, team members and customers, and we look forward to sharing news of new products and services in our Edinburgh store over the course of 2021.

“As well as reducing our use of peat, plastics and pesticides and providing our customers with recycling opportunities, we are also proud supporters of Terra Carta from HRH The Prince of Wales’ Sustainable Market Initiative – helping make the UK a greener place.”

Mike Hartshorn, MD of Carbon Gold, said: “After seeing a massive boom in retail sales last year, we’re absolutely thrilled to have our biochar products on shelves at Dobbies’ Edinburgh store in time for Spring 2021.

“Gardeners, home growers and allotmenteers have always wanted their plots of outdoor space to be healthy, vibrant and disease and pest free, but these days making sure they’re also environmentally friendly is rising up everyone’s lists of priorities.

“Our biochar products, which have always been the professionals’ best kept secret, are the perfect replacement for unsustainable peat-based products because they really work and they’re actually good for the environment. It is the gardening product of the future!”

For National Gardening Week, Dobbies has released a new podcast episode focused on sustainable gardening. Horticulture Director, Marcus Eyles, joins host Louise Midgely to discuss Dobbies’ sustainable aims and new product launches, as well as practical advice on how gardeners can care for the environment at home.

The podcast is available to listen to now on iTunes and Spotify https://www.dobbies.com/podcasts

For keen gardeners in Edinburgh there are also two new FREE virtual events, which will support the #sustainabledobbies focus: https://www.dobbies.com/events

·        8 May – Time to Colour Your Garden

·        15 May – Roses – The UK’s Favourite Flower

Follow and support Dobbies sustainability campaign using the hashtag #sustainabledobbies

For Dobbies sustainability policy: https://www.dobbies.com/sustainability-policy