Just another idea, and a question. what are your other crew skills currently? I tried to switch my gatering skill at lvl 30, and had to send Mako on a S. Ton of early crud missions to lvl up so that I could even gather on Plants and Dead Droids that were my level range. Switching Gathering skills mid game, turned into a pretty big credit sink just to get so I could gather again on the Planet I was on.
my current route is this, my BH is my main char, and I just have Gather/Gather/Slicing.
when running around the planets I can get all the plants and droid parts I come across, and my Extra Comp are out making money doing slicing.
Then I will send Money and gathered materials to my Alts who do the crafting. And when I log into them to do the crafting, like Biochem, his Comp will run out and do a Dipomacy Mission. And with the funding from my main, I will just buy the couple items I can't come across if I need too.
Hope this helps. I think my next Char is just going to have Gather/Gather/Gather, just so I don't miss anything in the envoroment... but then I'll be missing out on Lockboxes and slicing missions...