Greenwood Plants win HTA Peat Free Grower of the Year for 2023
We’re delighted to share that we have been named ‘Peat Free Grower’ at the 2023 Horticultural Trades Association Grower of the Year awards, held at the ICC in Birmingham on 5th October. The ‘Peat Free Grower’ award recognises Greenwood’s commitment to achieving its sustainability goals and championing the use of peat-free growing media within the horticultural industry. This award is a testament to the incredible commitment of the G Team throughout our peat-free journey, reaching our target of 100% peat-free growing before the end of 2023.The HTA’s Grower of the Year Awards demonstrate the high calibre of UK nurseries who lead the way in quality, levels of service, innovation and peat-free production. The Peat Free Grower category acknowledges the huge contribution that the horticultural industry is making towards the UK’s environmental targets. Greenwood Plants, and the other category winners, will now be entered into AIPH International Grower Of The Year Award.
Greenwood introduce 1st phase of ‘Lean Process’
We’re excited to share that we have now begun phase one of our new ‘lean process’, which has been rigorously designed in order to help streamline many of the existing processes that currently either slow down production, or waste company resources. The first process of this is our new ‘Kanban’ area, which is located within house 4 of our Fresh Acres site. This area has been designed to streamline the process of our stocking, picking, and packing of our core range of plants. Many of the company’s established values, like ‘innovate, excellence, and effortless’ are rooted within the decision to improve these processes, and we hope that by improving the way in which we work within our nurseries, we can translate this into a much more efficient and cost effective service. The next two phases of the process are expected to be implemented in the new year, and we’re excited to see what results we can achieve.
Finance Training
In October, the G Team took part in the second round of financial training, conducted by Joanna and Katarina. It was great to see so many getting involved in the sessions, learning more about the way in which financial processes work within a business, as well as demonstrating a greater awareness and responsibility towards budgeting and spending. Our EPM success game means that the more the team pulls together in order to be economical with spending and saving, the greater the bonus that the team will receive through the company’s profit sharing scheme at the end of the year.
Defra Minister Trudy Harrison visits Greenwood Plants
Trudy Harrison MP, Parliamentary under Secretary of State for Defra and Minister for natural environment and land use, visited our Fresh Acres nursery site on 11th October 2023 to discuss our transition to peat-free growing. We started our transition to becoming peat-free in early 2022, and we’re delighted to share that we are now growing 100% peat-free across all six of our nursery sites, well ahead of our target of the end of 2023.. Mrs Harrison said, “It was a pleasure to visit Greenwood for a tour of its Fresh Acres site and see how it has embraced the challenge of transitioning to peat-free horticulture. Peatlands provide important habitats for our plants and wildlife and are large natural carbon stores, which is why we are phasing out the use of peat in the professional horticultural sector by 2030.”
The Greenwood Specification is here!
We’re thrilled to share that the first print of the Greenwood Specification has now arrived. Every member of the G Team will be receiving their own copy, and these should now have been distributed to each nursery site. Hopefully you find this book to be a useful reference guide for over 400 of the different varieties of plants we grow and sell, with valuable information about heights, pot sizes, growing conditions, and more. It is a distillation of more than thirty years’ experience, and demonstrates the insightful knowledge and wisdom of the G Team.
G Team Focus: Greg Twardowski
Greg joined Greenwood as a nursery operative in May of this year, and has overseen much of the implementation of our new lean processes. His work over the last month in the new Kanban area, located in house 7 of our Fresh Acres site, has been instrumental in helping us make a success of our streamlined, more efficient procedures.
Employees of the Month
Our Employee of the Month awards recognise the team members who have demonstrated Greenwood values. The winners are announced in the monthly G Team Update meeting and receive a £50 shopping voucher. Congratulations to all of our winners! Please send any nominations to [email protected] stating the reason why someone deserves the award. You can also post a nomination form in the Every Plant Matters post box located at each nursery.