Sneak Peek
Short Course Starting a Backyard Nursery
This short course is a guide for the person attempting to start or run a small nursery, herb or flower growing
enterprise as a backyard operation on their larger property. It endeavours covers the most important topics you need to get you started.
Use this course as a starting point:
Study the nursery industry and its sectors in your region – see what is and isn’t feasible. Look at what plants and related products are currently in demand.
Consider opportunities open to you - for example:
- You may start small, propagating, growing potted plants and selling at a local market
- You may start by propagating herbs for sale, but also growing some, harvesting and producing some herbal products
- You may propagate flowers, selling potted flowering plants; or growing in the ground, then harvesting and selling bunches of flowers to a florist or at a market stall.
Nurseries, herb or flower farms that have humble beginnings on just a few dozen square metres of land; can eventually develop into a large, full time business.
This short course covers eight lessons:
Lesson 1 Introduction and possibilities
- Introduction
- Form of product
- Growth stage
- Quantity
- Selling
Lesson 2 Management and organisation
- Management and organisation
- Selecting the site
- Choosing what to grow
- Layout
- Managing manpower, equipment and materials
- Developing a nursery stock list – an example
- Nursery stocklist worksheet
Lesson 3 Propagating techniques and equipment
- An overview
- Sexual propagation
- Treatments
- Asexual propagation
- Propagating structures and equipment
- Nursery irrigation techniques
- Propagating beds
- Shade houses
Lesson 4 Propagating materials
- Containers
- Containers
- Potting mixtures
- Labels
Lesson 5 Plant health problems
- Diagnosing problems
- Minimising the likelihood of problems
- Treating a problem
- Chemical controls
- Minimising chemical use
- Biological controls
Lesson 6 Propagation - seeds and cuttings
- Where to plant
- Pre-germination treatments
- Handling seedlings
- Pricking out seedlings
- Propagating ferns
- Cuttings
- Practical exercise
- Budding and grafting
- Layering
- Propagation of specific plants
- Ornamentals
- Annuals, bulbs and perennials
- Fruit and nut plants
- Herbs
- Growing on
- Potting up plants
Lesson 7 Starting a small herb or flower farm
- Herb growing
- Herbal products
- Growing flowers for profit in your backyard
Lesson 8 Management
- Starting a nursery
- Market research
- Planning
- Work scheduling
- Operational flow charts
- Nursery profile
- Costing your production
- Practical exercise
- Hypothetical case study
HOW DO YOU MAKE A START?
First of all Learn!
Beyond that, if you decide that growing or selling plants is for you, and you are ready to consider opportunities, use the following questions to help you assess the likelihood of success for each different opportunity.
- Is there a market in my community for this kind of business? Will people buy my product or service, and are there enough buyers to sustain this business in this area?
- How much money would it take to start the nursery? Will I be able to borrow that much money? How much will it cost me in the long run? Can I start small and build up without using too much capital?
- How many hours a week is it likely to take to run the nursery? Am I willing to commit that much time? Can I start part-time and work towards full time?
- What are the particular risks associated with this nursery? What is the rate of business failure? Why have similar businesses failed, and how can I overcome these risks?
- Does my background prepare me to run this kind of nursery? Do most people who own this kind of nursery have more or different experience or knowledge than I do? What do I need to learn, and am I willing or able to learn it quickly?
- How much money could I make running this business? What is my lowest likely net profit? Is this sufficient to meet my needs, and when can I expect to make this? Am I willing to start off small and hold down another job as the business grows?
