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Now the gardening season begins.
This is the most important time of the year for tree nurseries, garden centers and garden centers.
But to start with a disappointment: a lot is in short supply.
"Fruit trees have been doing well for a long time because there are currently bottlenecks," says Markus Guhl, General Manager of the Association of German Tree Nurseries (BdB).
The demand for ornamental cherries and rock pears is also so high that the nurseries cannot fulfill every wish.
Hedges are also scarce.
Guhl is currently feeling an unusual influx, as he says.
Certain customer requests regarding the shape and size of a plant could not always be met.
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The Corona year 2020 went really well for the industry.
For the first time, sales in the garden sector grew significantly by around two billion euros over the limit of 20 billion euros, after the figures in previous years grew listlessly sideways.
Source: WORLD infographic
This year it could be more difficult.
The BdB represents around 900 tree nurseries, around 400 of which have retail outlets.
They were allowed to reopen at the end of February.
This has so far been denied to the DIY stores, which provide a large proportion of sales with gardening supplies.
The general manager of the DIY, building and gardening trade association (BHB), Peter Wüst, met with a lack of understanding.
“Hardware stores are the safest retail locations,” he claims.
More than 91 percent of the customers traveled by car or bicycle.
At 7,500 square meters, the area is well above the retail average.
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In addition, 44 percent consisted of open space and an unheated greenhouse with continuous fresh air.
The ceiling heights of up to twelve meters enhanced the effect.
Source: WORLD infographic
"This means that high aerosol concentrations are almost impossible," says Wüst.
The purchases resulted in a lot of work in their own walls and in the garden, which kept people in lockdown at home for many hours or days, the BHB managing director advertises his industry.
After all, 3.5 million tons of so-called hobby soil have to be brought to the hobby gardener.
That's how much it is every year, according to the garden industry association.
2.1 million tons of this are white and black peat.
A small part is peat-free, namely 240,000 cubic meters (IVG), which is roughly the same number of tons.
Source: WORLD infographic
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"But if it is up to politics, then soon there will be no more peat at all," complains tree nursery expert Guhl.
The Federal Environment Agency also requires gardeners to use peat substitute products.
Many potting soil contained peat from raised bogs - because it stores water particularly well and has a high degree of acidity, according to the authority.
But this peat pollutes the environment: Because its extraction destroys bogs that are centuries to millennia old and with it the habitat for many plants and animals.
Source: WORLD infographic
Guhl knows from practice that the substitute products do not have the same properties for a long time: “There are certain cultures that need peat.” Rhododendrons, for example.
There are currently no bottlenecks, says Guhl.
And there is almost nothing more beautiful than the rhodes in bloom in May.