Shop News – April 2020

Following the CoVid 19 changes, online shop orders and deliveries have started up. So far, we’ve managed to get one online order cycle in per week, and our stock is selling well. We’ve also managed to get some deliveries from our suppliers. It is our intention to run down our perishable supplies and focus on the non-perishables, as the shop sales are quite down on usual, and seem somewhat skewed from our usual patterns, so it’s hard to predict what people will buy.

That said, what’s clear is there is a Compost shortage. So we’ve managed to buy lots of it. We have had our 2nd delivery of a pallet of “Sterilised, Composted Manure” in the shop. This is now selling at £5.55 per bag.

Almost all our suppliers were unable to sell compost, but we managed to get a pallet of 75 litre bags of “Multipurpose Compost”. It does not say ‘Peat Free’ on the pack, so assume it isn’t, but it was all that was available currently. We’re selling those at £5.40 per bag.

Because we were unable to buy peat-free compost, we bought a few bags of “Cocount Coir”. This is more expensive, at £9 for a 60l bag, but we’re told this expands considerably when wet (FYI the pack includes PPE guidance, regarding Coir dust, when dry).

As requested by several people, we bought a number of bags of “John Innes Seed Compost”, “John Innes No2 Compost” and some “Perlite”. This is in addition to our existing stock of pre-mixed smaller bags of “Seed & Cutting Compost”. Prices are as follows:-

We have ordered some 30 litre Tomato Gro’Bags, but these have not been delivered yet. I have no information on if/when they’ll arrive. When they do come in, they will be £2.50 each. Please let us know if you’re interested in these, as we don’t have room to keep much stock, so we’re only ordering a few bags over that needed to cover existing orders. So get your orders in to avoid missing out.

Finally, we’re getting lots of requests for crop protection this year, so in addition to the usual range of nets and fleeces we have, we’ve bought in some 0.9m (3 feet) x 25m rolls of Chicken Wire. If these sell quickly we can get some more. These will be £27 per roll. We can get 50m rolls, and rolls that are 0.3/0.6/0.9/1.2/1.8m (1/2/3/4/6 feet) wide, if anyone wants some.

For those not aware, we’re taking orders online. Please email shop@ewaa.org.uk to discuss or request your order, and we’ll try to get a quote out by Saturday lunchtime, along with the EWAA shop bank details. On Sunday morning, we’ll check for payments received, and deliver to your plot. Please ensure you quote your plot number as reference to the bank payment, and please ensure your plot is clearly numbered, so we can find it. Please email any secret delivery locations before Sunday.

Stay safe everyone.