New legislation under the Sustainable Use Directive requires garden retailers with a turnover of £1.6m to have a sufficient number of trained and certified staff to sell garden plant protection products.
To help retailers ensure they are ready for the legislation which comes into force in November 2015, the Crop Protection Association (CPA) and the Horticultural Trade Association (HTA) have launched an e-learning course.

The e-learning course is interactive and provides training based on real-life scenarios to help garden retailers develop their knowledge of garden plant protection products.

HTA chief executive Carol Paris said: "This new e-learning course, whilst developed to meet legislative requirements, presents an invaluable opportunity for all garden retailers to ensure that their staff have a good understanding of garden plant protection products and are able to deliver sound and informed advice to customers."

The course has been specifically designed for retailers that deal with non-professional products and has been formally recognised by the Health and Safety Executive. It has also been endorsed by Pershore College in Worcestershire, a specialist in horticultural education.

The course is an hour long and costs £10 plus VAT per delegate.