Monkton Elm Garden & Pet Centre near Taunton has seen a 30% increase in seed sales in May, in comparison to 2009. It says cold temperatures have delayed people’s purchases.

Norma Moore, General Manager of the award-winning garden centre at Monkton Heathfield, explained: “We’re seeing sales soar across the board when it comes to Grow Your Own (GYO) products and plants. Vegetable seed sales have been good throughout March and April, however in May we’ve seen a greater increase than before.

“Wet and cold weather conditions have been putting people off sowing their seeds too soon this year. We’re finding people are ignoring the suggested sow by dates on the back of the packets and have waited until now to buy their seeds. They are hoping for an Indian summer.

“Normally when the season starts like this people are more pessimistic and decide not to buy seeds at all.”

Norma and her team at the garden centre expect all products and plants related to GYO to continue selling well throughout the year.

Norma added: “There’s an element of wanting to eat something that you have grown yourself, the freshness of the produce, and, from what our customers say to us, they are keen to reduce their carbon wellyprints too. Growing your own means you can help lessen food miles.

“These sales of GYO items are the highest they have been for us in the past 25 years. We’re also giving people lots of free advice and it’s definitely the topic of conversation for all our visitors.”

To find out more, please visit Monkton Elm Garden & Pet Centre, which is located just off the A38 at Monkton Heathfield near Taunton, or call 01823 412381.