Starting a nursery in the UK?

Hi all !!

I'm from Sweden and love gardening and have been doing it for as long as I can remember.
My husband is English and we often talk about the different ways of doing things in Sweden and in England and now we have a subject we need help with. What are the rules to start a small plant nursery in the UK? Do you have to have done lots of educations before you are allowed to start selling plants?

Looking forward to read the replies to this.

Thank you!
/Diana61

 

I looked into this once, when a friend who knows plants wanted me to setup such a business and handle the more tedious aspects. We soon gave up on the idea for other reasons so I didn't get very far with my research, but I remember a few key points.

Apart from the usual rules of business that apply to all business types, specific to trading plants you need to be aware of the 'plant passport' system. This may not be a problem, it depends what species you sell. In the case of some species (particularly those that can carry nasty diseases) you have to keep meticulous paperwork about where your plants came from and where they went. This is particularly important if you plant to import or export plants.

There are also plants that you can't trade without a license because they are protected (see Wildlife and Countryside act).

There may be other regulations to consider, I didn't get that far with my research before giving up on the idea.

Good luck in whatever you decide to do.

 

Thank you [size=small]shiney ![/size]

[size=small]So my husband was right then because he thought just that, that you do not have to have lots of educations behind you to start selling plants. [/size]

[size=small]Thanks a lot again for this answer.[/size]

[size=small]/Diana[/size]
[hr]
[size=medium][size=medium]Clueless1, I know about the plant passport because I have a friend here in Sweden who started a nursery four years ago and I spent the whole summer with here helping her out and she taught me a lot about the business, and plant password was one of the things I didn't know anything about before that.[/size]


[/size][hr]
Yes, I have heard that story too over here.

 

The plant passport system only applies to certain plant species. DEFRA maintains a list, if your plant is not on the list, then there are no issues there.

They also maintain a list of protected species that you're not allowed to sell without a license.

So any species that are not on either list are fair game as far as I know.

Farmers and smallholders often run a nursery as a sideline business, and they have more than enough red tape to cut through as it is so it can't be that restrictive.

 

So there is a list of plants that needs a passport and if the plant is not on that list it's fine to order and sell without any problems.
So next thing is that do I as the seller of the plants need do have passports for the plants that follows the plant to the buyer, or is it only the grover of the plants that I'm ordering it from that need to have the passport with the plant while it's sent to me (and it follows to the buyer that I sell it to?). Did you get all that?