Interview Series: Veggie and Flower Garden Seeds.

I’ve made this series to highlight women who are starting out. They have created something out of nothing, following those whispers and are moving forward with bringing their dreams to life. I believe in the power of sharing our stories, supporting and lifting each other up. There is enough for everyone to be successful, in what ever way feels right for them.

I N T R O D U C I N G

Bec is a mum of three young children and lives with her family in Hobart, Tasmania. There are well stocked gorgeous flower beds and a productive greenhouse in her garden that you’ll often see on her social media.

With a passion for growing unique and beautiful flowers, as well as home grown vegetables, Bec established the company Veggie and Flower Garden Seeds in 2020.

Veggie and Flower Garden Seeds specializes in hard-to-find flower seeds and stocks a huge range of quality veggie, herb, and Australian native seeds, along with garden tools and gardening books. Seasonally offering speciality bulbs, corms, dahlia tubers and peonies. There is Australia wide shipping and fast dispatch. Bec also employs a wonderful team of inspiring women who all have a passion for growing food and flowers from seed.

For Bec, knowing how and where food is grown has never been more important. To help you in your garden, Bec has created a free downloadable veggie and flower sowing chart for different climate zones, helpful garden blog posts and tutorials, plus farm site visits to food and flower growers who share their knowledge generously.

“Pink Mulla Mulla, Ptilotus exaltatus, is a much loved Australian native wildflower. I’ve recently extended our
Australian native range, which includes some amazing wildflower and bush tucker foods. I do go on about it,
but the diversity of our Australian natives colours and textures continue to blow my mind.” ~ Bec.

T H E Q U E S T I O N S

1. Would you share a little about yourself and why it is so important for you to follow those creative whispers?

Most of my working career I was a vet nurse – the love of animals has been embedded in me since I was a child, growing up surrounded by furry friends.

After having my first child, I went back to part time work as a vet nurse and began a few different online businesses that were not of great success but I loved the creative process of bringing a little idea in my head to life.

After my twins were born, getting out of the actual house to get to work was tricky! I found myself spending more and more time in the garden for my mental and physical health, here is where a passion for growing food and flowers began and this is where Veggie and Flower Garden Seeds bloomed from.

Veggie and Flower Garden Seeds began off my dining table, as do all good businesses…

As the business grew alongside my growing children, managing them plus packing orders was a real juggle!

So we moved to an office of our own where we started with one other helper and now have a lovely team of 6 inspiring women. My brother Sam Shelley does the creative content and website, my partner does the accounting for the business.

2. Favourite time of the day?

Bedtime! … at this stage in my life with 3 small children, by the time I collect them from school, get them fed, bathed, teeth brushed (the last one’s a maybe!…) and into bed – I am exhausted! So nothing excites me more than getting into my bed haha.

3. Life is full of distractions, what keeps you focused?

Coffee!! I have also started to leave my work computer at work, so I’m just doing work at work, to try and give myself a work/ life balance. I also am slowly transitioning to just having socials + email on my work computer, to also reduce the constant scrolling and checking!

Also the girls in the office – we have a really supportive, caring team environment. We all make sure it is a happy, kind workplace, a place where you want to spend time. I think we all do this pretty well, we have lots of laughs. Keeping our customers happy, providing them with beautiful new varieties for them to grow and information to help them along keeps me focused on work. Knowing we are sending out a product that is not only good for the environment but also for the gardeners health.

4. What has surprised you?

The continuous support and kind words of encouragement we receive from our customers. So many happy customers who return time after time.

5. One piece of advice you would like to pass on to someone starting out?

Starting a business from scratch is full of highs and lows. If it’s what you want to do, then keep on going even when it all seems too hard, as you will always come out the other side. If you are struggling, ask for help – people will want to help you.