Have you got green fingers?

You have a gift for growing things. You may already be a keen gardener, with a garden full of pots and cuttings and an overflowing allotment, or maybe you like to arrange flowers or fill your house with indoor plants…

How to develop your natural talent

For inspiration:
• Go to garden centres and nurseries on a regular basis
• Visit parks, gardens at historic houses and private ones open to the public under the National Gardens Scheme (01483 211535; www.ngs.org.uk)
• Check out the flower displays whenever you pass a church or the window of a florist’s shop
• Explore flower, fruit and vegetable shows and garden festivals, both large and small
• Always take a notebook and your digital camera with you
Broaden your horizons:
By combining your green fingers with other talents or aspirations, you could widen your options for a new hobby or passion, eg:
• Plant, garden and flower photography
• Botanical drawing, landscape or still-life painting
• Home-grown, homemade, own-recipe produce
Learn more:
• Join a gardening book club
• Investigate gardening websites and online discussion groups
• Enrol in an evening class or short course at a nearby college
• Join a local branch of a gardening or flower society

Your hobby has become a passion when...
• You’ve run out of friends to bestow potted-up cuttings upon
• You’ve now told all your neighbours how much better their garden would be “if only…”
• You seem to have been volunteered as permanent church flower-arranger
• Your allotment produces enough to feed a small country

Time to take stock
Perhaps some bigger goals are forming in your mind, such as:
• Plant and design gardens for other people
• Write a grow-your-own column in the local paper
• Run a plant and produce stall at a weekly market
• Arrange all your friends’ ‘special occasion’ flowers
• Set up a junior allotment club at your children’s school
• Open up your garden for visits by the paying public

Learn more, get practising
Whichever branch of horticulture you choose to specialise in, you will need to continue to gather knowledge and skills. But, most crucially, you also need practice, so you can learn on the job, make mistakes and experiment.
• Sign up for a more advanced course
• Track down experts and special-interest societies, eg National Sweet Pea Society
• Start doing car-boot sales or country markets
• Advertise your produce or services in the local shop window
• Give a presentation to the local WI or college students
• Run a practical workshop for a group of friends
• Take a Saturday job at a local nursery or garden centre
• Start exhibiting at bigger shows – and winning!

Towards a green-fingered business
Could you…?
• Open a nursery or plant centre
• Become a garden designer or landscaper
• Become a florist
• Become a specialist plant breeder
• Grow medicinal herbs for health and beauty products
• Run a garden-maintenance or DIY company
• Run a window-box and hanging-basket company
• Run a flower and foliage consultancy
• Open a shop selling garden tools, books and accessories

Resources for keen gardeners:
Royal Horticultural Society 020 7834 4333; www.rhs.org.uk National gardening body and runs courses
Landscape Information Hub www.lih.gre.ac.uk/orgs/garden.htm Resource for courses, official bodies etc)
Garden Organic 024 7630 3517 (formerly the Henry Doubleday Research Association) www.gardenorganic.org.uk Courses, events, gardens
Hardy Plant Society 01386 710317; www.hardy-plant.org.uk Local groups, short courses, specialist sub-groups
National Association of Flower Arrangement Societies 020 7247 5567; www.nafas.org.uk Local clubs
LANTRA (sector skills council) 0845 707 8007; www.afuturein.com Occupations, courses and qualifications connected to land-based careers
Field Studies Council 0845 345 4071; www.field-studies-council.org Knowledge and skills, including art, outdoor crafts and gardens
Botanical Society of the British Isles www.bsbi.org.uk Expertise, courses, meetings, database