Our local horticultural college (Myerscough) runs day courses on a Saturday and Sunday which I am going to get myself on soon, all sorts of things including garden design, maintenance, lawn care, tree care. They are about £35 for the day, something like that might be worth considering so you can build up your knowledge quicker but without giving up work just yet?
You need to plan for this very carefully. There is no money in gardening as such and certainly while you are building your business, you will have very little to live on. And in general gardening there will be almost no work between November and the end of February. You need to take this into account when doing your business plan if you intend to work for yourself. The real money is in garden design and/or hard landscaping, two areas that need lots of knowledge and experience and training.
Do you intend to work for yourself or to get a job as a gardener? An ideal job would be with a NT property for a couple of years which would give you experience and training in a lot of different areas.
'Optimism is the faith that leads to achievement' - Helen Keller
Hi Kevin i do gardening for a living. I been doing it full time from the day i left school 8 years ago now ( i getting old now ) I work for my Dad who been doing self employed for the last 35 years, so can make a living out of it but i wouldnt expect to be a millionaire or well off. They is a lot of hardwork involved in gardening as alot people know doing there own garden.
Like some other people have said what side of Gardening are you interested in? There is landscaping/designing - garden maintenance - tree surgery etc. I do garden maintenance and the odd bits of tree surgery. Most of the money we make is in Grass cutting, we do over 150 gardens for grass cutting some have it done fortnightly or once a month, we normally do hedge pruning now for privets - bux etc but most after the grass has finished growing.
I personally like the plant side, i like grow thing so i grow a few extra bedding plants for anyone who wants them. And i would like to do some garden design.
A lots of your costumers you get to know really well, its really nice when they make a brew and you can have a good chat
One thing you must consider is cost of machines, they cost an arm and a leg New. A decent second hand lawn mower will cost a few hundred pound. And maintaining the machines - cost of fuel - van/trailer - tools etc.
There not a lot or hardly anything to do in winter
If you like any more info or any questions just message me and i get back to you.
Perki that was a really good post to show the different ways to go in gardening and that it is mostly hard slog. Only the "spotted" people go on to earn loads of money with designing or presenting.
I need loads of hard landscaping doing and trees felling and disposed of - but haven't the money or muscles
Good idea to do practical course, I would love to do a few wend ones when children bigger but I couldn't do it for a living, you could volunteer a t local gardens, I know at botanical gardens here they have 1 morning a week all volunteers work
Enjoyed reading this thread as this is of interest to me.
I also was thinking of changing my career (at the moment I'm a decorator) to gardening.
I recently did a six week course, two days a week, 'An introduction to working as a gardener' at Capel Manor College and was thinking about doing a year course starting in September, but can't decide which one to take.
The course was OK but very very basic. We learnt how to pot on seedlings. Prepare a planted area by single digging. Care for planted areas in Crystal Palace Park. Planting and staking trees. PH testing. We also had to learn tree and shrub ID's and pass an ident test.
I would love to start making a living from it within a couple of years, I don't expect to make a lot of money from it but as long as I can get by. So I'm very interested too in hearing what goes on here on this thread. Good luck Kevin.
Oh the course was more practical than theory. We are very much in demand as decorators, always got work. I work for two girls (one who is also my OH) who have had their own business for 14 years.
When we moved into our first bought house I loved being in the garden so much, even when doing back breaking digging etc that I thought that would be a good direction to go in.
Like Kevin I don't enjoy the job I do now (not just because I work for my OH ) and hope that I'd enjoy gardening,
If you were in or near London you would have access to the best decorators around, i.e us
What can I say, tired, not rich, but every day when I go home I feel as if I have achieved something and a happy customers thanks for the effort I have put in is worth more than money. I get cut, bruised, and thorns are a regular hazard, but I'm happy and can sleep at night.
I will cut lawns,hedges and minor hard landscaping, but I'm a gardener not Love Your Garden or Ground Force and I make that clear before I start. I tell them the truth of what they need or don't need, what will live and what won't. Sometimes they don't like what I say, but if your'e honest and give good frank advice with an explanation, they will understand and 99% do.
So choose your area, and don't make promises you can't keep or offer something you can't deliver.
That's what I do and I stick to it and my customers are happy.
Hi ladies and gents wow! I don't know what to say except thank you all very much for your encouring words I'm just going to bed now as I start work at 5.40 am l kid you not! Iv done a gardening job for my wife's family so tomrow I will give you some details of what I have got planned we have on the way back picked strawberries and raspberries from our allotment how different from massed produced supermarket efforts I know that we don't really know each other but I feel that you guys are my friends so I will reveal my horticultural two year plan of attack thank you all once again x
Posts
Our local horticultural college (Myerscough) runs day courses on a Saturday and Sunday which I am going to get myself on soon, all sorts of things including garden design, maintenance, lawn care, tree care. They are about £35 for the day, something like that might be worth considering so you can build up your knowledge quicker but without giving up work just yet?
You need to plan for this very carefully. There is no money in gardening as such and certainly while you are building your business, you will have very little to live on. And in general gardening there will be almost no work between November and the end of February. You need to take this into account when doing your business plan if you intend to work for yourself. The real money is in garden design and/or hard landscaping, two areas that need lots of knowledge and experience and training.
Do you intend to work for yourself or to get a job as a gardener? An ideal job would be with a NT property for a couple of years which would give you experience and training in a lot of different areas.
Hi Kevin i do gardening for a living. I been doing it full time from the day i left school 8 years ago now ( i getting old now
) I work for my Dad who been doing self employed for the last 35 years, so can make a living out of it but i wouldnt expect to be a millionaire or well off. They is a lot of hardwork involved in gardening as alot people know doing there own garden.
Like some other people have said what side of Gardening are you interested in? There is landscaping/designing - garden maintenance - tree surgery etc. I do garden maintenance and the odd bits of tree surgery. Most of the money we make is in Grass cutting, we do over 150 gardens for grass cutting some have it done fortnightly or once a month, we normally do hedge pruning now for privets - bux etc but most after the grass has finished growing.
I personally like the plant side, i like grow thing so i grow a few extra bedding plants for anyone who wants them. And i would like to do some garden design.
A lots of your costumers you get to know really well, its really nice when they make a brew and you can have a good chat
One thing you must consider is cost of machines, they cost an arm and a leg New. A decent second hand lawn mower will cost a few hundred pound. And maintaining the machines - cost of fuel - van/trailer - tools etc.
There not a lot or hardly anything to do in winter
If you like any more info or any questions just message me and i get back to you.
Perki that was a really good post to show the different ways to go in gardening and that it is mostly hard slog. Only the "spotted" people go on to earn loads of money with designing or presenting.
I need loads of hard landscaping doing and trees felling and disposed of - but haven't the money or muscles
Good idea to do practical course, I would love to do a few wend ones when children bigger but I couldn't do it for a living, you could volunteer a t local gardens, I know at botanical gardens here they have 1 morning a week all volunteers work
Enjoyed reading this thread as this is of interest to me.
I also was thinking of changing my career (at the moment I'm a decorator) to gardening.
I recently did a six week course, two days a week, 'An introduction to working as a gardener' at Capel Manor College and was thinking about doing a year course starting in September, but can't decide which one to take.
The course was OK but very very basic. We learnt how to pot on seedlings. Prepare a planted area by single digging. Care for planted areas in Crystal Palace Park. Planting and staking trees. PH testing. We also had to learn tree and shrub ID's and pass an ident test.
I would love to start making a living from it within a couple of years, I don't expect to make a lot of money from it but as long as I can get by. So I'm very interested too in hearing what goes on here on this thread. Good luck Kevin.
Oh the course was more practical than theory. We are very much in demand as decorators, always got work. I work for two girls (one who is also my OH) who have had their own business for 14 years.
When we moved into our first bought house I loved being in the garden so much, even when doing back breaking digging etc that I thought that would be a good direction to go in.
Like Kevin I don't enjoy the job I do now (not just because I work for my OH
) and hope that I'd enjoy gardening,
If you were in or near London you would have access to the best decorators around, i.e us
What can I say, tired, not rich, but every day when I go home I feel as if I have achieved something and a happy customers thanks for the effort I have put in is worth more than money. I get cut, bruised, and thorns are a regular hazard, but I'm happy and can sleep at night.
I will cut lawns,hedges and minor hard landscaping, but I'm a gardener not Love Your Garden or Ground Force and I make that clear before I start. I tell them the truth of what they need or don't need, what will live and what won't. Sometimes they don't like what I say, but if your'e honest and give good frank advice with an explanation, they will understand and 99% do.
So choose your area, and don't make promises you can't keep or offer something you can't deliver.
That's what I do and I stick to it and my customers are happy.
Hi ladies and gents wow! I don't know what to say except thank you all very much for your encouring words I'm just going to bed now as I start work at 5.40 am l kid you not! Iv done a gardening job for my wife's family so tomrow I will give you some details of what I have got planned we have on the way back picked strawberries and raspberries from our allotment how different from massed produced supermarket efforts I know that we don't really know each other but I feel that you guys are my friends so I will reveal my horticultural two year plan of attack thank you all once again x
