starting a backyard nursery

[heftzwecke]

Hi everyone, I wanted to start a backyard nursery several times, but we always moved when I got deeper into it. I will have another try.
I want to start herbs, preferrably rare herbs + rare edibles, everything but not grafted trees because I have got no experience in grafting. I don't want to make a living out of this at the moment and only do the occasional market or garage sale. We are in cool climate Australia.
some questions, but any general input is welcome!
1.For some rare edibles you can only get the seeds and not the plants in Autralia. That means that it needs ages, because I think you must first harvest eat an cook the stuff you sell.
2. I want to provide information sheets but I am not a herbalist, so that could only be a literature study, is this OK? (this is worse with Chinese herbs I don't even use them)
3. The best long lasting plant labels? ( I never find these venetian alu blinds)
4. What setup do you have? At the moment I don't have anything, the pots are simply on the floor and I do the potting on a tarp with the potting mix.
5. How do you ensure quality? Are there propagation methods which might be OK for the home gardener but don't produce quality plants like rooting in water?
6. How does your business do?
Thanks for input!

[aroideana]

vERY AMBITIOUS , would be best to start out with simple things like parsely basil and chillis .. you may be limited in colder climate re. timing for these . Leave info. sheets out , maybe give google link or have a laminated sheet in a folder to show at sale point. iceypole sticks seem to be cheap alternative , or a wax pencil on pot . Always best to keep plants up off the ground to ensure clean stock . And a warm sheltered growing area . Making your own media can help keep costs down . I buy in bulk mass produced media from local supplier .

[annette]

Hi Heftzwecke

Best idea would be to go around and visit some herb nurseries if you have any around. See how they set it out, what they sell, how they sell, how they set up the business and where.

I went to a Herb nursery over the weekend. At the front they had mushroom compost, and mulch along with all sorts of fertiliser etc. Through a little pathway there was the potted herbs set up with different prices according to the colour of the pot. They also have an up to date website which sparked my interest.

It was all very cottagey if you know what I mean. Lots of cute things to buy as well as herbs (women love that). Out the back you could see the place where the young plants were being grown. It was on about an acre with a big dam for irrigation.

good luck

[cottager]

Hi everyone, I wanted to start a backyard nursery several times, but we always moved when I got deeper into it. I will have another try.
I want to start herbs, preferrably rare herbs + rare edibles, everything but not grafted trees because I have got no experience in grafting. I don't want to make a living out of this at the moment and only do the occasional market or garage sale. We are in cool climate Australia.
some questions, but any general input is welcome!
1.For some rare edibles you can only get the seeds and not the plants in Autralia. That means that it needs ages, because I think you must first harvest eat an cook the stuff you sell.

I agree. Grow what you know and sell what you eat/use.

This is always a good start. Personally, I reckon there's no point in starting with the exotics until you have your familiar (and therefore popular/well-known) varieties growing well.

While your practicing selling your more well-known herbs, you have the time to set up a functional seed/cutting/transplanting area and time enough also to start growing and experimenting with your more unusual herbs and edibles.

It means that you don't necessary apply a huge resource, before you have your setup working efficiently for "general" growing (which will apply generally to your other growing!).

2. I want to provide information sheets but I am not a herbalist, so that could only be a literature study, is this OK? (this is worse with Chinese herbs I don't even use them)

Again, it goes back to what you know. If you know how to grow it then talk about that, but if you don't "know" the plant, then I do think that giving references to where information can be sourced is a good idea (as per aroideana's suggestion of google links or laminated information sheets). Fundamentally, if you can't write the information on the benefits of the usage of the plant (because you don't KNOW that it's so from either your own experience or valid scientific studies, then don't distribute the information, just give people the ability to discover the current knowledge for themselves ... and oddly enough, an expert ALWAYS arrives if you do this [don't ask me why, they just do]).

3. The best long lasting plant labels? ( I never find these venetian alu blinds)

Hmmm. Labels. Unless you are going to go to the expense of pre-printed professional labels, I would suggest (not really ... I've given up on labels, per-se, and just map on a single piece of paper instead) ... but anyway ... labels.

Aussie made, UV resistant labels tend to last about 3 years in full sunlight before they become so brittle that they break if you happen to us them as a stick to plant a new seedling. Good thing about these is you can write on them in pencil (which doesn't wash off or get degraded by the sun like permanent marker does).

Venetian blinds cut me, and the only way is to either paint on them (hard to get off if you re-use labels) or use permanent marker (which degrades in under a season - likely to cause you not to know what you're growing, if you don't fundamentally KNOW the plant).

Icy-pole sticks ... pencil works on these like permanent markers work on venetians. Give it about a dozen waterings, and the stick wood will start to mould and you won't be able to read the pencil.

So ... I reckon a map, a nice information printout on display, and a bit of paper something for your buyer to take home with them (like, the botanical name, the common name, some information and some links as an example).

4. What setup do you have? At the moment I don't have anything, the pots are simply on the floor and I do the potting on a tarp with the potting mix.

Get them off the ground. I prefer wire racks (not solid racks) at waist height ... reduces mould and makes the work easier. Cover, set up a misting system (easy and low cost) and when you can, invest in a timer.

5. How do you ensure quality? Are there propagation methods which might be OK for the home gardener but don't produce quality plants like rooting in water?

I don't understand what you mean by not producing quality plants like rooting in water?

Fundamentally, find what environment the particular plant you want to grow, likes growing in, and do your best to replicate it. For seeds, and even cuttings to a certain extent, that is often moister (misting/temperature controlled environment) that the adult plant would appreciate.

6. How does your business do?

Hmmm. I don't "do" business anymore ... used to, mostly into education these days. However, if I do produce a few plants, the surplus is never difficult to distribute (and sometimes people even insist on paying for it ... that's their choice - because it's not a business, and I would have "made" those plants anyway, I don't really care that much, so long as I have enough to get on with what I want to do).

Hope this helps, sorry if it's a bit long

[Pakanohida]

Hi everyone, I wanted to start a backyard nursery several times, but we always moved when I got deeper into it. I will have another try.
I want to start herbs, preferrably rare herbs + rare edibles, everything but not grafted trees because I have got no experience in grafting. I don't want to make a living out of this at the moment and only do the occasional market or garage sale. We are in cool climate Australia.
some questions, but any general input is welcome!
1.For some rare edibles you can only get the seeds and not the plants in Autralia. That means that it needs ages, because I think you must first harvest eat an cook the stuff you sell.
2. I want to provide information sheets but I am not a herbalist, so that could only be a literature study, is this OK? (this is worse with Chinese herbs I don't even use them)
3. The best long lasting plant labels? ( I never find these venetian alu blinds)
4. What setup do you have? At the moment I don't have anything, the pots are simply on the floor and I do the potting on a tarp with the potting mix.
5. How do you ensure quality? Are there propagation methods which might be OK for the home gardener but don't produce quality plants like rooting in water?
6. How does your business do?
Thanks for input!

I am building one myself, I cannot set up the property properly without one.

I did find this that may help or at least inspire you as well.

http://www.permacultureportal.com/article_nursery.html

[Pakanohida]

I don't understand what you mean by not producing quality plants like rooting in water?

Me neither, I did a test last week of tossing some bok choy seeds directly into the aquaponics bed, and I am starting to see some come up while they are fully in water 24/7.

[heftzwecke]

Thanks for the answers! I found that these sharpy pens you can buy at coles and everwhere for $2 last pretty long. I used icy poles, never again after some month you cannot read anymore what is on (I would really like to know which raspberry variety I have planted!). Wire racks that sounds really great, aren't they very expensive and where do I get them? We don't have herb nurseries around here and that is maybe the advantage. We are on a climatic island on the top of the mountains. I found that labeling in the garden so far very crucial and I try to keep track as well in a book, but I have yet some plants I have lost the correct name. For example I purchased comfrey "officiale" at a mail order but I am pretty sure that it is russian comfrey. I find correct identification very crucial.

[sweetpea]

I looked into this as well, and got all the legal requirements for my area, and it is astounding. Where I am, if you sell soil to people, it has to be made specifically from specific ingredients that you must list and keep track of, and be responsible for not spreading soil diseases, especially if people plant them next to their existing plants. We even have to have inspections of the soil, and have lab tests done to prove it is "sterile". That's why the plants we buy at nurseries are in the weird stuff, and often suffer quite quickly if left in the pot.

It's also very risky to make representations about herbs, especially when it comes to health claims. If you go online and look at herbalist sites they rare make any claims, and discuss the plants and make some historical allusions. People can have allergic reactions, they can screw up the dosages, it's very, very tricky.

As soon as I read all of the requirements, I went straight back to growing and selling vegetables

[Michaelangelica]

Where are you heftzwecke?
How big is your plot/ How sunny
Where do you want to sell?
Doing this for profit or hobby?

[cottager]

Wire racks that sounds really great, aren't they very expensive and where do I get them?

To answer this specific question, I can't answer as I am not sure where you are. They can be expensive or inexpensive, depending on the resource base you have close to hand (to give an example, I picked up some ancient fence panels from a clearance sale at a very good price [and was sad at the same sale, because the blacksmithing apron went out of my price-range ... nice piece of kit too!).

Anyway, if wire isn't something you can find, wooden slats on a benchtop will work just as well, just won't last as long is all. The great thing about wood is that you can build it easily and relatively cheaply yourself, with just the most basic of tools (as basic as a saw and a hammer).

The concept is to get the seedlings off the ground (out of reach of cold/mould/snails as best as possible) and bring them to a height that makes it easy for you to work with them ... wire can come later, it's not necessary to establish a seedling bed. With the gap on wood slats ... make the wood slim and the gaps slim ... nothing worse than mouldy wood and/or gaps so big your little pots fall through ... it's all in the balance.