Podington Garden Centre

The Meercats have arrived for Christmas

2010-10-30T16:31:00.000+01:00

Podington has it all for Christmas, even meerkats!

-- Post From Podington Garden Centre

Whopping!

2009-10-23T18:08:00.001+01:00

Wow, we just took delivery of this huge monster pumpkin - come and see it for yourself, it's huge!

-- Post From Podington Garden Centre

Mini Monsters Night Out 4

2009-10-16T17:20:00.003+01:00

Bring your mini monsters along for a frightful night of fun at our Mini Monsters Night Out on Thursday 29th October from 4.30pm to 7.30pm.

From a goulish feast in our Gnome Kitchen, competitions, creepy crawly encounters and spooky magicians - big monsters can have some fun too!

Come along in fancy dress and receive a free treat bag.

Save Our Butterflies

2009-08-08T09:55:00.003+01:00

We are constantly hearing that the numbers of our native butterflies are falling and now is the peak of their feeding time with many newly emerged adults on the wing looking for feeding sites and suitable host plants on which to lay their eggs.

Our gardens can contribute greatly to helping butterfly numbers by providing them with plants that provide both nectar for food and leaves for laying eggs on.

Mark Briglin of Podington Garden Centre said “We have seen a great increase in peoples interest in creating wildlife friendly gardens – particularly for butterflies and bees and because of this we have grouped collections of plants suitable for attracting mainly bees, butterflies or both!

Many of the plants on which butterflies lay their eggs on and on which the caterpillars feed are native plants such as Stinging Nettles, Cuckoo Flower, Garlic Mustard, Buckthorn, Holly and Ivy. By planting a small patch of garden with native plants and letting it grow wild will encourage wildlife into the area. The secret is not to be too tidy and leave it to mother nature.”

Mark said “Although we have seen an increase in the interest in our wild flowers, many of our customers still want attractive, colourful plants and shrubs in their garden. We are lucky here at Podington Garden Centre in the fact that the site is bordered by open countryside and as a result we get many different types of butterflies and bumble bees visiting our plants and as a result of this our range of butterfly attracting plants have been built up through knowledge and observation, rather than just going from a list in a book. We’ve done the same for our bee attracting plants and have now built up a good selection of our own thirty different varieties of plant.”

Butterfly Conservation have ‘Save Our Butterfly Week’ running from 25^th July to 2^nd August and the 14,000 members of the organisation will be participating in events up and down the country raising awareness of our low butterfly numbers.

Mark said “Here at the Garden Centre we have seen a wide range of butterflies from May onwards. Early on we saw Painted Ladies and Brimstones, and recently we have had Comma’s, Peacocks, Red Admirals, Ringlets, and Large White’s. Only last week we had the splendid Humming Bird Hawk Moth feeding on our batch of Isotoma and we managed to get a superb photograph of it hovering. We are currently running a Photography Competition at Podington for a 2011 Calendar if anyone has taken some pictures of butterflies or bumble bees in their garden we would love to see them. The pictures can be sent to our information desk via their web-site which is http://www.podington.co.uk/photocomp.html“

Garden Buildings Now On-line

2009-04-24T14:01:00.001+01:00

Podington Garden Centre are now pleased to announce that a full range if quality Garden Buildings are availabel to view and buy on-line. Home delivery options are available, as is assembly if required. -- Post From Podington Garden Centre

Recycle your pots

2009-03-17T17:31:00.001Z

In partnership with local waste managment company Podington Garden Centre can now take your plastic plant pots and trays for recycling. Jonathan Read from Podington said "We have long been looking for ways to recycle plastic growing pots and are pleased to tell our customers that we now can - the issues of dirty pots have been resolved and the plastic can be extracted to use again"

-- Post From Podington Garden Centre

Get a head start - grow now!

2009-02-19T23:04:00.000Z

Did you know that there are hundreds of young plants and seedlings to plant now? Choose from vegetables, herbs and bedding plants. If you want an excuse to get gardening now - this is it. Get a head start with seedling and young plants they're great value too. -- Post From Podington Garden Centre

Snow Fun?

2009-02-05T11:19:00.004Z

Well it's the first real snow we have seen for a long while (Thursday 5th February 2009). Some brave team members braved the snow and walked to work across the fields. With the lack of custom we thought we should make the best of it and build a snowman - a big one. It would have been bigger but lifting the balls of snow proved more difficult than we first thought!

A few brave customers turned out mostly to buy bird food and feeders for the poor birds which need to build up their fat reserves. With National Nest Box week coming up soon (14th February) they need all the help they can get during these cold spells.

Let's Grow Your Own

2009-01-18T13:29:00.003Z

The new year has begun and it's time to start thinking about growing your own. There's no better time to think about what you can acheive growing edible produce in your own outside space. There are so many new products to make this a breeze and it can look good too. Aside from Seed Potatoes, Onion sets, Garlic, Mushrooms, Vegetable seeds and plants - here at Podington we have brought together all the equipment you need too.

It's so easy to build your own raised bed for the patio. But if that's too much DIY we have purpose built designs just for you. Take a look at Burgon & Balls 'Home Allotment' range and you will see how growing your own can look good too. There's also great growhouse, greenhouses, cloches an coldframes to protect your produce and get a headstart. Don't forget seed trays, plugs and pots too. So let's save money and grow our own for 2009 and beyond. It's great fun, healthy and looks good too.

Christmas is over for another year

2008-12-28T13:46:00.001Z

Christmas is over in a flash and here at Podington we have our end-of-season Christmas sale. What we have left of Christmas Decorations, Artificial Trees, Cards and Crackers etc. are now on sale at up to 60% off. The minimum discount on offer will be 25% off. A small number of lines are available to buy at reduced prices on our web-site. Hurry, as stock must go by 9th January 2009...

Giant Pumpkin

2008-11-01T12:36:00.001Z

The third largest pumpkin in the country, weighing over 800lb, is on display at Podington Garden Centre.

Clive Bevan grew the monster vegetable and has been touring around various large vegetable events around the country. Several thousand pounds have been raised for the Air Ambulance in the process.

The pumpkin now resides at Podington Garden Centre as its final chance for the public to view this 'monster' vegetable.

Northampton & District Dahlia Society Late Show

2008-09-12T13:35:00.002+01:00

The annual Northampton & District Dahlia Society Late Show will be held at Podington Garden Centre over the weekend of 20^th & 21^st September this year. Come and see a fabulous show of first class Dahlias from the local area – it’s a sight not to be missed.

Congratulations to the Winners of our Garden Competition 2008

2008-08-12T16:18:00.004+01:00

We are pleased to announce the winners of our Garden of The Year Competition 2008.

“All the entrants should be congratulated on having such wonderful gardens. They clearly show the hard work and dedication to their gardens that has brought such enjoyment.” A comment give by our judges Colin & Norma Read.

Follow the link to Garden of The Year Competition 2008.

Win £150 in our Garden of The Year Competition

2008-06-10T16:48:00.007+01:00

We have just launched our Garden of The Year competition. If you have a garden in the NN or MK postal districts (or within a 20 mile radius of Podington) you could have a chance of winning £150 in Podington Gift Vouchers.

There are two categories, small and large gardens and each carries a 1^st prize of £150 of Podington Gift Vouchers together with an engraved trophy to keep. Second and third prizes are £50 and £25 respectively in Podington Gift vouchers.

Podington Garden Centre will donate 50p to the Greenfingers Appeal for each entry to our garden competition.

The competition is free to enter and for full details please visit Garden Competition.

New Raymond Evison Clematis

2008-05-15T09:22:00.003+01:00

Podington Garden Centre are proud to be stockists of Raymond Evison Clematis with new varieties to be launched at this years Chelsea Flower Show.

Only 25 of the very best of the clematis bred or developed in Raymond's Guernsey Nursery, have been selected for the brand collection. These cultivars can be used in various locations in the garden. They are easy to grow, very long flowering and give exceptional value for money as garden plants.

They have all come from the Evison™ and Poulsen® clematis breeding programme. All plants are grown in a 3 litre midnight blue pot on a bamboo ladder support. They can be easily identified by the midnight blue brand gift tag labels with Raymond's logo "Raymond Evison Clematis".

At this year's Chelsea Flower Show, Raymond Evison Clematis will be launching an exceptional long flowering, stunning red clematis called Rebecca™ named after Raymond's eldest daughter Rebecca.

Take a trip to Podington today and see for yourself the Raymond Evison Clematis collection.

It's Votes That Count!

2008-04-04T13:20:00.002+01:00

The search for the best garden retailing teams of 2008 is on as public voting in The Greates Awards gets under way. You can vote for Greatest Garden Centre Team, Greatest Garden Centre Catering Team and Greatest Plant Sales Team. If you think we are worth it please place your vote on-line using the link provided and you can help us on our way to winning an award.

Podington OR Poddington?

2008-03-19T13:23:00.002Z

Podington Garden Centre is located in the village of Podington in North Bedfordshire. Many people always misspell its name with two d's - why? Well we don't know. Take a look at some old maps and you will see Podington named Puddington and Poddington, so when it lost its name, we have been unable to find out. Another mistake is which county Podington is in. It is in Bedfordshire, but its postal address is Northamptonshire due to the fact that that is where the main postal office Wellingborough is located. Podington is a delightful village in a very pretty part of North Bedfordshire, why it lost it's D we do not know - perhaps we will find out and post our answer here!

Camera Nest Boxes Arrive

2008-03-19T08:58:00.002Z

We have just received a new stand in our wild bird care department which houses all manner of cameras to watch wildlife in your garden from the comfort of your home. This ranges starts with a camera kit, available in both colour and black & white versions. These may be used to view inside hedgehog boxes, bid table activity or to place inside your own existing nest box. Next there is a colour wildlife camera in an attractive wooden housing with a wide depth of field to view wildlife activity in your garden. This automatically switches to black & white in darkness which together with LED illumination provides see-in-the-dark performance. Pictured is the purpose made camera multispiecies nest box. Available in colour and black & white versions, this box is exquisitely made from FSC timber. Separate camera and bird house chambers mean more room for the birds and better vision for the camera. Finally we have the pond camera. Fully waterproof, you can take a look in your pond from the fishes perspective - great fun. Take a look on our web-site or in-store today.

Who Is Digby

2007-11-22T19:39:00.001Z

Digby is the garden gnome at Podington Garden Centre. He was created in 1993 as a caricature of the Podington Garden Centre logo by Rainbow Productions.

He can be seen from time to time walking around the Garden Centre and shaking peoples hands, you may even see him opening local events or whenever there’s a photographic opportunity.

How did Digby get his name? A competition was held where customers were given the change to ‘Name our Gnome’ and Digby was chosen as the most popular name.

Who’s in the costume you may ask? Well that is a closely guarded secret and Digby is sworn to silence. Look out when you next visit Podington Garden Centre and say hello to Digby.