Help yourself

There's a garden centre near Titchfield, beside the ruined abbey, called Abbey Nurseries.  We often go there when we visit the rellies.  It's on a quiet road, and the old abbey makes a pleasing backdrop to the plant displays.

Here's a thing in the shop that puzzled me: these baskets.  A notice just above them reads "Please help yourself to a basket", together with a comment that the baskets are not for sale.  Now I remember in the early days of self-service groceries, a grocer took a person to court on the basis that he had walked out of the shop with a basket of goods without paying.  The grocer lost the case because a notice in the shop said "Please help yourself".

So am I supposed to just help myself to a basket?  Since they are clearly not for sale, I presume they are being given away.  Sadly, I didn't have the time to test my hypothesis.  Or rather, I didn't have the inclination to have to argue my case in court.