Kingman, AZ

I grew up playing in our home garden as a kid. As I got older and had places of my own I was always trying to grow anything I could whether it was a plant in the singular window of my Boston apartment, a few pots on our blazing hot Las Vegas patio, or a large in ground potager garden once we bought our home in Kingman. Growing came naturally to me, although I was not without my share of plant deaths.

The joy of seeing something flower and fruit was unparalleled and I knew that other people needed this experience in their lives.

I had come across Nicole's profile in 2017 and thought, "Yep, that's my dream job!" When her coaching society went live I jumped at the opportunity to invest in myself and follow my passion. Since then, I have developed my coaching business to include a small farm and CSA program. We teach monthly workshops in the winter and take on coaching clients to assist our community members in trouble shooting our tricky high desert climate.

Columbus, Ohio

7 years ago, I was living in New York City and working in the Fashion industry. I was craving a change in my career, but I wasn’t sure what I wanted to do next. Little did I know, I was already starting down a path that would lead me to start my business as a Garden Coach. You might say, the seeds of change had already been planted (see what I did there?).

NYC is where I learned to grow food. While living in the East Village, I joined a community garden on my block and fell in love. When I joined I knew nothing about gardening. NOT. A. THING. My fellow community gardeners taught me everything from planting seeds to composting and everything in between. Learning from other gardeners was such an amazing experience and it’s part of the reason why I started my business. In a world where Google can send you down a research hole so overwhelming it makes you cry; I wanted to give people the experience of learning and growing with a fellow gardener.

Fast forward a few years and one move to Columbus, Ohio. I got married, bought a house, and became a mother. I decided to move away from my career, that I was no longer in love with, to stay at home with my baby. During this time, I designed myself a large urban garden that my husband and father-in-law lovingly built for me. It was the second garden I had designed, having designed one for our tiny apartment yard when we first moved to Ohio, and I was starting to get the itch to do more. 

I started designing and planning kitchen gardens for friends and family. I knew pretty quickly that this was what I wanted to do with my life. So, with lots of fear and hesitation, I started Seed Babies. My first season was not a smashing success by any means. I had about 5 clients total, one of them may have been my mom, but my goodness did I have fun. I had so many ideas for growth, but I had no idea how to get to where I wanted to go. 

That is when I stumbled upon Nicole and The Kitchen Garden Society. Nicole had done so many of the things with her business that I wanted to do with mine. I knew instantly that I had to join the Society and learn her ways. It was one of the best decisions that I made for my business. 

Having a mentor on my side who motivates and challenges me has made such a difference. I’ve been able to grow my business and expand my services and I continue to do so while learning every step of the way. 

Now I get to spend my days designing amazing spaces for clients and coaching them through the season. The excitement I see on clients’ faces when they learn or master something for the first time brings me so much joy. It reminds me of that same excitement I felt when I first started my gardening journey back in that East Village community garden.

Birch Arbor Gardens

Salisbury, MA

I am the owner of The Birch Arbor Gardens, and I focus on year-round organic gardening & educating blossoming gardeners.

I am delighted to serve clients through virtual services around the globe which include kitchen garden plot plan & formal garden design. I offer in-person garden design, build and installation, garden maintenance packages, as well as garden sitting services for traveling clients in the Greater Boston and Seacoast area.

The Birch Arbor Gardens is named for the arbor built by my grandfather, under which I was married. The arbor was placed in our kitchen garden as a symbol of connection our family has to our roots and how we nourish ourselves. My dream is to be an agent in building this relationship in homes throughout my growing community.

Heirloom Potager

Orange County, CA

Heirloom Potager designs year-round, seasonal kitchen gardens for home cooks and culinary professionals in Orange County, California. Each design is unique, but the end result is the same: heirloom fruits, vegetables, herbs, and flowers harvested for fresh and healthy meals. From container gardens to raised beds to full garden landscapes, there is a garden design waiting to please your taste buds.

I am passionate about gardening and an advocate for the #growlocal movement. This site is designed to be a helpful guide to turn your outdoor space into a flourishing seasonal kitchen garden. My gardening style is a blend of form and function, inspired by the bountiful rustic gardens of Europe.

As a member of the Garden Coach Society and a certified Garden Designer, I have a wealth of training to help clients create a garden that matches their style, experience, and #gardengoals. Most importantly, I believe everyone has the ability to cultivate their own potager, a space to grow nutritious seasonal fruit, vegetables, herbs and (edible) flowers in one practical and beautiful place!

Heirloom Potager offers culinary garden design and coaching to seasoned and aspiring gardeners in Orange County, California. From container planting to full-yard transformations, we can help you create the kitchen garden of your dreams.

Ground Culture Gardens

Winsor, Ontario, Canada

I started my journey in becoming a garden business owner when I decided it was time to stop chasing environmental related contracts all around the country, and sink into my dream of running my own business in my hometown. I've always tended to a garden, and have worked on several organic farms, so I have a natural passion for growing food. I wanted to share that passion as I truly feel like growing your own food at home not only nourishes your body, but also the planet. I started out by offering garden consultations and basic vegetable garden designs, and have now evolved to a small team offering both kitchen garden and ecological and edible landscape designs and installs, in addition to offering workshops and engaging with the community through different projects. Ground Culture is growing and changing with each new season!

Nourishing Your Bliss

Denver, Colorado

I have spent many years learning the ins and outs of nutrition. Functional, holistic and culinary nutrition are all a type of a nutrition focus/practice that I hold certifications in. While learning as much as I could about nutrition, I’ve spent just as many hours in the kitchen cooking for my family. I have 3 amazing teenage boys, who eat a lot! I have also done many cooking courses over the years, including Rouxbe’s Plant Based Professional course and the CNE program from the Academy of Culinary Nutrition. (You can find my education/certifications below.) I have had some form of a garden growing food and flowers for the past 10+ years. This doesn’t count the carnivorous plants, succulents or irises I have helped my son who has Aspergers (like me) grow over the past 15+ years. He also has a love of growing things and is pursuing classes in horticulture at the local college so I have learned a great deal from him too.

I think everybody should know how to grow their own food and cook from scratch and the why behind it. I love teaching and sharing my knowledge and hands on experience with others in a way that makes it easy for them to understand. With the right teacher/coach and guidance you can become an amazing gardener and cook with no prior experience! I love sharing techniques to make the most of your harvest, farmers market haul or CSA pick up. Whether it’s uncooking, steaming, roasting, fermenting, etc I can show you how to make it easy and delicious.

Kitchenairy Gardens

Atlanta, GA

Up until December 2018, I was a commercial real estate attorney in Atlanta practicing in the resort, hotel and hospitality industry. In addition to practicing law, I keep the books and records, finances, accounts and budgets for 6 entertainment companies - all owned and operated by my husband who is a musician. I have 3 boys - ages 22, 20 and 18 (almost). The joke in our family is that I wanted another baby - instead I got a tour bus. LOL Anyway, when COVID-19 hit in March, all of my husband’s businesses came to a screeching halt. All 7 of his entertainment bands (3 that he owns and 4 that he manages) were out of work. Since March 14, 2020, the bands have only performed a handful of shows. Over 100 shows have either been rescheduled to next year or canceled completely. 

Back in 2018, I became certified as a landscape designer. And in 2019, I became a Georgia master gardener. In February this year, I joined Scottsdale Farms - a nursery in our area - as a landscape designer. So when COVID-19 shut everything down, Dennis and I decided to build a raised bed garden. So I started my research. I designed a garden and a deer fence, ordered supplies, created planting plans, planted a bunch of fruits, vegetables and flowers and hoped for the best. Then I bought Nicole’s book - which I read in a day. And in May, I joined Gardenary. For weeks, I devoured all the modules and lessons and participated in Boot Camp. I also completed the Kitchen Garden Academy. Along the way, I created Kitchenairy Gardens. 

The more I learned through the Garden Coach Society and KGA, the more work I put into my own garden - changing things around, planning for the next season, moving beds and putting into practice the techniques I had learned. That’s still going on. LOL. But I’ve also sold 2 raised bed kitchen gardens - one to my best friend for $2454 and one to my neighbor for $8354. And I have 2 more clients that I haven’t yet met with. There is no way I could have done any of this without Nicole and the Garden Coach Society. 

Backyard Eats

Philadelphia, PA

In 2016, I had been working as an environmental consultant for years. I loved the design work, but didn't have a connection to the mission (I was designing and repairing landfills...fun right?). Meanwhile, my weekend gardening hobby began to yield results and become a before- and after-work hobby, too.

With every fresh raspberry or ripe tomato, I wanted so badly to share the experience with everyone I met. Soon I realized I could put my ability to research, design, and plan into gardening, and I decided to do something new. That's when I started Backyard Eats (actually it was called Living the Dream for a while :-D), with the simple mission to share the magic of the homegrown food experience.  

For a couple years, I slogged through hundreds of problems that vexed my business and my gardens. I did my best - after all I was one of the first to realize that gardening could be a business, right?! Imagine my relief when I found Nicole had brought together a community of garden coaches and gave us a platform to share information and up our game.

Now my design-install-maintain business boasts a team of three happy dedicated gardeners, and over 25 ecstatic weekly maintenance clients.

I built Backyard Eats while raising my two sons (soon to be three). My boys joined me on garden sites every day until they could go into daycare (now half-day kids).

Dig In Gardens

Jackson, MS

Whether your space is big or small, Dig In Gardens will help you find confidence and deliciousness in your garden!

Epona Botanica

Greater Binghamton / Ithaca, NY

Lemonita Gardens

West Marin, CA

The idea for Lemonita Kitchen Gardens came to me in a half-sleep on a second hand couch: the winds of change were blowing strong through my mind. I was in the type of place that inspired dreams of moving onward and upward. 

I moved back home to California from the being on the east coast for nearly 15 years. I am determined to bring the sanctuary of a kitchen garden to the people of the Bay Area and beyond. While I love doing full scale kitchen gardens, I’m also an advocate for small space gardening. The local push for urban density and affordable housing often leaves people without large yards, but I believe apartment dwellers deserve to grow their own food too!

After moving back home and seeking advice from many small business owner friends and family, I was still feeling unsure exactly how to start. I knew I wanted to do everything by the book and start off on the right foot, but I was getting lost in the weeds. Then Nicole’s introductory teaser for her KGCS course showed up in my IG feed, and what she said made so much sense, I signed up the same night. 

I was not prepared for the wealth of information the courses contain. Luckily for me, Nicole’s courses brought everything that was specific to my dream of a garden coaching business into crystal clear focus! Since then I have been making friendships with the incredible garden coaches. Everyone cheers each other on and we’ve bonded as a strong community, which is more than I could’ve asked for. 

I’ve had several people ask me what I think: Should they join the Society? Is it worth it? I always answer wholeheartedly, yes! The courses are extremely informative and thorough. Watching everyone’s business grow along with mine is so encouraging and such a blessing. I can’t wait to meet all of the new garden coaches and watch them begin their new journey!

The Kitchen Garten

Kinston, NC

With gardening in her family history and many years of gardening experience in her own backyard, Courtney is a natural garden consultant and coach. Her business, The Kitchen Garten is a huge success and the work she does in her community is truly inspiring.

Read on to learn the story of Courtney's business name and discover the work she's doing to change her community for the better (even while being a busy mom and wife).

I promise that I can in fact spell correctly, especially the word "garden."

During my younger years, my family lived in Germany, and playing in our German neighbor’s garten platz, complete with bunny house and rows of veggies, was my first experience with gardening, and, as you may have guessed, the German word for garden is garten.

And there you go…

My grandparents and father have always kept a farm or garden chock full of peanuts, squash, zucchini, beans, and tomatoes in the summer, and collards, turnip greens, and mustards in the winter.

So I have grown up with a love for watching things grow.

For the past ten years, I’ve been gardening in my own spot of lawn, and through many failures and successes, I think I’m finally getting the hang of this!

I started my blog in 2016 and was already working alongside my husband building raised beds and selling them, but I definitely needed support and a process.

I found Nicole while scrolling Instagram in 2017, and I fell in love with her raised garden beds. I remember visiting her site and seeing a notice about the Garden Coach Society even before it came out. I emailed her to get on the list!

Nicole has helped me expand and organize my garden business which has allowed me to work for myself and to create a nice side income for my family. And the biggest bonus is I’m sharing my love for gardening with those around me!

If you love to garden, then join the Garden Coach Society! There's no better way to share your passion for gardening and to earn an income in the process.

I started my blog in 2016 and was already working alongside my husband building raised beds and selling them, but I definitely needed support and a process.

I found Nicole while scrolling Instagram in 2017, and I fell in love with her raised garden beds. I remember visiting her site and seeing a notice about the Garden Coach Society even before it came out. I emailed her to get on the list!

Nicole has helped me expand and organize my garden business which has allowed me to work for myself and to create a nice side income for my family. And the biggest bonus is I’m sharing my love for gardening with those around me!

If you love to garden, then join the Garden Coach Society! There's no better way to share your passion for gardening and to earn an income in the process.

Lettuce Grow Something

Austin, TX

I am not one of those people who grew up around gardening and had a love for it since my childhood. In fact, growing up you would be shocked to hear I hated cooking, strongly disliked tomatoes, onions, cauliflower and avocados and didn’t give a thought about where my food came from.

Fast forward to marriage and two babies later, my husband and I bought our first house and we decided we wanted to grow a garden. By this time, I finally learned to love cooking and my husband can claim fame to helping me fall in love with tomatoes and avocados. Since that first garden 15 years ago, I haven’t stopped growing and learning.

I have been a stay at home mom to 5 children for the past 18 years. Now that they are older, I wanted to find a way to contribute monetarily to our family. I was working a part time job that I didn’t particularly love.

Earlier in the year I had started an Instagram account to share my gardening journey with others. It was during this time that I found Nicole on Instagram and learned about her business, Rooted Garden, and the Garden Coach Society. I had no idea being a garden coach was a possibility. Nicole opened my eyes to this new adventure and I was elated at the possibility of making a career out of what I love to do. However, I remember having a difficult time committing to join the society. I had many self doubts and concerns.

My husband's loving support and Nicole’s enthusiasm and confidence won me over. I am so glad I made the leap to join the society! Nicole’s guidance has been invaluable in beginning my business.

I have been part of the society for 2 years and her guidance is always there for us. She constantly challenges us and teaches us new aspects to make our businesses better.

I love teaching others about growing their own food and creating beautiful garden spaces for them to enjoy. It has been one of the most rewarding things about gardening and starting my coaching business. 

When we love what we do, we can’t wait to share it with the world. I am grateful that I get to do what I love and bring the happiness of gardening to others!

I am honored to be a part of the Garden Coach Society. I dare say there is no other group like this in the world. Nicole has created a place for gardeners to grow themselves and to grow their businesses.

Her knowledge, experience and enthusiasm are contagious! She shares so much of herself and her business know-how with us in the Garden Coach Society. I have been a part of the society for two years and I wouldn’t be as successful in my coaching business if it wasn’t for Nicole and Garden Coach Society Community. 

If anyone is hesitant to join the GCS I would say: Go for it! You don't have to know everything to get started! The GCS not only has jammed packed lesson modules, but weekly live classes and a wonderful Facebook community.

The weekly lives keep me motivated and the community is always there to answer my questions as they have inevitably come up during the course of starting my own business. I always value Nicole’s wisdom: If you aren’t earning, you are learning! And that’s exactly what I have been doing these past two years, earning and learning constantly!

Home Grown Veggie

Southern Califonia

We help you to grow delicious, healthy, and nutritious vegetables at your home or business.

We design, install, and maintain raised bed and container gardens so that you can grow the foods you love to eat. We incorporate vegetables, herbs, and flowers so that your garden will also be a beautiful addition to your landscape.

Good to Grow Gardens

Seattle, WA

After many years of difficulty keeping houseplants and flowers alive I discovered edible gardening! Ten years ago, we did a house project that required we dig up a large portion of our yard - my husband suggested that we install a few raised beds to expand our garden. I realized I did have a green thumb once I figure out that I could EAT what I was growing!

Yard To Table

Charlotte, NC

Gardenscapes

Nashville, TN

Born and raised in South Carolina, I grew up with a passion for the outdoors and farming. Although I did not grow up on a farm, the passion for growing things and working outdoors was always something that I enjoyed. Throughout my teenage years my summers mostly consisted of working with landscape crews.

It was hard work but it taught me so much! 

I didn't know exactly where this passion for growing would lead me in the future so I attended Clemson University where I graduated with a degree in Agriculture in 2015. 

Upon graduating I was blessed with several opportunities to build onto and showcase my passion for growing! One of these opportunities included managing a farm in Middle Tennessee.

Unfortunately, like too many farms today, the farm was sold shortly after for real estate development.

This opened my eyes to not only the issues that myself as a grower was facing, but also the issues that we as consumers are facing.

If farms are being sold everyday, where will our food come from?

This is where the idea was first born for Gardenscapes!

I knew that I wanted to help people learn to grow in their own backyards. Shortly after starting Gardenscapes I was introduced to Nicole and the wealth of business and gardening knowledge that she has shared with so many of us.

The Garden Coach Society added so much to my gardening business and I couldn't be more grateful for that. The society reaches way beyond just the coaches.

Through Nicole and the Society, many families now have the opportunity to grow their own food and pass on something that was once a forgotten piece of households everywhere, the kitchen garden.

Kitchen Garden Revival

Houston, TX

Gold Feather Gardens

Boise, ID

My journey to garden coaching began when the pandemic brought my career in hospitality to a halt. I've written about food, worked on local farms and even opened and managed two farmers markets, so my love for local food has deep roots.

I've always dabbled in gardening, but when my fiance and I bought our home two years ago, I installed raised beds and created a border garden in our small space. My neighbor and I also began converting a vacant lot next to my house into a community garden. When the pandemic hit, I spent most of my time working in the garden.

I had been searching for a new path in my career and struggled to find where I fit in local food. I wanted to have an impact and optimize my skills. When I came across Rooted Garden on Instagram, I started following along with Nicole and really resonated with her advocacy for eating seasonally, growing your own food and supporting the local economy.

When she posted about the Garden Coach Challenge on Gardenary, I jumped on it, and the exercises gave me hope for a new career. I decided to join the Garden Coach Society because it's true when Nicole says that people who pay, pay attention, and I wanted to go all in on my new path.

I'm so glad I did.

Building my business as a garden coach has added an entirely new dimension to my hopes for the future. Honestly, I thought I'd be a "starving artist" forever as a writer. Nicole's mentorship combined with the support and encouragement of the garden coach community she has built has been a game changer for me.

I feel like I can finally make an impact in my community, in the local food movement and contribute to my family in a way I never thought possible. I'm at the beginning of my road as a kitchen garden coach and designer, but I have nothing but hope for my future in this industry.

Silver City, NM

I've gardened in the high desert (elevation 5000-7000 ft) of New Mexico for over 30 years.

Nicole's lessons are pretty much the only formal training I've had with gardening. I've been a beekeeper for 10 years, and I've learned more about botany since becoming a beekeeper. I've informally studied permaculture, and I've been making compost for about 30 years. I keep worms in my slow compost.

I spent a season taking my produce to market when I lived in Albuquerque. I've also worked for two CSAs. I've packed produce, weeded, harvested, and I did customer service and route scheduling for CSA box deliveries. 

I live on a remote ranch about 15 miles from Silver City, NM. It's a 40 minute drive to town on 12 miles of dirt road. We have about 2 acres fenced land around us, and I grow in in 6 raised beds and dozen cloth pots. Herbs, perennials, wildflowers, fruit and nut trees are in the lousy clay and rocky soil. My partner has planted numerous native plants and grasses within the 2 acres. We live in a pretty wild place, mostly juniper, pinon, and oak desert forest, with lots of other native plants.  

Vine Ripe Solutions

Fayetville, AR

I am your garden coach with Vine Ripe Solutions. I can take the guess work out of starting up your own backyard garden. I can do consultations, designs and installations. Let me help you jump start your journey to gardening!

Spokane Garden Coach

Spokane, WA

A lifelong admirer of gardens and beauty, I am a self-taught gardener with years of landscaping, gardening, and independent design experience in both Western and Eastern Washington state. I’m an avid learner, reader, and podcast-listener, so I’m constantly growing my own skills.

Through creative and supportive practices, Spokane Garden Coach helps gardeners of all levels of experience in honing their skills, learning their preferences, and growing in confidence to create and maintain beautiful and manageable garden spaces.

I promote water-wise and sustainable practices and the use of local and budget-friendly resources.

I hope that through coaching, consultation, and design, gardeners will grow in confidence while adding to the beauty and health of their garden, neighborhood, community, and world.

Plantae Urban Habitats

Richmond, VA

In early 2019, I took a needed break from working and started informally calling myself a garden coach and worked on a few gardens. I eventually needed to work full time again, and took a full time job as an urban planner to pay the bills.

In February of 2020 then stumbled across Nicole on Instagram, joined the Garden Coach Challenge and found my path! My business took off very quickly and I have done consultations and installations for kitchen gardens, native plant gardens and rain gardens.

The garden I am most proud of is a patio garden for a high-end restaurant that needed an amazing outdoor dining space due to covid restrictions. I did that! I am also a Gardenary virtual coach, which I love. 

I still work full-time as an urban planner (because health insurance during a pandemic is a good thing!) , and there is more garden business out there than I can actually do at the moment given my work responsibilities. 

My plan is to continue with my garden coaching/design/installation through the winter and then assess when I can make the jump to doing garden coaching full time. I have no doubt that I can make a go of it...it's a scary leap, though. 

Katie Oglesby

Lake Geneva, WI

Blue Borage

Auckland, ON

I set up a compost coaching consulting business to start transforming the public perception of composting. Too often I see people get discouraged and give up on composting, so the Blue Borage gardening method places the compost pile at the heart of the garden, getting careful attention. I use biodynamic methods to teach people to make what I call 'Soil with Soul' and my edible garden coaching service is primarily teaching people how to use the compost they make - so that they want to make even more. Our food system could be truly circular, local and seasonal - with no single use plastic. I'm on a mission to help more people learn about biodynamic composting as a means to heal our soil and grow healthy food. 

Kelly's Creations in the CLE

Cleveland, OH

Trowel and Thyme

Vancouver, WA

Flower Child Heirlooms 

Charlotte, NC

I started gardening as a child, but I was mostly just playing in the garden while my mother did the tending.

Once I moved out on my own, I always had plants growing in pots on my apartment balcony. After purchasing our first home in 2014, we installed a garden the following spring, and it has evolved and grown ever since.

Hello Green Thumb

Philadelphia, PA

I'm very familiar with the feeling, "I don't have a green thumb." Growing up in the Texas desert, I never thought about gardening. 

Over 15 years ago, we moved to the Greater Philadelphia Area. My garden journey began as a result of a vegetable garden my husband built in our backyard. I remember thinking, "I will not be responsible for attempting to keep those plants alive. I have no idea what to do." What unraveled over the last decade I have compared to an explosion of therapeutic creativity. 

We went from one 4' x 8' veggie garden to eventually building a 40' x 40' community garden that consisted of fruits, veggies, and flowers. Gardening has been a common thread through the seasons of lost loved ones, hard family moves, loss of a little one, birth of little ones, and celebrations of new opportunities. In all of those seasons, gardening has been a restorative haven for me. As a self-taught gardener, along the way I have fallen in love with sharing my garden passion with others. It's been a joy to garden shoulder to shoulder with friends and family.

About 5 years ago my passion for gardening expanded beyond my home into the garden beds of a local non-for-profit. It was there that my passion grew for gardening with perennials and annuals. I found such joy maintaining their garden beds and unearthing beauty within them. I also first fell in love with growing dahlias.

Last year, I founded Hello Green Thumb LLC. I had been dreaming about creating an avenue for spreading the joy of gardening. Alongside that I have had a desire to help equip people to see they too have a green thumb. A lot of my journey has been being willing to dig in and get dirty. Gardening is not perfect. It's important to see that a garden job is not a once and done job. It's a relationship. It's a matter of tender care and nurturing.

Hello Green Thumb is here to serve residential homes, meeting their small scale garden bed needs. We do this through helping plan, plant, and maintain garden beds and help their owners discover, they too have a green thumb.

Artisan Garden Company

San Diego, CA

I grew up in Newport Beach, California but always wished I had grown up on a farm like my dad. I loved the idea of raising chickens for eggs, harvesting food for the family, and growing cut flowers to bring in for natural beauty indoors.

To me, that is what you did when you lived on a farm. It was not until I was stationed in Germany while in the Army that I realized that this life was possible almost anywhere you lived. I spent my free time visiting the Bavarian, French, and Swiss countryside and it was then that I was introduced to the potager.

To my surprise, these people were growing the most beautiful edible gardens and raising chickens on relatively small lots. Wow! I didn’t need a farm. I needed a potager.

As soon as I completed my time in the service and went back to college, I rented a place large enough for chickens and my first garden. That was in 1991.

Guidance for Growers Consulting

My journey: I never had a garden growing up but always loved the outdoors. Poor health got my attention as a young woman and locally grown foods was the solution. In 2009, I walked away from Corporate America to begin mentorship on an organic vegetable farm in Louisville, KY. I learned to manage acres of produce and how to run a farm business. 

In 2011, I founded Girl Next Door Farm in La Grange, KY where I sold $30K of fruits, veggies, and herbs on just an acre. During that time, I was featured in "The Woman Hobby Farmer" book by Karen Lanier, the Courier Journal, and Manner & Lane Online Publication. I spoke on University panels for “Minorities in Agriculture” and at the Convention center for “Women Veterans in Agriculture”. 

In 2015, I closed my farm business to start a family. I am now a mother to a one year old and a four year old - little girls. 

In 2019, I formed Guidance for Growers Consulting LLC to empower more women to grow food successfully, and enjoyably on any scale. I've gained several new clients this spring and summer from multiple offerings within the business. I'm very blessed to be nurturing my obsession to grow edibles, and empowering others to do the same. We specialize in kitchen garden design and installation in Louisville, KY, and build custom cedar beds & planter boxes. We educate and empower through our consulting sessions, online courses, and local workshops.

Walking Wild Herbs

I started growing plants and learning about herbalism in my first year as an attorney.

After law school and passing the bar exam, I was looking for a hobby that would get me moving and out from behind a desk! I started volunteering at farms on weekends, and I quickly became engrossed in my love of plants.

Through an opportunity offered by my partner's career, I left my full time lawyer job and started working on farms.

I spent a few years learning about how to grow organic vegetables and flowers, while continuing my education in herbalism. I began helping neighbors and family members with their gardens and then launched my herbal tea company.

I love developing teas, growing herbs, and discussing plants and their healing powers with others -- so much so that I want to help others grow herbal teas, too! Walking Wild Herbs now blends and sells delicious, health-supporting herbal teas on our website and at a local farmers market PLUS we offer workshops, classes, and one-on-one garden coaching to help others learn how to grow, blend, and develop their own herbal tea practice. 

Philadelphia Box Gardens

Philadelphia, PA

I began my garden journey long ago playing hide and seek amongst my grandfather's tomatoes. My family was always pretty meat and potatoes but my grandfather always made a big salad with fresh garden tomatoes, cucumbers and onions dressed in his simple French vinaigrette.

To this day that salad is my inspiration (and my last meal wish).

It wasn't until I moved out on my own that I began digging in the dirt myself. I was living in Ithaca, NY at the time, an amazing farming community in the Finger Lakes, where I began shopping at the local farmers market, getting CSA memberships, and eventually starting my very own garden. I was a college student living in a rental and never had much money but the pull to grow was strong so I bought some containers and seedlings from the market and got started! 

That first year I grew tons of herbs, zinnias, tomatoes and peppers. 

In 2012 I relocated to Philadelphia and continued on my container garden journey - gardening in everything from milk crates, to grow bags, and even a vertical repurposed pallet! 

We bought our first home in 2016, a traditional row home in South Philly, with a postage stamp cement patio. I built my first 'box garden' (a 2'x5' two tiered planter box) that year and have been preaching the Box Garden ever since! Herbs and greens are my specialty - as small space and production have always been my focus - but I always try something new every year and this year my patio eggplants have been stealing the show.

Shovel and Sage

Katy, TX

Texas Kitchen Gardens

Austin, TX

Texas Kitchen Gardens helps you connect to nature by growing a beautiful and productive edible garden in harmony with our unique seasons. Get Texas-specific advice on design, plant selection, harvesting, and challenges with weather, weeds, and pests.

Urban Dirt Co.

McKinney, TX

Founded in 2016, Urban Dirt Company designs installs and maintains chef gardens for restaurants, corporate campus sites, and hotels in Dallas, Tx. Residential kitchen garden consultations are also available in the N. Dallas, McKinney-Frisco areas.

“If you want to start your own gardening business, then there is no one better than Nicole to teach you!

Even though I joined the Garden Coach Society just a few months ago, her rigorous courses, bootcamp sessions, weekly “Live Calls” have made me feel confident and well equipped to begin my own garden business journey!

Nicole is my mentor and guide and I wouldn’t want anyone else!

Thanks to her courses, I successfully built my first kitchen garden and am in the midst of setting up my own business! Inspired by me, my kids sold almost $400 of our organic kitchen garden produce in a matter of days, to become garden entrepreneurs as well!

The Garden Coach Society has also given me access to a network of other like-minded gardeners who are always there to help each other and troubleshoot problems!

If you’re a stay at home Mom with a passion for gardening, I strongly encourage you to join our Garden Coach Society!”

Inna City Hippy

My garden journey: I began gardening in 2001 in my community garden.

After I moved in 2004, I met my then boyfriend and began a lot more gardening including in greenhouses and tried every method of composting out there.

I've also planted in all kinds of mediums such as burlap, coconut coir, rockwool. We launched our Micogreens business, Indoor Meadows, and learned a lot about growing hydroponically. I was an at home mom until 2015, but taught Healthy Cooking Classes on the side via local Coop's for 15 year

Revival Garden Company

Grass Valley, CA

Teaching people how to garden or how to garden better is so rewarding and incredibly important.

If we can find caring and enthusiastic people to share their knowledge with the next generations of gardeners, then I can't help but believe that we will make a huge impact on our planet and local ecosystems. We get to connect our clients back to the earth and their food system in a way that is fun and beautiful.

Pachamama Inspired Landscape Design and Consultations

San Pedro, CA

Hello! I am a Landscape Designer and Garden Consultant with deep roots in Culinary Artistry and Urban Agriculture. My business, Pachamama Inspired, specializes in Earth Stewardship through responsible landscape design and gardening. My designs result in beautiful, multifunctional outdoor spaces that rely on California friendly plants and sustainable materials. I also love adding edible plants, and inspiring my clients to cook with them whenever possible. Some of the consulting services offered by my firm include Landscape Design and Project Management, as well as Garden and Culinary Coaching.

I am a UC Certified Master Gardener, an EPA WaterSense recognized Water Efficient Landscape Professional, and also a professionally trained Chef. My resume includes cooking at notable Los Angeles restaurant establishments including A.O.C., the Strand House, and catering for the Lucques Group. My appreciation for locally grown, outstanding ingredients lead me out of the kitchen and into the garden where, through a twist of fate, I discovered the Landscape Design profession. There I again was blessed with an opportunity to work for a wonderfully talented and well respected Landscape Architecture firm where my skillset was again transformed. Through Landscape Design and Garden Coaching, I found a medium to create meaningful and positive change within my community.

The name Pachamama Inspired gives nod to the importance healthy soils and gardens play in nurturing our planet and providing us with delicious and nutritious food. In Quechua and Inca tradition, Pachamama is described as the earth goddess presiding over planting and harvesting. Pachamama is often translated more simply into “Mother Earth.” Through an extraordinary series of twists of fate, my life experiences have lead me to honor and respect Pachamama as a great source of inspiration in my life. Pachamama inspires and informs every outdoor space I create.

I have been blessed with a unique range of mentor-ship opportunities with an incredibly talented lot of chef’s, farmers and landscape professionals. It is now my mission is to share all of that knowledge, and help others become fulfilled and inspired by Mother Nature. It is my greatest hope that through this work, Pachamama Inspired can shift the trajectory of Climate Change one garden at a time.

Daily Potager

I have been vegetable gardening for the past eight years. At first, it was simply for the beauty of the potager garden style and then transformed to a desire to grow healthy food for my family. I learned about companion planting, saw huge improvements with pests and diseases, and was a hooked! The garden brings me complete joy. I love it! Pretty soon, my friends started asking for advice and I found The Garden Coach Society.  

Dwellers Place

Oldsmar, FL

As someone who was born and raised in Florida, I often didn't feel a strong sense of place as a child. Everyone seemed to be from somewhere else and urban sprawl rapidly commoditized our cities and natural landscapes. Honestly, the only things that were distinctly "Floridian" were going to the beach or being the headline of some crazy news story. 

Like so many of my peers, this lack of connection led me to want to leave Florida. I thought that once I hit 18, I was leaving and never coming back. And I almost did just that. At 18, I left Florida to relocate to Asheville, North Carolina for my undergraduate degree in Biology.

Everyone loves Asheville now but, back then, hardly anyone in Florida knew where I was moving to. I enjoyed Asheville for a number of reasons, but the greatest thing it taught me was how important it is to have a sense of place. Folks who are from the Appalachian mountains deeply identify with the history, plants, animals, and landscapes of that region. It influences their music, cooking, hobbies, and self-image. More importantly, I learned that people who identify with a place tend to protect and care for it.

All of the sudden, nostalgia for my own place hit me like Category 5 hurricane winds. Every time I would visit Florida for the holidays, it was magical. I would step out of the airport and breathe in what felt like straight energy into my lungs. The mix of heat and humidity in the air was intoxicating. I craved Spanish moss, palmettos, and the green-blue gulf waters of my Tampa Bay home. So, after seven years, I ran back to Florida.

I desperately wanted to figure out how to create that sense of place for myself in Florida. So I threw myself into community gardening and helped run a local garden for two years. During that time, I also became addicted to native plants and all the amazing benefits they can bring to a landscape. I completed a Master's degree in Humane Education so that I could teach people to care for each other and the plants and animals in which we share our neighborhoods with.

This journey led me to create Dweller's Place.

Now, I’m on a mission to inspire Florida people to create authentic, Floridian places. We have amazing native plants and animals that need our help. By teaching folks about native plant species and ecological gardening practices, I aim to bring back natural Florida to our urban spaces. Even if it's just a little pocket.

Bay Area Kitchen Gardens

Campbell, CA

I studied Agronomy (Agricultural Science) and have been mainly working as a teaching assistant in the Horticulture and Plant Genetics and Breeding courses. I have been involved in different jobs, working mainly for the Government (Quarantine and Pests Surveillance Department). Also at different Universities in England always closely related to doing Crop Science Research. 

My dream, however, has always been to design and the necessity of creating beautiful things. When arriving in the USA, I started my own business designing clothes for kids and fell in love with the fabric designs and their colors.

I was working from home and was missing being in contact with people and my plants of course! Many other jobs had then passed and always had the feeling that something was missing or incomplete. So I joined College in California where I have been taking Environmental Horticulture and Design classes and am almost ready to complete my first AS Degree in the USA.

Business wise I never had a formal formation so I was feeling a bit lost and needing some guidance in order to start my own business in what I have always loved, a Landscape Design business so I could have the flexibility I needed to still have time for my family. And then, I met Nicole.

The Optimistic Gardener

I have always had an affinity with nature and have loved gardening, more flowers though than vegetables. After serving Her Majesty for 26 years in the Royal Navy, my wife and I decided to move to Nova Scotia, Canada.

When we bought our house, it came with a 1 acre plot. This allowed me to really get into creating a vegetable garden as well as being able to design my flower garden. This led to me thinking that I wanted to start a YouTube channel to talk about gardening and hopefully inspire people to get out into the garden, whether to grow fruit and veg or to design a garden space that they will want to spend time in. This led me, via Instagram, to Gardenary and the Garden Coach Society.

I hadn’t thought about Garden Coaching, but Nicole lit a fire within me and inspired me to believe that I could make my love of gardening into a sustainable business. So I started my Garden Coaching business this Spring.

 Gardens Keep Company

Niagara, ON

Niagara, Ontario is one of the greatest regions for growing a kitchen garden. It is no wonder we are surrounded by prolific fruit farms and overflowing market stands.

It can be overwhelming to choose a gardening book or a single source to learn all there is about growing for yourself, especially in a climate that has such diverse seasons.

But our goal is to remove the confusion and overwhelm, share all we know, and guide you along your own garden journey in your own kitchen garden.

A yard invites guests; gardens keep company.

Carolina Garden Coaching

I like to think the seed of my passion for growing was planted a long time ago when I was a small child.

About once a month we would go visit my mother’s father at his Charlotte, NC home where he kept a well-manicured, perfectly straight row garden in his backyard. I remember as a child I was always mesmerized by sky scraping sunflowers and larger than life cabbage heads.

Everything just seemed so enchanting and we often played in the garden as if we were in a real-life fairytale. But the one thing that astonished me the most was the fact that my grandfather, whom I adore so much, could not read but was capable of creating and growing such a bounty of food all with his own bare hands and learned know-how.

Of course, I realize now as an adult that being able to read has nothing to do with being able to grow, but as a young child it was something that really baffled me. To the point that I really did think he had magical powers and that I wanted to grow up and be magical just like him by growing beautiful tasty food in my yard.