By Beatrice Nakibuuka
Ethel Nambowa is a gardener and landscaper. She is the founder of Green Gardens which is located at Nangabo in Wakiso district, at a plot size of 100x100ft. Since childhood, she has always loved flowers and all the beautiful plants that she came across. She always dreamt of growing her own and also be able to inspire other people to love flowers.
The start
“I started growing flowers in 2009. I was inspired by the beautiful plants I used to see in the magazines and movies,” Nambowa says.
She adds that it is this passion that drove her to pursue a Bachelor’s degree in Environmental Management and a Diploma in Landscape and Compound Designing.
Nambowa had a difficult beginning because most of her clients underestimated her since she looked young. Due to lack of good experience, she underestimated the cost of items, leading her into incur losses.
In one year, she had made so much losses that she opted to find a job as an Estates Manager at a law firm in order to get more capital and reinvest in the business.
She says: “I worked for the firm for a year and I resigned. I was ready to incur all the losses as long as I was self-employed. I was sure that I would one time be able to make enough money to sustain my business.”
With time, she got the experience and her business started growing. Currently, she grows and sells plants which she buys sometimes from fellow gardeners or imports from different countries.
She also carries out trainings especially during exhibitions to those interested in flower growing.
Planting and care
“Most plants use cuttings while others use seedlings as a means of propagation. I grow all plant types, but my passion is mostly with the indoor plants because I love the freshness, coziness and beauty indoors that come with the plants,” Nambowa says.
Depending on the plant type, she researches on the planting conditions and thereafter gets black soil from forests, mixed with charcoal, sawdust and manure to provide the nutrients to plants.
The amount of soil and nutrients depends on the type and size of plant.
According to Nambowa, plants need a lot of care and attention if you are to earn from them.
“They need to be cleaned and pruned regularly because clients want clean and neat plants. No one wants to buy plants that look sickly and diseased. I, therefore, spray them with pesticides and also give them good mixed soil,” she says.
She prunes the plants whenever necessary, waters them regularly, sprays with pesticides every 10 days and uses only chicken droppings and goats’ dung for manure.
Market
Nambowa says she gets customers from all parts of the country because she advertises on her Facebook page. Through her friends, she is also able to get more customers.
She says different plants are placed in different areas. There are those best for indoors and those that are supposed to be put outdoor. There are those for living rooms, bedrooms, bathrooms, hotels lounges and verandas.
She adds that the plants that act as air purifiers always have constant demand.
The cost of a plant depends on the size, the type of planter (pot) used or if it is easy to find. The minimum price for her plants is Shs 5,000.
“Bigger plants cost more than those that are younger and the imported plants are usually on order and of course also come with a cost higher than the indigenous ones,” she says.
Challenges
Nambowa uses rain water to irrigate her plants which becomes scarce in the dry season. Using tap water is challenging because it has chlorine and she has to let it stay for some time for the chlorine to evaporate.
She also adds that imported plants from some countries like the Netherlands and India usually die when they are planted in Uganda because of the change in environment. This makes her incur losses since she buys them expensively.
She is also challenged by some clients who refuse to pay delivery fees after receiving their plants.
Nambowa says when plants are moved from one place to another, they weaken and cannot be sold immediately.
