BROADALBIN - Little did Jesse Walter know when he started a produce stand to sell the tomatoes, peppers, cucumbers and other vegetables he grew that it would blossom into a full-fledged nursery offering more than 1,200 varieties of perennials, shrubs, annuals, herbs and succulents, as well as garden design services.
Broadalbin-based Beyond Your Garden had its humble beginnings in 2008 when Walter, then fresh out of college with a nursery management degree in ornamental horticulture from the SUNY Cobleskill, took a job at a greenhouse down the road to supplement his income. Many customers asked for installation services, which Walter began providing.
The demand skyrocketed and Walter decided to add landscaping services to his own business. When he realized how much he was paying to nurseries for the plant materials he was using, he decided to grow them himself.
He began attending farmers' markets to sell excess plants.
“I found that there was a huge need for some good-quality perennials and shrubs,” he said. Walter decided to fill the gap.
“Between 2008 and 2012, we went from doing produce and landscaping and then transitioned into more growing and nursery management,” he said.
Around the time of that shift, Walter was working a second job at a Walmart distribution center. When he learned the New York State Nursery and Landscape Association was offering its exam to become a certified nursey and landscape professional (CNLP), he decided to take the test and scored well. That was a pivotal moment.
Beyond Your Garden owner, Jesse Walter, of Broadalbin arranges a tray of supertunia's in the Broadalbin greenhouse, Wednesday, April 17, 2024.
“I thought, ‘I’m doing this.’ At that point I was taking the business seriously. I knew this is what I was going to be doing. Before that it was, ‘I’m going to try this out.’ But after the certification, I’m all in.”
Walter began growing thousands of perennials and shrubs over the next nine years before he got a plant broker, Proven Winners, that encouraged him to expand his offerings to include annuals, which he has been selling for the past three years. His greenhouse is filled with hanging baskets, herbs, some vegetables and succulents.
“I’d say at this point everything but houseplants, which might change this year,” Walter said.
Beyond Your Garden owner, Jesse Walter, of Broadalbin stands next to his company's truck in Broadalbin, Wednesday, April 17, 2024.
Most of his plants arrive at his greenhouse as plugs; others he starts from seed. Larger trees come ready to sell. He and two staff members tend to thousands of plants, irrigating them with an automatic drip system so that everything is watered the same amount at the same time.
Some of the plants from Proven Winners come in biodegradable containers with exposed bottoms that are made of nutrient-infused plant material that feeds the plants as they grow.
Staff go through “pinching” the plants, a practice Walter considers important to maintaining a healthy, full plant. Pinching involves removing the end of a plant above the bulge on the stem where the leaves are, which causes the plant to branch out along the stem and become fuller and bushier.
He protects his greenhouse plants from pests by releasing “an army of bugs” — mites, wasps and beetles — that feed on them, eliminating the need for any pesticide sprays.
“Using beneficials is awesome,” Walter said.
Unfortunately this year, voles destroyed the apple trees and Japanese maples that wintered in a garage.
At Beyond Your Garden, customers won’t find discounted, withering, end-of-season perennials bound for the garbage if they go unsold. Instead, Walter plants them in the ground in containers and covers them with plastic for the winter. In April, he pulls them out of the ground, fertilizes them and gets them ready for sale. Shrubs and grasses overwinter in a second greenhouse.
After a hectic April, Walter aims to open the first week in May and operate seven days a week through Labor Day.
BEYOND VENDING
Beyond Your Garden owner, Jesse Walter, of Broadalbin stands next to his company's truck in Broadalbin, Wednesday, April 17, 2024.
With a variety of 1,200 different perennials and annuals, and roughly 60,000 plants in his inventory, Walter is able to offer customers a huge selection of options for their own gardens, which he considers an extension of the home environment.
Educating customers about the plants they are buying is one of Walter’s favorite parts of the job.
“I don’t want to just sell plants,” he said. “I want people to have success with them. That’s super important.”
His own gardens at the nursery are dynamic and provide customers with a visual of how plants will develop.
“We’re constantly trying to add new stuff here and there,” Walter said. “We love to trial plants and show people what they’re going to look like when they mature."
Walter also offers design services. While he doesn’t have the time to do it on site, he has people send him pictures and describe the location with details about size and sun, and he completes a conceptual design.
Linda Eastman, who maintains the landscaping at Kenside Park in the village of Broadalbin and at Camp Cedarbrook in the Adirondacks, as well as doing landscaping for a few clients, finds Walter’s services a big help.
“One of the things that I appreciate about Jesse the most is that I can contact him, tell him the soil that I’m using, some light that is available, the area of the garden, what I’m looking for and the budget, and say, ‘Pick it out,’ ” Eastman said. “He just picks out the neatest, greatest things, and I’m just very pleased with the quality of his plants. The size of the plants for the value that you get is just very, very good.”
SUPPORTING THE COMMUNITY
While Walter is busy running a thriving and expanding nursery, he still makes time to be involved in community projects.
“I love community involvement,” he said. He donates plants to the parks when he can and hosts tours for pre-K students from the Broadalbin-Perth Central School District.
Beyond Your Garden owner, Jesse Walter, of Broadalbin stands next to his company's truck in Broadalbin, Wednesday, April 17, 2024.
When the Broadalbin Library hosted its first garden tour last summer, Walter reached out to board member Linda LaCasse to see how he could be involved. He donated some plants for the library to place in the Italian gardens of one of the tour stops.
The garden of Walter’s mother was also a tour stop, and he provided a Beyond the Garden discount for tour takers.
“He’s very helpful for community projects and he really provides a heartfelt touch,” LaCasse said.
Beyond Your Garden is at 162 County Highway 109 in Broadalbin. For information, visit beyondyourgarden.com.
Yellow forsythia, sleds of pansies and rich, dark maroon rhododendrons welcome customers as they walk towards, Beyond Your Garden in Broadalbin, Wednesday, April 17, 2024.
Celtic Pride Siberian Cyprus shrubs are the 'go-to evergreen for deer-proof plants' available at Beyond Your Garden in Broadalbin, Wednesday, April 17, 2024.