Five-year-old boy starts successful plant stall with seeds he grew all by himself

A budding entrepreneur has started his own successful stall selling leftover seedlings from his garden - at just five-years-old.

George Stafford has been gardening with his mum Nicole, 37, since he was just one-year-old when the coronavirus lockdown inspired them to "grow what they eat".

The youngster's passion for gardening has only increased year on year and now George, from St Osyth, Essex, has decided to sell his leftover seedlings and plants.

Inspired by the popular cartoon Bluey, George sold out of all his stock at the stall he manned all by himself including cucumbers, lettuce and broccoli.

He made a grand total of £41 by selling the seedlings for prices set between 50p and £1 last weekend (April 13).

Mum Nicole, a jewellery maker, said: "It is lovely for a five-year-old to be excited about plants and getting dirty.

"I no longer have a kitchen - it has become a greenhouse.

"George knows exactly what he's doing. He takes himself off in the morning and waters everything, and he can't wait to come home from school and check the seeds.

"He does it all by putting the soil in pots, making a hole for the seeds with a pencil, and then covering the seeds over. He cuts the fruit when its ready.

"Most children these days like sitting on their Xboxes and iPads but now this has become a passion for me to keep him interested."

Nicole had already been helping George, who loves strawberries, by selling some of his seedlings to her friends.

However, he decided he wanted his own stall inspired by his favourite TV show.

The mum-of-three said: "He is a big fan of Bluey where they have stalls out the front of their house.

"We live on a quiet road so no one would see him if he wanted to go out there and try and sell.

"I posted on our local Facebook group and dozens of people came from the village. He sold out."

Nicole said George has managed to germinate 20 watermelon seeds as his next project and that he understands they are difficult to grow in a UK climate.

She believes his passion for gardening comes from watching the farmers near his house with sisters Megan, 14, and Phoebe, 12.

Nicole said: "We're lucky with where we live as there is farmland and fields behind us.

"George wants to be a farmer and during lockdown he would watch them carrying on working when the rest of the world wasn't.

"He loves the freedom of getting messy with a purpose and being outside in an open space."

George said that selling the plants makes him feel "good and very happy" and that "next year it's going to be bigger and better".