Garden shops in London
 

Hi All - avid gardener headed to London next week. I know we're a ways away from peak gardening season, but wondering if there are any garden supply or garden-themed shops that are not to be missed.

Also, would love to know the status of any gardens that feature spring bulbs...anything to see yet?

Thanks!

Well, the beginning of spring IS peak gardening season. And spring starts in London in mid-February: in all public parks, gardens and squares crocuses are dying back, daffodils are approaching full bloom - and, depending on individual park-keepers' skills and nanoclimates there's all sorts of other things popping up.

London's not very good, as far as visitors are concerned, for garden shops. Most garden supplies come from slightly remote garden centres, generally located more for easy transport of hundredweights of compost than for convenience to a tube or bus: the myth that Londoners don't use cars, so endlessly and fat-headedly promoted on sites like this, can't survive two seconds of asking a Londoner how they keep their garden going.

Time Out had a useful list a couple of weeks ago (http://www.timeout.com/london/shoppi...garden-centres). Apart from the listed Clifton Nurseries (John Innes No 3 supplier to most of London's gentry), the General Trading Company in Sloane St is the closest to a conventional High St shop for easily portable garden hardware.

Most of the major horticulture-related attractions - like Kew, or the Chelsea Physic Garden - have substantial shops with all sorts of gadgets and books.

Outside London, the shops attached to National Trust properties also fill a niche in most English adults' discomfort with letting a week go by without buying something for the garden: its Central London sort-of flagship shop in the Blewcoat School (Caxton St, SW1) has a lot of the NT's standard gardening-related range. Though, in fairness, most of the hardware bought in NT shops is destined for other people's gardens - so don't expect too much you'd actually want for yourself

The General Trading Company is no longer there, unfortunately.

The Chelsea Gardener in Sydney Street is the most centrally located gardening store I can think of. It's in the Chelsea Farmer's Market (not a farmer's market like you would see in the US, no food stalls).

Liberty's sometimes has some gardening items on the top floor.

So what does the market sell - different breeds of farmer?

It's a collections of shacks with restaurants and shops, it's just called the Chelsea Farmers Market. They've resisted redevelopment for a long time. It's a great place for a casual meal on an sunny day, when you can sit outside.