All,

I am interested in getting out of the IT corporate rat race that
I'm currently up to my neck in and doing something completely life
changing

As my username suggested I have become a Gardening convert so much so
that I have a desire to make a living out of it and get out of the
office and away from the PC and corporate S**t that I have to deal with
on a daily basis.

The main problem is that I do earn a pretty good wage in IT and that
has to currently support my wife, 2 children and the Cat.

Is there really a living to be made in horticulture or am I stuck with
the IT corporate hell that I suffer at the moment.

I'd rather shovel S**t for the flowers , fruit and veg where it does
some good rather than shovel it at work !!

Would I need to re-train or could I jump straight into something ?

I would look to move away from Berkshire going further south , is there
any particular areas that would be advantageous for this sort of move ?

On 6 Mar 2006 07:47:02 -0800, "Gardening_Convert"
wrote:

The main problem is that I do earn a pretty good wage in IT and that
has to currently support my wife, 2 children and the Cat.

There lies your problem. You can make a living in horticulture but you
are not going to get anything like the income you get from IT. If you
want to get out of the rat race then you are going to have to
surrender the toys and perks of the rat race.

On 6/3/06 15:47, in article
, "Gardening_Convert"
wrote:

All,

I am interested in getting out of the IT corporate rat race that
I'm currently up to my neck in and doing something completely life
changing

As my username suggested I have become a Gardening convert so much so
that I have a desire to make a living out of it and get out of the
office and away from the PC and corporate S**t that I have to deal with
on a daily basis.

The main problem is that I do earn a pretty good wage in IT and that
has to currently support my wife, 2 children and the Cat.

Is there really a living to be made in horticulture or am I stuck with
the IT corporate hell that I suffer at the moment.

There is a living to be made but it's not going to be the sort of money
you're making now, I would think and certainly not at the beginning.

I'd rather shovel S**t for the flowers , fruit and veg where it does
some good rather than shovel it at work !!

Would I need to re-train or could I jump straight into something ?

I would look to move away from Berkshire going further south , is there
any particular areas that would be advantageous for this sort of move ?

You can't do it without experience and training of some sort, IMO. And
without wishing to dampen your ardour, there are a LOT of small nurseries
closing down in the current economic climate and there are more than a few
very large garden centre chains in trouble - some of them in very BIG
trouble. And I very seriously doubt you'd make the sort of money you're
making now, so you have a hard choice to make - current lifestyle or some
big financial cutbacks of a personal nature.
I don't know if this is a practical choice for you but could you work part
time in IT and part time at a nursery learning about the trade? And I do
mean a nursery, not a garden centre.
The other thing to think about, IMO, is that turning a hobby into a job
isn't always a great idea. You might not enjoy it as much if you *have* to
do it to put the food on the table. And early morning starts outside,
watering on summer days, are lovely, the same on cold winter mornings is
another game altogether. While working in a nursery is certainly working
with plants, it's not at all the same as gardening and often doesn't leave
much time for it, either!
--
Sacha
www.hillhousenursery.co.uk
South Devon
)

The horticuluture and gardening trade is pretty harsh when it comes to
small businesses.

One thing you could do is to specialise in something. such as a
particular type of fruit. veg, flower etc.. But you'll need to research
a lot before you consider,.. is someone already doing what you want to
do? or has someone done it and gone bust..

It's hard to compete when mega giants like Tesco's are now going into
garden centres...
A subscription to a trade magazine like horticulture week, or a similar
farm magazine, may give you an insite into what you could do, and what
the situation is.. The farm industy is probably harder to be in at the
moment and it's those farmers that diversify, that usually survive.

If you want to make a living in horticulture you really need to consider
it.. At the moment, having trained which a 3 year diploma in
horticulture I have found it hard to get a job to suit my needs.

You will need to be doing something that you like, even if it is
starting at home and sellin a few things on ebay ( it doesn't make very
much profit after costs and delivery. But if you want to do it.. look
into it.. One thing also it to look into the Organic sector

JW

Sacha wrote:

On 6 Mar 2006 07:47:02 -0800, "Gardening_Convert"
wrote:

All,

I am interested in getting out of the IT corporate rat race that
I'm currently up to my neck in and doing something completely life
changing

As my username suggested I have become a Gardening convert so much so
that I have a desire to make a living out of it and get out of the
office and away from the PC and corporate S**t that I have to deal with
on a daily basis.

The main problem is that I do earn a pretty good wage in IT and that
has to currently support my wife, 2 children and the Cat.

Stay in IT until your kids have grown and you've seen them
through uni.

Is there really a living to be made in horticulture

Hardly.

Think about. The best you can do is to discover some niche
market where you'll be able to sell your produce at a price that
allows you to make a living. But you are competing with tens of
thousands of others who would all like to do the same.

or am I stuck with
the IT corporate hell that I suffer at the moment.

Hey - if you think corporate IT is hell just try the insecurity
of free-lancing or contracting. If you think working in IT is
hell then you haven't actually lived. Just try working in a
secondary school for a day and discover what true hell is - or
as my doctor said to me when I complained about being stressed
"I'm stressed too and I've got a cold - but I still came into
work today" Being a doctor is a notoriously stressed job. My
personal experience tells me that the worst thing about
corporate IT is that the hours can be longer than 9-5 - but that
is true of many well-paid jobs today - in e.g. a sales manager
can easily work 70 hours per week but still get paid less than
you do.

Of all the jobs I've ever done I found corporate IT to be about
the cushiest.

I'd rather shovel S**t for the flowers , fruit and veg where it does
some good rather than shovel it at work !!

Look at the rates of pay available to horticultural workers,
farm workers and look at the current depression in the UK farm
industry. These farmers have vast areas to grow things on, are
experienced in both industrial agriculture and in getting every
EU grant going but they are still finding it hard to break even.

Would I need to re-train or could I jump straight into something?

I would look to move away from Berkshire going further south , is there
any particular areas that would be advantageous for this sort of move ?

The West Country has the mildest weather in the UK but some of
the worst employment prospects.

The best advice I can give you is to find some niche in IT which
allows you to work 20 hours per week to support yourself while
giving you more time for your gardening.

The kind of niche I suspect could make money would be in growing
nursery plants but ... prices for mainstream nursery plants in
B&Q are pretty low now so it would really have to be a niche.
The market for a niche is, by definition, small and there are
many other countries with much lower average labour pay rates
than the UK where plants grow much faster. So - think about it
again - why would you be growing these plants in the UK rather
than, say, Costa Rica, South America or West Africa?

OK everyone , many thanks for all you input .

I guess what your telling me is don't be a prat ,stay in IT and stop
moaning about it

Keep gardening as a hobby and enjoy it and maybe over time start to
broaden you gardening skills and knowledge and see where it takes you
but do it in small steps !!

Is that what your telling me ?

It's great it feels like I've had an idea and I've been told off for it
Feel like I'm back at school , here a 100 lines now go away and
shut up

On 7/3/06 9:19, in article ,
"Jasbird" wrote:

snip
The kind of niche I suspect could make money would be in growing
nursery plants but ... prices for mainstream nursery plants in
B&Q are pretty low now so it would really have to be a niche.
The market for a niche is, by definition, small and there are
many other countries with much lower average labour pay rates
than the UK where plants grow much faster. So - think about it
again - why would you be growing these plants in the UK rather
than, say, Costa Rica, South America or West Africa?

To this I would add: Absolutely do not go into growing for any one outlet.
Absolutely not. The chain you supply can cancel their order at a moment's
notice and you're left with thousands of plants nobody wants and no money
for them. We hear of this often. And don't over-specialise, either -
selling a wide range of plants brings in far more people.
--
Sacha
www.hillhousenursery.co.uk
South Devon
)

On 7/3/06 9:38, in article
, "Gardening_Convert"
wrote:

OK everyone , many thanks for all you input .

I guess what your telling me is don't be a prat ,stay in IT and stop
moaning about it

Keep gardening as a hobby and enjoy it and maybe over time start to
broaden you gardening skills and knowledge and see where it takes you
but do it in small steps !!

Is that what your telling me ?

It's great it feels like I've had an idea and I've been told off for it
Feel like I'm back at school , here a 100 lines now go away and
shut up

LOL! ;-) As someone has said, you could turn your hobby into a business
- perhaps - when your children are on their own feet. But it is very hard
work running a nursery; at busy times you can't get a day off; if you're the
sole person in overall charge, you can't get a holiday easily (my husband
and stepson are never together at any family event that takes place away
from here) and the financial rewards depend very much on the sort of set up
you have, the size of it and the area in which you base it. For example,
someone trying to grow tender plants in most areas of this country is going
to spend a fortune on heating oil each year and as another example, our
water bill is over £5,000 per year. Add to this that people seem to be
drawing in their belts and the first things to go when that happens are the
things perceived to be 'luxuries'. All that said, I know my husband
wouldn't change his life for anyone else's and is bored if he's away from
here for too long but he and his son are second and third generation
nurseryman and Ray's grandfather was a farmer, so it must be in the blood by
now!
--
Sacha
www.hillhousenursery.co.uk
South Devon
)

was the diploma part time or full time? i've future plans on re-training myself but more interested in the horticulture side of things than the garden designing side which there seem to be lots of courses for.

like the gardening convert i too have a young family to support and i'm not prepared to jump into horticulture without proper training, yet on the flip side i can't provide for my family if i had to retrain full time.

very interested to hear about your experiences, particularly in finding the right job. ideally i'd love to work in a large garden, and from the little research i've done these full-time jobs are hard to come by and the pay is just enough to scrape a living on. not interested in working for a garden centre, possibly a nursery if only to gain experience. anyways looking forward to hear from you

"Gardening_Convert" wrote in message
oups.com...
OK everyone , many thanks for all you input .

I guess what your telling me is don't be a prat ,stay in IT and stop
moaning about it

Keep gardening as a hobby and enjoy it and maybe over time start to
broaden you gardening skills and knowledge and see where it takes you
but do it in small steps !!

Is that what your telling me ?

It's great it feels like I've had an idea and I've been told off for it
Feel like I'm back at school , here a 100 lines now go away and
shut up


It's probably more a case of ""The Grass is always greener on the other
side"
You could have a go at online selling of plants as a part time job and see
if that enthuses you or not.
Have a look at this link:-
http://www.plantdelights.com/Tony/book.html

"Jasbird" wrote in message
...
On 6 Mar 2006 07:47:02 -0800, "Gardening_Convert"
wrote:
I am interested in getting out of the IT corporate rat race that
I'm currently up to my neck in and doing something completely life
changing
,snip
or am I stuck with
the IT corporate hell that I suffer at the moment.

Hey - if you think corporate IT is hell just try the insecurity
of free-lancing or contracting.

Or in the IT department of a government agency - I know I'm with the Dutch
Police :~((
Archaic DOS based applications - No proper management - Non-profit and IMO
therefore totally non-efficient.

At least with corporate people HAVE to perform :~)

The best advice I can give you is to find some niche in IT which
allows you to work 20 hours per week to support yourself while
giving you more time for your gardening.

There seems to be a huge market for helping people at home with their IT
problems.........and you could do horticulture maybe on the side?? You could
even start up as a jobbing gardener ??

I too looked at a career change into something 'green', but the pay was so low
as to be ridiculous :~(

Jenny

Gardening_Convert writes
OK everyone , many thanks for all you input .

I guess what your telling me is don't be a prat ,stay in IT and stop
moaning about it

Keep gardening as a hobby and enjoy it and maybe over time start to
broaden you gardening skills and knowledge and see where it takes you
but do it in small steps !!

Think why you want to make the change. From what you've said, it's to
improve your quality of life more than a missionary zeal for
horticulture. If so, think what other changes you could make to bring
about this life change.

What bit of IT are you in? Are you working for a firm of consultants
being sent all over the country at a moment's notice, nights away from
the family, hours spent travelling that you don't get paid for?

Look at changing your area of IT (retraining if necessary) so that you
can work for one company. Lower pay, but not as low as horticulture, but
more time for family and gardening. (And a career in horticulture won't
do anything for your work-life balance)

Consider moving to a cheaper area of the country. Your lower pay will go
further, and improved commuting and better local services improve the
quality of life.

If you can pin down exactly what it is that causes your current
frustration, that will help you come up with more ideas for how to set
it right.
--
Kay

Gardening_Convert writes

It's great it feels like I've had an idea and I've been told off for it
Feel like I'm back at school , here a 100 lines now go away and
shut up

No, you've had an idea, and you've done the sensible thing to research
it for practicality.

No "100 lines" about it at all - you've had sound advice with people
with real experience of different aspects of horticulture who can tell
you things that the rest of us just don't know - full marks to you for
asking in the right place!
--
Kay

"Gardening_Convert" wrote in message
ups.com...
Many thanks I didn't mean to offend in fact I am very gratefull for
ALL
the advice from people who obviously know a hell of a lot more than
me


I don't think my sense of humour comes across some times !!

Still many thanks for all the comments and I do listen really I do


I think what we were saying is that like most rewards in life, you
need to work for them. Anyone prepared for that can make a fantastic
career - but not a lot of money. Problem is we see a lot of folks
thinking that just about 'anybody can do a bit of gardening' . Careers
teachers in schools are as guilty as anyone in this respect, they're
still sending good for nowts out to horticultural employers.
Professional horticulture is a job like any other, you need a high
level of skill and commitment to succeed. What is different is the
degree of job satisfaction you get if you find or make the right
niche.
--
Rod

My real address is rodtheweedygardeneratmyweedyisp
Just remove the weedy bits
and transplant the appropriate symbol at.

Rod Craddock writes
What is different is the degree of job satisfaction you get if you find
or make the right niche.

Is it though?

People get a lot of job satisfaction in all sorts of careers if they
have found the right niche for them - there are people in every field
(even IT) who live and breathe their job and whose enthusiasm for it
fills every moment.

--
Kay