By Widget Finn (Telegraph.co.uk)

The cut flower trade once flourishing in Cornwall is now a thing of the past, but Michael Kitchen dreams that it will be replaced by horticultural enterprises which are organic, ethical and sustainable - like his own Rocket Gardens.

Cornish born and bred, he grew up working on the family farm. After university he carried out deep water surveys in distant parts of the world for four years, before returning home to Cornwall.

He said: "I wanted to run a business from home which would tick all the right boxes - something environmentally friendly which would involve growing and farming with a twist."

He took time out to be with his children and grow his own vegetables. "I realised how time-consuming it is to be self-sufficient, and decided on a business which would make it simple for even the most inexperienced gardener to grow organic food. I hit on the concept of selling boxes of organic herb and vegetable plants."

Since the death of the flower industry, land and greenhouses are cheap in Cornwall, so Kitchen was able to rent premises, keeping his initial outlay to a minimum.

Rocket Gardens was set up 18 months ago, and the timing was fortunate with an expanding target demographic.

"We've hit the market when there is a massive move towards sustainability and eco-friendly products," he said.

However, a major headache for anyone involved in horticulture is estimating how much stock will be needed months ahead, particularly in the early stages of the business. Kitchen quickly found an outlet for surplus stock.

"We grew the plants on to maturity and supplied local high-quality restaurants including Rick Stein's and Jamie Oliver's establishments. We also donated excess vegetable boxes to schools which has opened up another market resulting in our very successful school programme. Children love growing plants, then their parents get hooked."

Rocket Gardens now has a database of 4,000 schools, and Kitchen sees it as a major area for expansion, highlighted by the fact he is now charging schools £49 for a garden package.

Within six months of starting up, Kitchen was bringing in part-time workers - "local people who enjoy working with us and understand our concept". Specialist skills including website design and computer programming is outsourced, again to local people.