Tomorrow morning the booking opens for the Business of Flowers 5th and final year of our
The Business of Growing Flowers learning programme (TBOGF)
Hosted by Claire Brown, Carol Siddorn and Paula Baxter, this online programme is designed by us, three full time flower farmers in the UK who are constantly evolving their businesses to provide a sustainable income and to suit their lives.
Flower farming is hard work and over the years we’ve worked together sharing techniques and strategies to help our productivity, efficiency and quality, without sacrificing our quality of life. We’re keen to help other growers to work in a thoughtful way, developing businesses that grow quality flowers, and also sell them at a profit!
So what does this programme cover and what is the timeline for learning this Autumn /Winter season.
Our first module starts on the 1st of September, and we’ll be covering Autumn planning and preparation. - Yes, we cover the flowers you can sow and grow in September for next year, plus propagation that can be done in Autumn, but we also look at plot planning, infrastructure and mulching, to get you ahead for the spring. - Our Zoom call for this module will be on Thursday 28th September at 8.00pm
Our 2nd module is the first half of October, and is the all important topic of Market Planning. - Unless you know who your customers are, you won’t know what to grow for them. We’ll talk about the different markets you can sell to, growing what your customers need, and planning the planting quantities. We also talk about getting the balance of customers right for you life. - Our Zoom call for this module will be Monday 16th October at 8.00
Our 3rd topic for the 2nd half of October is Growing More Flowers with Less Work. The 3 of us have been working really hard at this over the last few years, and we’ll talk about plot layout, reducing waste, doing less work, the tools needed, and protected cropping. The zoom call will be on Thursday 2nd November at 8pm
The 4th Module will take place in November is and titled What to Grow - We’ll work more on the information we looked at in market planning, and talk about colour and trends, choosing plants that you can grow and finding the suppliers you need to get the right seeds, bulbs and plants. The zoom will be on Monday 20th November 8pm
Module 5 is our December topic, and we talk about Managing Customers and Suppliers. The all important Terms and Conditions, how you work with your customers, suppliers and collaborators to get the best business results and behaviours. We also deal with feedback and complaints, and collecting data from your customers. Our zoom will be on Thursday 7th December at 8pm
In January we’ll start the new year with the topic of Making Yourself More Productive. We’ll look at how you work with stress and how to keep to targets, we’ll look at optimising your productivity and training and growing with your business. We’ll also look at the all important topic of getting help when you need it, and the zoom for module 6 will be on Thursday 11th January at 8pm
The second module in January will be looking at Record Keeping. An oh so important topic, and we’ll look at all the methods that can be used, and what records you need to keep. The Zoom call for module 7 will be Monday 22nd January at 8pm
Module 8 is Growing Techniques to make you Profitable, and we’ll look in more detail at propagation, propagators and lights, and saving seed. The Zoom for this module is Monday 1st Feb at 8pm
Planning for the future is the topic for February, looking at the sustainability of your business, and future proofing and succession planning. We’ll have a zoom call for module 9 on Monday 26th Feb at 8pm
Our final module 10th module is in March and is a separate Cutting and conditioning module. We’ll give you photos, videos, tips and techniques to make sure your flowers are cut at the correct time, and displayed to ensure your customers see their value and worth. We’ll have our final zoom call on Thursday 14th March.
There will be support in our Facebook group, and by regular email newsletters through the season, with the course support ending on the 31st August 2024
If you have at least a season of testing your flower growing and want to do more, more efficiently and to make a profit, then The Business of Growing Flowers is for you! It will provide you with the tools, techniques and support to go into the 2024 season knowing how to get the most from your farm and yourself without working more hours., to make a profitable business, and also have time to have a life!
