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| Hello I have a degree in Hort. and live in Maine.Very seasonal unfortunately and every winter I find myself unemployed for three to four months,which I hate and really cant afford.
So my question to you is whats the best thing to do in this field. My past employment has been with tow garden center nurseries,production and landscaping.I also worked for a municipality gardening for two summers.Hated that way of employment. I have a brain and know what I am doing but just dont seem to have the luck of finding a good place to work or know which direction to go to next. |
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| Do you have an Associate or a Bachelor degree? If you are interested in pursuing year 'round employment, there are several on-line websites that specialize in horticultural positions. I am assuming that you would be interested in re-locating, but I may be incorrect about that! Even if you want to stay put, looking around in those websites will let you see what kinds of jobs are out there, and what the best employers are looking for in a successful candidate. Good luck! |
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- Posted by watergal z6/7 Westminster, MD (sjohnson13@aol.com) on Sat, Dec 22, 07 at 22:10
| Unless you can get into a senior position in management or some such, horticulture is going to be pretty seasonal, there's no getting around that. Especially somewhere cold. Are you interested in indoor tropical plants? Interiorscaping is a year round job. I made the switch and loved it, but then again, indoor plants were and are my first passion. Email me if you want to know more, or do a search here for "interior landscaping". |
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- Posted by gardengal48 PNW zone 8 (My Page) on Sun, Dec 23, 07 at 18:06
| I agree - most positions relating to outdoor horticulture/landscaping are going to be seasonal. Even here in zone 8, where one can legitimately garden all 12 months of the year, sales/hours/projects drop like a rock as soon as cold, wet weather arrives. I work 2 hort-related positions year round but they slow enough in the off season that I take on a third, opposite season job to make ends meet. Watergal offers a valid possibility. Another might be teaching, if your background provides for that or you can beef up your education to qualify. Otherwise, relocation to a frost-free climate may be the alternative to multiple sources of income. I hear it's pretty nice in Florida at this time of year :-) |
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| I worked for a growing/landscaping concern in Zone 5 and managed to stay employed all but about six weeks of the year during their shutdown because I was a grower/propagator. That's about the equivalent of the shutdown in my own business now. That's not much different than the amount of holiday my son gets per annum. The difference is he gets paid for it and I don't. LOL. When I am in the slow seasons in my own business, I can usually get cash flow by switching over to the finished floral end if I really want it. You can get a business license and go into things like plant acquisition for banquets, weddings and parties if you have any background in floral design. Aside from full line florists, anyone who wants to get married/have a formal dinner/etc ad infinitum are obliged to go to florists to order potted stock, get greenery, glassware the whole nine yards. Many would like a floral "planner" alternative. It's very nerve wracking and demanding (ask any florist) but I have the edge in that I know plant material from the ground up and have accounts in the same places they do and don't have to maintain the everyday designs and try to swing a large order at the same time. Of course I also have the advantage of having greenhouses to store the material in. But, in today's market and delivery system, you shouldn't really have to do that. I would recommend a cooler, however, if you do anything with cuts. |
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