Shopping local for fabulous plants at Bud Garden Centre

I feel a little sad when shopping at some larger garden centres or superstores to see uncared for and poorly maintained plants for sale, dying for water in the heat or all piled up on a discounted shelf. Not sure about you but sometimes I’ve also bought plants which haven’t turned out to be in the rudest of health, fading away soon after being planted even though I’ve got relatively green fingers. Visiting Bud Garden Centre in Burnage last week on the recommendation of the Didsbury Life team was a revelation, an oasis of much loved greenery, tended by owners Brenda and Severine. Their approach is to source locally where possible, using peat free and organic methods and the love they have for what they do is crystal clear when you see the standard and quality of plants for sale there, at very competitive prices.

It was lovely to find somewhere to buy plants and herbs which looked so incredibly healthy rather than the often quite forlorn looking ones on offer elsewhere, and to get such passionately given advice alongside our purchases. We picked up some cherry tomatoes, strawberries, the healthiest basil I’ve ever seen, some lush smelling spearmint and a beautifully scented rose bush.

I’m very tempted to get some fruit trees but have to clear a space in my garden and Brenda’s going to source some larger trees as I want them higher than 12ft!Below centre is the basil and Brenda advised me to carefully separate each bunch into individual stalks and spread them around when planting. I was amazed at how much came from the two small containers I bought, they filled a huge terracotta pot, look below! Apparently the reason why the basil which you buy from the supermarket rarely lasts or grows properly is that it’s originally grown in artificial light in poor quality ‘soil’. I love learning new stuff, especially to do with food 🙂