The dreaded meeting with APHA
The good the bad and the ugly!
So once a year we have an inspection from APHA - Animal Plant Health Agency. The purpose of this inspection is to check that we are not spreading diseases through the soil and plants. This is a legal requirement for plants that are being sent in the post. However if some one was to come and collect the same plant and take it to the same location then this inspection would not be necassary.
Now the reason this was a dreaded meeting was because we didn't know if there would be a situation that would involve plants having to be removed from our inventry. Lucky for us that was not the situation.
The good - The good news is that as we produce all of our plants ourselves we are a low risk business. The risk is usually higher for garden centres that import plants from abroad. As of today's date we have not heard of any problems from APHA regarding our plants. So far so good.
The other good thing is that now we have renewed our Plant Passport Certificate APHA can test any plants in the lab on our behalf for no additional cost.
The bad - This was not a free service. Whether we want their support or not this is an unavoidable buisness expense. A complete inconvenience to our busy lives taking time out to welcome the APHA team onto our private property.
The ugly - Once we had completed the inspection we were expected to fill out an online form with more business details. Except the goverment website did not work properly. After a number of attempts, they offered to fill out the form on our behalf at an addition expense of £20
Until next time, happy gardening!