On 2013-07-06 17:37:13 +0100, Bob Hobden said:

"Sacha" wrote...

Ray was really incensed the other day to see that another nursery with
a fifth of our staff, is charging £3.50 for a pack of 6 baby lettuces.
Ours are £2.50 and there is absonlutely no justification in organic
being more expensive at this stage in their growth! The compost they're
grown in (if different) may be slightly more costly, but that would add
maybe 1p to the whole tray! But while I can understand fully grown
organic veg being more expensive as their care, treatment and
harvesting take more man hours, this is absolutely not the case with
lettuce plants a couple of inches high. This gives organic growers a
bad name though thankfully, not all do this.

Our little local nursery, Dunkirk Nursery in Egham, sells all veg
plants at £1 for a strip of 12 and very good quality. It means it's
actually not worth your while growing them yourself unless you want
something specific.

This year, veg sales have boomed and the six packs and the strips are
very popular, so are the herbs. Obviously, these aren't things we send
out, it's simply not worth it to us or the customers. But we have
noticed an increase in young people coming in and my guess is they're
concerned about what they put in their children's mouths! But fair's
fair re pricing! A lot of people buying baby plants don't have the
time, or don't have a greenhouse to start them off, so it's definitely
not worth their while trying to do it themselves.
--

Sacha
www.hillhousenursery.com
South Devon
www.helpforheroes.org.uk