As a teenager, living at home with my parents, I regularly helped my mum create our summer hanging baskets and tubs. I remember carefully sowing seeds and then painstakingly pricking the seedlings out into trays, watching them grow in our greenhouse until they were large enough to transplant into the baskets and tubs.
When I bought my own house and eventually turned my attention to the garden, which was overgrown, it greatly needed to be started from scratch. A friend designed the garden for me and I laboured for the builder, when he did the hard landscaping. Then when a colleague mentioned they were giving away a greenhouse, I jumped at the chance! This enabled me to grow most of the plants in my garden from seed, to fill up the empty beds that had been created. I also made room for a small vegetable patch, which I fill from plants raised in the greenhouse.
I love the bright colourful blooms of plants in hanging baskets, the way they welcome visitors to your home, when hung at your front door. I’ve made my own hanging baskets since having the greenhouse and made them for friends too. Neighbours have been commenting for years ‘how lovely your hanging baskets look this year Jo’. I really enjoy nurturing the plants and creating the baskets, so I thought, I wonder if I could take my hobby and share it with other people, so I’ve decided to start a little business venture and see where it takes me. I hope you enjoy your Blooming Basket by Jo, as much as I have creating and caring for it!
*Update October 2015 – I’ve taken the plunge! I’m now studying a horticulture course, full time at a local college with a view to gaining a qualification and pursuing my dream… wish me luck!
*Update October 2016 – passed with a distinction in every unit, which means a double grade distinction* distinction*. So set up a garden maintenance company with a fellow mature student, which runs alongside Blooming Baskets by Jo!
For more information or to order a basket, please email me at bloomingbasketsbyjo@gmail.com or call me on 01482 648515