Growing and Selling Fresh-Cut Herbs [Hardcover]

It's obvious Sandie Shores put a lot of effort, time and heartfelt advice into this reference book, and it contains a lot of useful advice for the beginning grower.

I've been referring to this book for several years now; I have grown herbs for many years and built a greenhouse business around it. I would like to comment on a few shortcomings of this book, in hopes that those individuals choosing to go into the culinary herb growing field will refer to additional sources of information, rather than relying strictly on this one source.

- One major problem is Ms. Shores' lack of emphasis toward maintaining *healthy* plants to effectively prevent disease and pests to begin with. She instead talks only about how to deal with pests and diseases. The more I study disease and pest control, the more I find increased emphasis on maintaining healthy plants as the best defense. Growers are now becoming aware of techniques that increase brix in plants which is a natural pest fighter, and improving and restoring healthy soil conditions through organic practices, composting, and remineralization. I have found that by greatly increasing the plant's health I have been able to effectively fight disease and pests rather than resort to time-consuming and redundant spraying which only makes me feel like I'm sometimes fighting a losing battle.

- I have found contradictory or missing information compared to other resources. I had to discover through another reference that I was overwatering my bay laurel trees; there is no mention in her book that they require less water than other plants. In fact, there is no mention on how much water to give bay laurel at all.

- She says mint doesn't do well in containers--I have personally found that is the only way to grow them (otherwise they are too much work) and they do very well. Refer to "Bountiful Container" by McGee and Stuckey on how to successfully grow mint in containers.

- There is no mention of White Dalmatian Sage, the best sage for culinary use.

- Ms. Shores claims that French Tarragon must be allowed to go dormant in the winter. However, "Bountiful Container" describes a method where you can continue to grow it through the winter.

- Ms. Shores says oregano is a slow grower; McGee and Stuckey say it's a rapid grower. I think it depends on the growing environment, but it can be a rapid grower given the proper conditions.

- There is no mention of fusarium oxysporum under the basil section, an untreatable, devastating fungus that can potentially wipe out your entire sweet basil crop and persist in the soil for up to 12 years. I had to find a short description of it under the soil-borne diseases section. I feel this is such an important aspect to growing basil, a very popular culinary herb, that there should have been a lot more emphasis on becoming aware of and identifying this disease. Shane Smith's book, Greenhouse Gardeners Companion, says it's believed that fusarium oxysporum now infects most of the world's supply of basil seeds. He recommended buying fusarium-resistant (Nufar) seeds and named the sources where you can buy them.

- This book lacks a simplified reference to identifying plant problems. I tried looking up black spots on the basil leaves in this book but could not find any advice. Greenhouse Gardener's Companion has an excellent reference chart for looking up this kind of information.

- Very puzzling, at the time of writing this review, her recommended sources for packaging supplies listed in her appendix and her website did not carry the suggested items. I've found other very useful vendors on the web that provide the supplies I needed, like clamshell packages and plastic bags for delivery.

- Sometimes there was confusion whether she was talking about growing in the greenhouse versus field growing, or container growing versus bed growing.

- If you're just starting out and will seek outside funding for your new herb business, the most important step is creating a detailed business plan. Even though there is a chapter devoted to business planning, there's no specific, helpful guidance on how to develop one. And here's some practical advice I've discovered on my own that you also won't find in this book: if you don't have experience as a grower professionally for many years, you won't even be considered for a bank or SBA loan. Smart Money magazine confirmed this with an article of theirs--banks will fund only 2% of new businesses, SBA only 6%, while 50% of new businesses will buy capital expenditures through the use of personal credit cards.

I've stopped producing plants for cutting and instead grow herb and vegetable plants and container gardens to sell directly to the consumer. There is more satisfaction (and more money) in this, and when I discovered that wholesale distributors were selling basil in the middle of summertime for $5.50/lb, I knew I couldn't compete with those prices and pay myself a wage. Ms. Shores' book correctly states you will not get rich selling fresh cut herbs.

Ms. Shores does give excellent, useful advice on building and maintaining a greenhouse, and how to efficiently harvest herbs for packaging and selling.

Other fantastic growing references: "Bountiful Container," "The Green Thumb Garden Handbook," "Secrets to a Successful Greenhouse and Business," "Herbs in Pots," "Fresh Culinary Herb Production," "Basil: An Herb Lover's Guide," and ATTRA-dot-org on the web (sorry, Amazon won't let me put the URL in this review).

I gained a lot of insight from this book and have been marking pages and referring to it constantly. I even followed the pattern mentioned for building raised beds and it is working out great. I would have liked to see more about growing organically.

It is definitely a great source for growing your own herbs. Highly recommended.

One chapter is on selling. All other chapters are on growing fresh cut herbs. Most herb growers fail because they do not market their product intensely enough. This book does not help in that regard. Just growing it won't get it sold.