Five Essential Factors to Consider When Starting a Nursery Business

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Do you love planting, caring for, and nurturing plants as a hobby? You can easily turn it into a profitable nursery business. Use avenues such as flower shops, private institutions, events planners, and convenient stores to sell your plants. Consider this information as you turn your hobby into a Nursery business.

Explore Potential Markets

Who will be your customer? Nurseries can be retail or wholesale. Retailers sell to the general public and wholesalers sell to businesses. These businesses include other nurseries, commercial gardeners, or landscapers. Advertise your nursery work and products through friends, event gatherings, business exhibitions, and agricultural shows.

Carefully Select a Nursery Site

Where will your nursery business be located? When scouting for a good location, open fields are commonly recommended. This includes shading and provision for the construction of greenhouses or shade nets where necessary. Availability of water at the site of operation is essential for healthy plants throughout the year. For healthy plants, the type of soil is important. The soil should drain and retain moisture very well. If the site is the outlet’s point of sale accessibility is vital.

Choose What Plants to Grow  

What type of plants will you grow? Your interest will determine the type of plant you begin with. This will gradually grow according to market demands. There are various options available depending on your area of operation.  Trees, fruits, vegetable seedlings; ornamental shrubs, flowers, herbs, and grasses are combinations to start with.

Understand Cost Implications

How much will you invest? A nursery requires land, and materials such as pots, and bags. It also needs equipment such as shovels, rakes, secateurs, sprayers, and wheelbarrows. You will also require staff to operate and monitor the plants. It is important to invest in short courses on propagation techniques and pest/ disease management. All the costs will depend on the size of the investment.

plant nursery with different kinds of seedlings

Business licenses

Depending on different locations, Nursery businesses require different licenses and certifications to legally operate. Most governments have restrictions on plant movement, especially at border entry and exit points. Check the various nursery business legislations required to operate your business before you start. These are available at your regional government offices.

Conclusion

For your nursery business to thrive, the key point is to start and keep testing your passion. This can be through growing and nurturing the plants and aggressively marketing the business. This will develop your nursery business gradually. 

How to Start a herb and spices business

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Herbs and spices agribusiness has the potential to generate incomes both in local and international markets. This growth has been experienced since people have become more health conscious.

David, my neighbor and childhood friend, has been away from the country for many years. We recently discussed investing back home, and his interest was in agribusiness, mainly the herbs and spices business and avocado production.

I proposed to make a small feasibility study of the business’s status on his farm. In this article, I outline the basics gathered.

Spices and herb business is a viable business consider the following.            

  • Market – local markets, export markets through local exporters, direct export
  • Climate – Altitude different herbs require high altitudes others require low altitudes – we need to have a greenhouse for the ones that require low altitude since the farm is in a high altitude area.
  • Soil testing
  • Water ( irrigation water has to be available)
  • Labour
  • Packhouse with a cold room
  • Inputs ( fertilizers, pesticides)
  • Greenhouses for some herbs.

Common herbs are generally grown in Kenya, including

Chives, Mint, coriander, Basil, Rosemary, Sage, Fennel, Thyme, Lemon Grass, Parsley, Oregano, Tarragon, and Celery.

Consider starting with the following, considering the availability of local markets and export. Exporters do contract farmers for product

  • Thyme (orange, lemon, Common)
  • Coriander
  • Sage
  • Mint ( Peppermint and tropical)
  • Basil
  • Parsley
  • Chives( Garlic Chives)
  • Fenugreek
  • Coriander
  • Dill
  • Tarragon
  • Rosemary
  • Celery
celery
Rosemary
Parsley
Mint
Basil
Chives

Local markets visited

1.            Fresh and juice Limuru – contact Susan Mumbi – 0722 234437

They buy all types of fresh produce, including tomatoes, sweet potatoes, carrots, cauliflower, broccoli, courgettes, leeks, beetroots, etc.

As for herbs, they grow them at their farm in Ndeiya – (Thyme, Basil, Tarragon, rosemary, sage, and coriander), and they are not accepting any orders from farmers.

Currently, they are looking for leeks, courgettes, beetroots, cauliflower, and broccoli. These are options for diversification and crop rotation.

2.            Mitos Herbs – contact Mr. Bosire ( 0717 305339)

has a herb and spice farm in Molo they export to the Netherlands, Germany, Russia, and the UK. He grows chives, basil, rosemary, and coriander, among others. His view is that it’s a doable business with several investments such as water, pack house, greenhouses for some herbs), labor and, of course, learning the market trends.

3.            Helitech Organization

Branding their products Afya Choice foods. Contacts William Gitau 0713-040819. They are based in Githunguri town and have several contracted farms in Lari. I visited a demonstration farm set at the catholic church farm in Githunguri.

They promote organic farming and  promote two types of contracts

1. Member farmer- register with them at a fee of Kshs 15,000 and have the following benefits

-They attend to your farm

-Participate in their activities such as planned workshops/ symposiums/ field days

– Support the farmer  on agronomic practices

2. Private/ Technical support

– They advise on agronomic issues

– pay them a fee of 1500 per farm visit and Transport depending on the location of your farm.

They can contract farmers to grow for them the following herbs. Oregano, Thyme ( Orange, lemon, and standard), Sage, Marjoram, Mint ( Peppermint and tropical varieties), Basil, Garlic chives, Fenugreek, Fennel, Dill

4.            Triple A (AAA growers)

is an export company that grows and exports herbs. They also contract farmers to grow for them.

5.            Lagran Group Ltd – Contact Mr. Nickly 0729379092;

They always contract farmers to supply herbs for export. They export Thyme, sage, dill, fennel, and Mint. Currently, they need farmers to grow Garlic and ginger.

Conclusion

The business is profitable; progressive farmers have some success stories, especially those exporting directly. The way forward is to begin on a small scale, learn the growing and market trends, put the required infrastructures in place, and later scale up production.

The good in farming and gardening

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For years farming and gardening have provided food for people throughout the world. It helps provide raw materials for food manufacturing companies such as seeds, nuts, corn, and grains.

Gardening can be therapeutic and relaxing when performed as a hobby. Activities such as watering the plants of backyard nurseries, picking flowers, and picking ready-to-eat fruits can reduce negative thoughts and make you feel better. 

In this article, we discuss four benefits derived from farming and gardening.

Therapeutic Benefits of Gardening

As it improves physical health and produces homegrown vegetables. However, farming has therapeutic benefits that go beyond this. From relaxation and stress relief to mental and emotional well-being.

Gardening improves the home environment as most plants especially herbs are effective air cleaners and absorb carbon dioxide while releasing clean oxygen and fragrance. You know waking up to the sounds of chirping birds and a beautiful view of plants and flowers can be quite enjoyable if not romantic.

Agrotourism

Incorporating gardens in your landscaping design can make your home more homely. This has also brought about Agrotourism. Where owners utilize agricultural activities, landscaping techniques, agricultural technology, and farming culture to attract tourists. Which is a financial boast for you. The activities can range from land cultivating, pre-harvest, post-harvest, produce processing, and marketing.

Agrotourism is an awesome way of promoting rural development and protecting the environment. It tends to incorporate techniques that have a positive impact on biodiversity, landscapes, and the use of natural resources.

Visitors can carry out various activities and learn things related to agriculture such as participating in planting crops, picking and enjoying fruit directly from the tree, participating in processing crops such as coffee beans into ready-to-drink coffee, enjoying various rides such as outbound, or just walking on the road enjoying the fresh air and beautiful nuances that are rarely found in urban areas.

We would love to help you begin farming and gardening. Talk to Us

Guidelines and tips for growing gooseberries in your kitchen garden

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Gooseberry is a great crop to incorporate into your backyard garden because as long as you keep it well fed, well pruned, and watered it will continuously give you fruits in spans of months with little work on your part.

Growing gooseberry on our small farm has been fun as well as a source of fresh fruits that can be taken fresh or made into great smoothies when combined with mango or watermelon fruit.

This we have done effortlessly and learned…..

Cape gooseberry also known as yellow berry or golden berry is a self-pollinating plant. The flowers are hermaphrodites meaning that they have both male and female organs in the flowers.

Plants will begin to flower 4 to 6 weeks after transplanting or when the plants have formed 12 to 13 internodes.

The flowering and fruiting of Gooseberry depend on the variety and agro-ecological zone.

Tips on pollination

  1. Gentle shaking gooseberry plants trained on the trellis can promote pollination
  2. It has been reported that lightly spraying the plants with water can enhance pollination

Tips on growing

  1. Prepare your nursery bed and sow your seeds, four weeks after germination transplant into small pots or directly into the garden.
  2. Transplant your gooseberry seedlings into a well-prepared garden with lots of organic manure or compost and be sure to mulch with either dry leaves or straws to help retain moisture and curb weeds from growing.
  3. Prune regularly and keep moist with an inch of water a week.

On pests and diseases, we have noted several bothering the plants. Noted are birds feeding on fresh gooseberries, Aphids, and fruit flies. Powdery mildew which looks like a white, powdery coating on the leaves on the leaves and branches has been observed. It mainly occurs when the weather is warm and humid.

Gooseberries are ready for harvesting 4 months after transplanting when the berries are yellow in color and the outer cover is brown or dry. Eat within 2 days of picking up or store them refrigerated for up to two weeks.

You can start off with a few gooseberry plants and expect a fruitful season. Fresh fruits, Fresh taste from your backyard to your table.