Your friendly local Gardening supplies cooperative
WGA News and Updates
Shop opens 10-12 Saturday Mornings.
Newsletter – September 26Potatoes / Onions / Shallots for 2027We have now received the price list for the potatoes and, for the first time in a while, we can offer these at the same prices as last year. This will be £3.50p per 2KG pack for orders placed before End of October (when we place our order with BHGS) or £4.00p for packs purchased form the shop next year. Shallots and onions will also be available. Please order in advance to take advantage of the reduced price and to ensure you get your chosen varieties. We will have minimal quantities of each variety extra to the pre-orders as this has worked very well over the last few years to minimise wasted stock. Could we also ask that when you place an order, please only add potatoes, onions or shallots to this order (i.e. – please don’t add in compost / seeds etc. to the same order). This much simplifies the processing of the orders when they come in. We will stocking the usual varieties as below. |
| Potatoes - £3.50p / 2Kg | |
|---|---|
| 1st Early | Foremost |
| 1st Early | Pentland Javelin |
| 1st Early | Rocket |
| 2nd Early | Charlotte |
| 2nd Early | Kestrel |
| Main | Cara |
| Main | Desiree |
| Main | Maris Piper |
| Main | Sarpo Mira |
| Onions - £1.50p / 250g | |
| Onion | Sturon |
| Shallot | Yellow Moon |
You can order in one of 3 ways: Order on-line at Potatoes – WantageGardenersAssociation Tell us what you require by email – reply to this one. Come along to the shop and will in an order form and we will create an order for you. Please pay on collection in February next year. Strawberry Plants and Fruit BushesWe have been in touch with Toby at Mooreberries to see if he is willing to offer us fruit plants again. If this works out we will let you know for pre-orders again. |
Green ManuresNow is about the best time to sow green manures to protect your soil through the Winter. Green manures are the ideal way to protect yor soil over the winter period to reduce weeds, prevent nutrients washing out and adding nutrients into the soil and adding organic matter with minimal effort when dug in or cut down in the Spring. We have a range of 50p packets of the following varieties: Phacelia – Sow March to September Crimson Clover – Sow March to August Alfalfa – Sow March to August Each packet has enough seeds to cover 10m2 or 6m2 so excellent value and an easy way to add organic matter to your plot. More information can be found at the Garden Organic website here. Autumn Sown Broad BeansWe also have broad bean seeds in stock for sowing in Autumn in 50p packets. The packets contain approximately 30 seeds – if you require significantly more than this please email and we will pack what you require rather than clearing out the smaller packs. Replacement Greenhouse GlassWe have a stock of greenhouse sized glass if you need to replace any in yours. The size is 24″ x 18″ (610mm x 456mm), unfortunately we don’t have square sheets but these can be used creatively if you have 24″ panes as 3 of these can be used to replace 2 square sheets. Sheets are 3mm thick, not toughened and need a clean before using. We are selling these for £4 per sheet for our charities. |
Charity Plant Sale – Saturday 30th May – 10:00
Our annual charity plant sale is on Saturday at 10:00. if you have any plants to donate to the sale we would be very grateful.
This is our main charity fundraising event for the year so every donation helps.
Donations will go to the Air ambulance and Vale Impact.
Plants can be dropped off from 9 and the sale starts (strictly!) at 10 – but you are welcome to queue beforehand.
There is usually a wide range of vegetable and flower plants as well as some unusual specimens.
We have a dedicated Chilli plant stand this year too due to popular demand.
The Girl Guides have agreed to do tea and coffee with cakes too if you want to make a morning of it.
The shop will also be open as normal.
May Newsletter
Wednesday Evening Opening – May Only
Several members have asked about opening on Wednesday evenings as we used to before Covid. We are happy to give it a go to see how popular it is.
We propose to open 6:30 – 8:00 on Wednesdays through May.
If you are able to volunteer for this slot then please let Terry know on shoprota@wantagegardeners.org.uk.
Very well Rotted Horse Manure Back In stock
We have about 40 bags of horse manure back in stock.
Bags are 40l and mostly clean and intact but if you want to purchase any it would be prudent to have some protection in your car in case of spillages
The price for these is £4.50p per bag.
BACS Payments for On Line orders Removed
We continue to have non-members ordering on-line from far flung places around the UK (a testament to our low prices!), paying on line and expecting free delivery.
To try to minimise this, we have removed this option and so we ask that you pay by card when collecting (as the vast majority of people do anyway).
Free Self Assembly Compost Bins (Pallets!!)
As mentioned recently, we have had a lot of compost delivered and so have a lot of pallets in the shop.
If you would like some, please ask and we will sort some out for you.
Note that they are 1m x 1.2m so great for a large compost bin but slightly too big for many car boots, maybe check first.
WGA Plant Sale – Saturday May 30th.
As always, our plant sale will be on the last Saturdays of May, this year on 30th, 4 weeks away.
Please think about is when you are sowing seeds and do a few extras for the sale – beans etc are always very popular along with most other veggies, please label though otherwise they are likely to end up on the compost after all the effort!
Wisley Trip – June 15th
We have a few seats left (around 6) if there are any last minute takers. £15 for a great day out.
Please contact Alan on events@wantagegardeners.org.uk if you are interested.
Also remember that we have a 30% off RHS entry card if you would like to visit separately and save some of the entrance fee.
April – Compost Update |
Over the last week we have fully restocked with composts, including those we had been out of stock of for a while – particularly the seed compost which has proved very popular. A list of the products we currently have in stock is below – prices were held for all except ericaceous which we haven’t bought in for some while, hence the price rise. Thanks again to the helpers that unloaded the Melcourt delivery. |
| Volume | Price | ||
| Melcourts | With John Innes | 40l | £7.50 |
| Multipurpose | 40l | £7.00 | |
| Seed Compost | 40l | £7.00 | |
| Ericacous | 40l | £7.50 | |
| Ornamental Pine Bark | 60l | £7.00 | |
| RocketGro | Multipurpose | 50l | £6.50 |
| Veg Planter | 60l | £7.00 | |
| Strulch | 13.5Kg | £12.00 | |
| Growmoor | John Innes Seed | 25l | £4.50 |
| John Innes No. 1 | 25l | £4.50 | |
| John Innes No. 2 | 25l | £4.50 | |
| John Innes No. 3 | 25l | £4.50 | |
Easter Newsletter
Easter Offers – We have a few items that might be of interest for Easter as alternatives to expensive Easter eggs!
Strawberry plants – we have a range strawberry plant varieties to cover the season. These are doing well and many have flowers and few early fruit.
They are ready for planting outside or in a pot indoors.
Plants are £1.50p each.
Pots in Pots – All of our 2Kg packs of potatoes have now sold but we still have 500g packs of Charlotte and Desiree, we also 30L pots in stock which make a great way to grow them without the need for an allotment etc..
This great video shows just how easy and effective it is and a great project for new gardeners – £4.50p plus some dirt for a potato kit!
Seeds – We have a large range of bulk seeds but a few varieties that might make good presents for young (impatient) gardeners – Cress / Sunflowers / Spring Onions / Radishes / Carrots for example. All 50p per packet.
Second hand Equipment – We would like to clear some of the second hand gardening equipment we have in stock.
Wisley Visit – 15th June
We have had lots of interest in the visit to Wisley and it will be going ahead. We still have about 8 places left on the coach if you would like to sign up.
Please contact Alan on events@wantagegardeners.org.uk if you would like to sign up – £15 pp.
Welcome to 2026! |
The shop is now open as normal again – 10-12 on Saturday mornings. Potatoes and Fruit Bushes/Plants Thanks to those members who ordered the above, most orders have now been collected although there are several potato orders remaining. It would be helpful if these could be collected shortly – a separate email will be sent to those with orders remaining. We have potatoes / onions and shallots in stock but relatively limited quantities as we aim to sell most by pre-order. Potatoes are £4 per 2KG and onions and shallots are £1.50p / 250g bags. Due to popular demand, we are also stocking smaller packs of Charlotte and Desiree varieties with 5 or 6 tubers per pack (£1/500g). We have limited supplies of these too. These are suitable to be grown in our 30l potato post which have proved very successful for a number of members. Composts for 2026 We have received our delivery form Melcourts and are stocking the same as last year with their standard multipurpose (£7/40l) and with John Innes (£7.50/40l). We also have one pallet (60 bags left) of their new seed and cutting compost which was very popular last year (£7/40l). When we have all the potatoes collected (and so have some room) we will also be buying more Rocketgro products. Seeds Our 30% off offer for Kings is still running (see here for details). Their prices continue to creep up but still offer very good value. We were offered a 50% off deal for Thompson and Morgan but a comparison showed these were still much more expensive than Kings when both discounts were applied and so we will stick with Kings. We have catalogues in the shop if anyone hasn’t been sent one by Kings. Their postage has increased to £2.35 now but members are welcome to place small orders of one or two packets through the shop to avoid this – we will add these to the monthly shop orders. We have also extended the range of ‘bulk’ seeds we offer at 50p to include more of the popular varieties we sold as packets from Kings to offer better value for members. The full list of the varieties we will be stocking through the year is below: |
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WGA Events for 2026 Plant sale – last Saturday of May – 30th this year. Annual Wisley trip – Probably in June, details to be sent out closer to the time. AGM – Thursday 12th November Volunteers Our annual plea for members to give up a couple of hours on a Saturday morning every 2 years or so to help keep the club going! We mainly need people to help load up bags of compost etc. into members cars or help with the till. Please contact Terry at shoprota@wantagegardeners.org.uk if you can help. Thanks Other events White Horse Gardening Club Wisley Visit – Saturday 18th April. £20 incl. Coach and entry. Contact June – June@henville.net – for details and ticket availability Next Talk – Thursday 5th March – 7:30, Thomas Hughes Memorial HallTo dig or not to dig, that is the question By: Alan McPherson |