Anyone here run a nursery or sell plants from home?

[yellowDahlia]

Humour me...I'm sitting at my desk at work in a windowless, non air-conditioned office and dreaming of the day I can work outdoors and with plants all day.

I have a notion that I'd love to start a nursery, and grow and sell a selection of hardy perennials. I'd start small in my back garden (lucky enough to have some raised beds and a large greenhouse) and if things went well I'd invest in some land/polytunnels/equipment etc... it's a dream just now but does anyone here actually do this and love it? Or hate it?? The goal would be to eventually give up the day job...I've virtually abandoned all career ambitions and think about gardening and plants all day long. I'm also trying to study for RHS Level 2 and loving learning more about horticulture.

I don't know anyone else who does this so looking for some advice or inspiration or a reality check from someone in the know...hope someone can offer words of wisdom!

Garden Geek's last paragraph says it all- it's the results you get not your qualifications when it comes to gardening.

Loved the essay GardenGeek and thanks to you and Phil for the steer - you're right, I could get caught up in getting the 'right' qualifications or I could just get on and Do The Thing. I'm the sort of person that does the research, reads the instructions, gets the appropriate equipment before starting a new project, job or whatever - and I often need to remind myself to just get on with it, and that it's ok to wing it sometimes! After all, gardening is like that a lot of the time, and that's what I love about it.

And what I'm less interested in is hard landscaping - it's all about the plants for me, so I think I'd feel I was wasting time learning how to lay a patio or whatever, never mind all the measuring and drawing which would I think be a real challenge for me.

So after reading your post last night I decided a couple of things - I need to stop thinking about my non-working days as 'days off' and use them as 'garden-working days'. I mean, I usually try and spend some time outside, but often get caught up with shopping or housework or whatever. But if I was to be less distracted, get started early and keep at it, I could have as much as 10 hours a week just doing garden work or study for Level 2 - that's loads! I need to really change my mindset and think of it as my second job - with a view to becoming my only one.

Also I love Piet's design - even I could manage that sort of drawing I think!

That's so funny - I was just thinking about that as I was coming in from the greenhouse (massacring the aphids on my tomatoes), wondering where to put notes about propagation and how best to keep a record of things! I currently use photos and save articles and ideas on my phone, mainly in Evernote. I should record a lot more, I really want to have notes on everything I'm growing in my garden and raised beds but there never seems to be time to write it all down! I'd rather keep a notebook tbh but I know I'll always have my phone on me and I can record something even if I don't know the name of it.

I'm in Scotland (north east-ish) and do my best to get around gardens when I can, but unfortunately DH and the DDs are far less enthusiastic about horticulture... my DPs are gardeners though so I do have someone to visit gardens and garden centres with .

We did manage to get to Chatsworth last summer while on holiday down there and it was a bit of a gallop around it with the kids but I was still blown away by the grounds and planting. I'd love to go back and have a proper wander around.

And yes, I'm very fortunate to be PT - when I get fed up of my job and wish I could be gardening all week instead I have to remind myself that it's the day job that allows me to live where I live and allows me to have two days to myself. I don't think I could achieve as much as I have or hope to if I worked FT.

I will definitely check out the book recommendations and do my best to keep you posted on how it's all going...I'm sure I'll be back with more questions along the way

Aah that's a lovely thought! And it's keeping me focused now. It's school holidays here now so our routine is out the window but when the kids go back in August I will really be desperate to get my teeth into things, hopefully to make a bit of progress for next spring.
You're right, it's so good to find someone else who's in the same boat. I've not really shared my hopes and plans with anyone else in RL, not even DH knows the full extent of what I hope to do! So it's lovely to chat it through with you and others here

Can I also recommend a book for you called Dream Plants for the Natural Garden also by Piet Oudolf. I started my first garden this year having no previous experience. I spent a lot of the winter doing research and like Garden Geek was attracted to the New Perennial style of low maintenance, drought tolerant planting with mixture of grasses and perennials. The borders I've planted are doing fantastically well and are genuinely low maintenance. That book was really useful in selecting tough tried and tested plants.

None of the plants I used were to be found in your typical garden centre, I had to get them all from the RHS online shop. Similarly nobody I spoke to had used any of the plants before (even my neighbour who is a landscape architect and very good gardener).

I think there could definitely be a market for a plantswoman such as yourself. I initially tried to get a garden designer to help but they all seemed to be interested in doing hard landscaping projects as well, presumably as bigger projects make more money. I was really looking for someone just to advise on planting as I was after a quick effect and didn't want to waste money by getting it wrong IYSWIM.

As it turns out doing my own research and doing it myself was the best thing I could have done!

Thanks for the recommendation tittysprinkles - that's another book added to my (growing) list . And good to know that there are people out there who are looking for something different, not just the usual offerings of bedding and shrubs found at the big garden centres. A gardening friend of mine who lives nearby remarked recently how all the gardens around our village are very 'samey' and it's true. I really want my own garden to look different and reflect my own style, and therefore to grow and propagate plants for others who want to achieve a similar look. I really would love to earn and be proud of the title of 'plantswoman'!