The Real Good Life

For some, their garden is a place of peace and tranquillity. For others, it’s a haven of productivity and profit. Anna Tyzack meets the lucky few for whom it’s both

- Anna Tyzack

FOUR small, raised beds: this, according to the RHS, is all you need to feed a family. If you’re prepared to put in a few more, however, you can have a business. This was how gardeners in London made a living in the 17th century—Chelsea was a sea of productive market gardens and Fulham was famed for its carrots. Soaring land values put an end to this, but, after the Second World War, market gardens were again Britain’s lifeblood, says Kate Collyns, author of Gardening for Profit.

Certainly, this is how Jane Scotter of Fern Verrow, a biodynamic market garden in Herefordshire, and Rachel Siegfried, who runs a cutting garden in Oxfordshire, are making a living. Miss Siegfried also hosts workshops, teaching others to run their own profitable growing businesses, together with floral-design, photography and botanical-art courses.

You don’t even have to grow produce to profit: garden designers use their gardens to show their work and those with important gardens, such as The Prince of Wales, can open theirs to the public. The Highgrove garden is open for guided tours between April and October and there’s also a shop and restaurant for visitors.

Rarely, says Miss Siegfried, will you make a fast fortune—gardens are too costly and time-consuming to maintain. ‘They involve long hours, hard labour and the frustrations of failed crops and bad weather,’ agrees Miss Collyns. ‘Even a tiny-scale business must be professionally run if it’s to survive.’

It is, however, impossible to get bored, surrounded by Nature and the changing seasons. This, according to Miss Siegfried, is the true value of living off the garden. ‘It might not be hugely profitable,’ she concedes, ‘but your lifestyle is rich.’

Rachel Siegfried, floriculturist, Oxfordshire