Especially in the middle of winter.
I've bought pots, seed trays and seeds in the last month. I've also already planted some so they can go into the greenhouse in a couple of months. I could do with some fleece to protect my young plants soon enough too. I've still got a bag of bulbs to plant up. A lot of my seeds say to start sowing in February if you can keep under glass until the last frost.
A lot of plants I can only buy at certain times of year because they aren't in the garden centre year round. The plants are seasonal. I had been eyeing up a winter flowering Daphne at the local garden centre. They are sold out online until next Autumn.
The problem I'm finding generally is that online stuff is selling out at an incredible rate. Its been a problem all year due to the sheer demand. One of the issues with compost is that its heavy and expensive to ship via delivery firms. And plants are not the easiest thing to transport without damage as they are delicate and need light and water so need speedy delivery. Also many garden centres are small independent businesses often in more rural areas, which makes a local delivery service particularly difficult for cost/time taken if doing it with normal staff. The other problem with such seasonal everchanging stock is its quite difficult to manage for an online shop if you are a small independent.
Thus click and collect is a much more reasonable option than expecting garden centres to go to delivery only - but still has issues with seasonality and website management. One of the local places around here has done 'bundles' with unspecified products in. They are pricey and limit what you can get. (Its fine for some people but doesn't meet the demands of all) but its much easier to manage their website.
I think one of the big things here is that the people complaining hardest, don't know a lot about gardening (and certainly don't like it) and haven't thought about reasons why it might have particular problems.
Gardening is something that keeps people occupied and home. It has proven mental health benefits (scientifically studied). And it keeps them fit. Which gives it an edge on many other hobbies in terms of how its useful and can be justifed.
It also has certain obstacles in the sense that you can't delay planting certain things otherwise youve missed your opportunity for the whole year (and if thats food your growing thats an issue).
TBH though because there are so many 'tourists' at the garden centre because they are simply bored and want to browse, I've tried to avoid them since October. I went last month, but went at an off peak time to avoid as many people as possible.