A lot of people think of gardening as a hobby, but if you make it work, you can use it to make money. Have a green thumb and some free time? Here are 8 ways you can start making money from your garden:
1. Sell Fresh Produce
The most obvious way to make money gardening is by selling your extra fruits vegetables herbs, and flowers at farmers markets, through community supported agriculture (CSA) programs, or to restaurants and grocery stores. Focus on niche, heirloom, or organic varieties that fetch higher prices. You can even sell produce on eBay or Etsy!
2. Offer Landscaping Services
Many people don’t have the time, energy or knowledge to design and maintain a beautiful landscape If you have a knack for garden design and plant care, offer your landscaping services to homeowners. Services can include initial consultation, full or partial redesigns, regular garden maintenance, plant healthcare, irrigation system installation, and more.
3. Teach Gardening Workshops
Share your gardening knowledge by hosting hands-on gardening workshops. These can cover topics like vegetable gardening, flower gardening, composting, pest management, and more. Workshops are a great way to educate others while earning some extra income. Hold them in your own garden or find a community center or nursery willing to host.
4. Write a Gardening Blog
You can garden from home and make money by blogging. Share what you know about gardening by writing about do-it-yourself projects, gardening tips, product reviews, interviews, and success stories. You can make money from your blog through ads, sponsored posts, affiliate marketing, selling ebooks, and things like garden signs and t-shirts.
5. Consult Local Gardeners
Offer your gardening expertise as a consultant. Help home gardeners design, plant and maintain their gardens for a fee. Or provide consulting services to new community gardens, school gardens or urban agriculture projects. Long-term maintenance contracts provide stable income.
6. Make and Sell Crafts
Turn plants from your garden into decorative or useful items to sell. Ideas include dried flower wreaths, potpourri, soaps, herb-infused oils and vinegars, jam and preservatives, and seed paper or seed bombs. Even utilize reclaimed wood, branches, and sticks to create unique garden crafts and decor items.
7. Raise and Sell Seedlings
The seeds you collect from your own plants can be nurtured into seedlings and sold to other gardeners. Focus on popular annuals and perennials, natives, heirlooms, or unusual varieties. Market seedlings through classified ads, at farmers markets, or to local nurseries.
8. Participate in Research Studies
Gardeners are sometimes paid by universities, seed companies, and horticultural groups to take part in research studies. New plant varieties, growing methods, fertilizers, pesticides, tools, and other things may be tested and looked over as part of studies. The compensation and time commitment varies.
Gardening can certainly provide healthy food, beauty, enjoyment, and relaxation. But as you can see, if you plan ahead, it can also help you make extra money. Start small by trying just one of these money-making ideas. As you build your gardening business, then grow and try new things. You can make extra money doing something you love if you think outside the box and work hard.
Sell Your Gardening Experience, Not Plants or Produce
Way back in 2015, I decided I was going to start my own gardening business so that I could make money for my family but still have flexible hours. I didn’t know what to sell—I just knew I liked gardening—so I looked up “how to make money gardening.” The results told me I could turn my backyard into a mini garlic farm or plant nursery.
Eventually I settled on selling bags of lettuce. I was growing an abundance of organic produce in my own garden, after all. Why not sell it?.
So I registered a business and called it Rooted Garden Goods. Shortly after, however, a friend of mine said, “Nicole, I dont want to buy stuff from your garden. What I really want is to learn how to garden the way you do. ”.
A light bulb went off in my brain! I realized, Oh my gosh, that sounds so much more fun than washing lettuce. I want to teach people; I want to be an adult coach! I changed the name of my business to Rooted Garden and started advertising it as a garden consulting business. The rest is history.
If youre interested in making money as a gardener, the best product to sell is not something youve grown or harvested from your own garden. Its actually your gardening experience. You can work as a garden coach to teach others how to find success gardening. (Learn more about why people really will pay you to coach them. ).
So, how you do go about selling your experience?
Grow a Business from Your Gardening Experience
You don’t have to be a master gardener or horticulturist to teach other people about gardening. A lot of people tell me, “I’d love to build a garden coach business like yours, but I don’t have enough experience yet.” ”.
I think a lot of us fool ourselves into thinking we need to be at a certain level before we can be a good coach or a teacher, when really, we just have to be able to take our knowledge and turn that into a system we can pass along to students and make them feel accomplished—thats what coaches do. (Learn more about the qualifications to become a garden coach.)
The first step to turning your knowledge into something you can sell to clients and students is probably not what you think. Its not going out and getting a Masters in botany. Its not buying a farm.
Its simply documenting what youre doing in your own garden.
Thats right. The one key thing you should start doing, if you have even the slightest idea of growing any kind of business from your own gardening experience, is to take photos.
Use your phone until you can get a really nice camera. I didn’t have a camera until a year and a half into starting my company, but once I got it, it made all of the difference in the world.
But how does a camera help you start your business?
5 Ways To Make Money From Your Backyard Garden
FAQ
What is the best thing to grow to make money?
Here are eight specialty crops worth growing:Bamboo. People and landscapers pay up to $150 each for bamboo plants in pots, and many growers can’t keep up with the demand. Flowers. Ginseng. Ground Covers. Herbs. Landscaping Trees and Shrubs. Mushrooms. Ornamental Grasses.
How to make a living as a gardener?
Discover some clever ways to make money as a gardener and transform your passion into a profitable venture. Offer Garden Services. Rent Out Garden Plots. Create and Sell Wreaths and Garlands. Produce and Sell Fresh Fruits and Vegetables. Run Workshops or Classes. Write a Gardening Book. Sell Plants and Flowers.
Can you make a career out of gardening?
Yes, you can earn a living as a gardener without a multi-year degree. A lot of successful gardeners and landscapers didn’t go to school. Instead, they built their careers through experience, certifications, and hands-on training. Here are some pathways to consider:
What gives the most money in Grow a garden?
Most people think that Candy Blossom is the best crop to grow in the game “Grow a Garden,” especially since it can change into high-value varieties. Other lucrative options include Moon Mango, Dragon Pepper, and Fossilight Fruit, all of which are also top-tier crops.