Welcome to my Landscape Juice 'How to start and run a gardening or landscaping business', online course.
The current recession (I'm writing this whilst the world tries to recover from the worst financial crisis since the greatest depression of 1929) has caused rise to the number of men and women starting out in the gardening and landscaping business and pitching for work in an already congested market place; this has led to businesses failing, with others finding it difficult to attract enough work to keep their businesses healthy and viable.
Whilst the business articles I've published through Landscape Juice since 2005 has helped many hundreds (if not thousands) of garden and landscaping businesses, I'm aware that none of this has been collated into an easy to find index - this ongoing business and development course will hopefully help you in your quest to start, run and profit from working in horticulture.
All of the following is based on my experience through my 30 years working in the gardening, landscaping and turf care industry. Much of what you'll read is based on what went right and what went wrong for me during my 21 years owning and running a landscaping and gardening business but I hope, through readers' comments and email snippets as well as links out to information in our members' forum, I can pass on enough help, advice and knowledge to help you avoid mistakes an help you succeed.
I will try to keep the information as crisp, clear and positive as I can but there will be digressions into personal experiences and opinion - like how when three employees handed in their notice on the same day to start their own business caused me to re-evaluate, leading me to sell up - I will delve into what can and did go wrong and what it's like to work with and for other people during the course of you business.
New post will come out every Friday morning so that you will have time over a weekend to read and digest before (hopefully) putting some of the ideas into practise the following week. Don't worry if you miss a post - there will be a full index as well as make new posts available through RSS.
This course will also remain fluid and flexible in the sense that at times I will go backwards in the sequence - this might be stimulated via an email question or reader comment.
Asking questions - never be worried about leaving a comment or asking a question. In my time on Landscape Juice I have found that many people stay silent because they are afraid that they will make a fool of themselves and seem unprofessional but let me tell you something - in my experience - only a very small proportion of business owners are equipped with all the knowledge, experience and skills to run a successful business. I don't know it all and there's no reason you should feel you should either.
I appreciate that not everyone will be at the start of their journey but I hope that whatever stage or even if you've been in business for many years, you'll find the information useful and as the course matures I'm sure there will be something for everyone.
If there's a particular subject that hasn't been covered but you feel will be useful then leave a comment or send an email and I'll add it to the list.
Here's the first part (6 weeks) of 'How to start and run a gardening or landscaping business'
Part 1.
Business idea and evaluation - asking yourself some tough questions
Business plan - how to plan a business plan
Determining your market and finding customers - finding your rightful place on the ladder
Advertising your garden business - understanding the basics before you start
Download the full ebook now for just £1.60
Phil
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LJN is an open association of individuals and companies involved in landscaping, garden maintenance, horticulture and garden design.
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Open forum activity
"The ground looks baked at the edges but I suspect there is perhaps more red in the lawn not showing in the image which will be red thread .
Looks like the turf has knitted together well but the baked edges indicate lack of water and the turf is…"
Looks like the turf has knitted together well but the baked edges indicate lack of water and the turf is…"
"
It just looks to have dried out to me. Also, the surrounding bare ground looks very poor, stony etc. It’s also such a small area of turf that this in itself exacerbates the problem.
I also suspect that some pockets of air have formed, either by…"
It just looks to have dried out to me. Also, the surrounding bare ground looks very poor, stony etc. It’s also such a small area of turf that this in itself exacerbates the problem.
I also suspect that some pockets of air have formed, either by…"
"Not seen much blight recently, but box is a busted flush round here thanks to box moth. Spraying kills some caterpillars, but there are always more! I think it has several breeding cycles per year."
"Theres an app called '@Seek' by inaturalist that's very good for identifying weeds/ wildflowers."
"I've found Tryclpyr ( available as Garlon, Blaster.....) the most effective solution for ground elder. Killed large establish areas of it always with one application. "
"Looks like weed killer or scorched by fertiliser that hasn't been watered in"
"have they hosed it off using a hose pipe that has been laying out in the sun? At this time of year a hosepipe containing sitting water before the fresh stuff comes through can get pretty hot"
"Indeed, I was replying to Oliver who said it was the worst year he'd known for caterpillar."
"Box blit minimal, some frost damage.
Starting to see box Wood caterpillar on the west Berkshire/Hampshire boarder. Got all my customers putting out pheromone traps and spraying with nematodes.
Time to give up on box now me thinks."
Starting to see box Wood caterpillar on the west Berkshire/Hampshire boarder. Got all my customers putting out pheromone traps and spraying with nematodes.
Time to give up on box now me thinks."
"It's all caterpillar for us, not one customer has avoided it even though we spray, spray, spray although very minor for us."
"You can dig out all the roots by hand. Very time consuming and will take a couple of years to get rid. Glyphospate is more efficient.
I suggest you get yourself a book on wild flowers to help you identify weeds.
"
I suggest you get yourself a book on wild flowers to help you identify weeds.
"
" I'm thinking someone applied lawn fertlzer by hand very badly."
"That looks like box moth caterpillar not blight?"
"as Billy and Peter say but dont expect one treatment to get rid of it you might have to give it four or five goes over a coupple of years "
" it lookes very dry some of the plants at the side look like they could have been weed killed and all way round the edge a good water and a high nitrogen feed will sort the red thred out if that is what it is "
"Saw this one today, wasn't like that last week!"
Box blight
Never seen so much box blight in 40 years, assume must be climatic conditions this year ? Taken hundreds of plants out. Anyone else noticed?
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Views: 160
Selling plants
Morning all, can anyone point me in the direction of any laws or regulations around selling plant. Mainly these would be plants I've grown cheers
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Views: 96
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