You choose the plants online but before you’ve even decided where to plant them, a second email arrives: “Unfortunately, there has been a delay with the dispatch of your order. I am very sorry for the inconvenience this may cause.”
It’s been a familiar story over the past few years from keen gardeners ordering plants and seeds – and a source of great frustration for those eager to get on with their planting.
Two years ago, Guardian Money featured a complaint about Thompson & Morgan failing to deliver a reader’s plants as promised. At the time, the company blamed the problems on a new IT system.
However, the firm’s Trustpilot page suggests history may be repeating itself – with 56% of customers complaining about the service they have received. The selling of plants that are not ready to be dispatched is a repeated complaint, although the company says problems such as this are inevitable when selling a live product. When delays occur, it says, it always offers the customer the chance to be refunded.
It is worth doing a bit of homework to make sure what you want is really in stock before you give your card details
By choosing your plant and seed supplier with a bit of care, you will hopefully avoid such delays and have a fighting chance of getting those tomatoes in before the end of May.
It is worth doing a bit of homework to make sure what you want is really in stock before you give your card details. Companies are answering the phone again and should advise when orders will be sent out.
Among the most successful items to buy mail order are bare-root trees, roses and perennials, which, as the name suggests, arrive without a pot and the roots bare of soil. They are easy to package and generally travel much better than plug plants. The downside is that these are limited to the bare-root planting season (generally October to April).
For things needed now, Gardeners’ World has a list of the nurseries that kept supplying customers a year ago. It lists the best places to buy for different types of plants, from alpines to roses. Gardening experts generally recommend the smaller, family-run operations.
Buying in garden centres is generally more expensive than mail order but it could end up being better value as you can examine the quality and make sure it arrives home in one piece.
View image in fullscreenBare-root roses, trees and perennials are easy to package and travel well. Photograph: Purple Marbles Garden/Alamy
Buying seeds online makes much more sense, as they tend to arrive in good condition and you can access a much bigger selection. One thing to check, though, is the actual number in a packet. Consumers have reported suppliers have been quietly cutting packet numbers, so check the small print. Also seed prices vary enormously, so it’s worth shopping around.
Chiltern Seeds, Nicky’s Nursery, and Garden Organic’s Heritage Seed Library are all highly rated by gardening writers. Nicky’s Nursery won the Which? trials for highest germination rate of UK seed companies and the packets it sells are competitively priced. Also, eBay is a good source of seeds now, complete with estimated delivery dates.
The website MoreVeg offers smaller seed packet sizes suited to gardeners who don’t want to sow row after row of one crop, and promise that more than half of their 1,100 varieties start at only 60p a packet. There is free postage on orders more than £15.
Had good (or less good) service from a plant or seed supplier? Join the debate below.
