Garden Centre Reviews
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Notcutts Garden Centre in Bagshot is on the large size. Largish outdoor plants centre, indoor sales area, a large aquatics and pet centre. We visited it in early July to see how they matched up to the competition.
This is a totally independent GardenAction opinion of the Notcutts Garden Centre in Bagshot.
The outdoor plants area is about a quarter covered. The layout has the
potential to be interesting but instead it always looks a bit bedraggled and weather
worn. The paths are broken up in places making it less regimented than many garden
centres.
The paths are wide but some are gravel paths which may be a problem for wheelchair users.
There is an unmanned information centre which has a reasonable selection o reference books.
We looked at the plants and were not particularly impressed. The three pictures below tell a story. The first shows weeds growing in some of the potted clematis. The second shows that the roots are exposed above the soil The third shows a wilted sage plant which has only a few hours left before it dies completely.
Does it matter that some plants have been left fallen over, some have weeds in
their pots, some have roots exposed, some plants have wilted or that some of the paths have their access severely reduced? It definitely does matter!
Not only is the health of the plants reduced by the weeds, the wilting and incorrect growing conditions but it also indicates the mind set of the garden centre owners. Many garden centres have the problem of wind blowing plants over and they prevent it using a range of sometimes ingenious support methods. This branch of Notcutts just lets them fall over.
The prices of the garden accessories was slightly lower than normal whilst the prices of the plants was definitely on the high side.
Rose, 3 litre pot �7.99 upwards
Common shrub (e.g. hebe) �9.49
Clematis named variety �10.99 upwards
Economy spade �10.00
Stainless steel fork �17.99
Runner Bean seeds �2.69
Multi-purpose compost 60l �4.99 or 3 for �12
Fish, blood and bone 2.5kg �5.99
Tomorite 1 litre �3.99
Miracle Gro 1 kg �4.49
Large cup of coffee �1.45
NOTE: Price comparisons are based on the prices we find at the time of our visit. We compare to them average prices in the same year as the date of the review.