How To Make Money From Gardening?

[Imperialboy]

Hey HGers
Not sure where this thread would go. So mods move it if you will like please.

I'm looking to make some extra money from the side of gardening, plants, veggies, or what not. Does anyone have any links, ideas, or threads to share about how to get started? Where to sell, how to sell, what to grow, and how to grow.

Used to grow in 06 but not only care for few tomato plants. Which one only yielded around 30 of the "bite size" tomatoes this year. No idea why so little, maybe because roots did not extend beyond the container.

BTW, have a backyard. So containers and small square foot planting works best. Also heard about Mike and his "Japanese Maples", don't know if that's a scam or what.

Thanks!
Post in thread or PM me if you have an extremely good idea or on the same boat as me.

[Canadian Farmer Guy]

I'm planning sell organic veggies to the neighbours next year. It'll be the first year I've ever had a garden of my own.
Last summer my parents put in a very successful 15' by 20' garden.
After several hours of forced labor, I found that I actually enjoyed gardening.

So I started taking notes and studying books. This fall we expanded to 30' by 60'.
I'll be using about half of it. The other half will be for feeding the family.

Just need to wait for spring.

CFG

[Gary350]

I have my eye on 6 acres with a house about 2 miles from town. I think I will need a tractor. Plan is to grow a garden as usual but plant the whole 5 acres then advertise pick your own on Craigslist.

I do not want to pick it, haul it to farmers market, spend the day hanging out there, make change, bags, boxes, tables, scales, etc, then haul it home. That is too much work. I want people to come and pick it themself.

I will also need about 200 bird houses.

Just dreaming I think this will interfer with my retirement, camping , hiking, bicycling, traveling plans.

[digitS']

This is a good place to start:

http://attra.ncat.org/

I don't know if they have anything on growing in containers or square foot gardening, tho'.

I am not trying to put square foot gardening down. It is essentially what I do in a cutting garden and in the salad garden. And, it is what I did years ago while working in a commercial greenhouse, where every square foot had to count.

And yes, I do that "pick it, haul it to farmers market, . . ." etc. And, hopefully NOT "haul it home." And yes, it is too much work. By the way, you missed all the processing that is needed before hauling it anywhere.

Steve

[webmaster]

A friend with a backyard garden sells vegetables to a few of the local high end restaurants. Local and in-season organic produce is a selling point for restaurants and highly prized, very highly prized. Sometimes referred to as the Locavore movement, this is a trend that started in Berkeley in the seventies and is now a worldwide trend.

[applestar]

CSA might relieve you of even more work.
I know of a place -- unfortunately a little too far away for me -- that does organic CSA and also offers pick your own of summer favorites like strawberries, etc. to members first, then to the public. Their membership sells out very fast and most of the time, the public offering is not made because the members are very active.

Do high-end markets like restaurants demand "perfect" designer produce?

When I was in high school, my French class went to dinner at a posh French restaurant. In the dim candle light, I noticed something moving around in my salad -- it turned out to be a ladybug. It took all my courage to call the waiter over and point it out. I didn't appreciate it then, but now I think I would be really happy to see a ladybug in my salad as evidence of organically grown greens.

[DoubleDogFarm]

Waiter, this salad tastes funny !
Then why aren't you laughing ?

Eric

[digitS']

HaHA!

I hope we are laughing with you, Applestar !

That ladybug does indicate something other than that the lettuce wasn't highly toxic. It also wasn't washed very well !

Washing lettuce for sale is very, very labor intensive! There may be someone that know a better way but for me it means repeated rinsing in clean water and looking at it closely. A salad mix, ready to eat, may be rinsed 4 times!!

You gotta wonder how . . . much . . . your . . . time . . . is . . . worth . . .

Still, lettuce and salad mixes represent just about the highest value crop you can grow. Oh yes, there are herbs and garlic but try paying your booth rent each week on those sales. It may be absolutely the most wonderful oregano but you could find yourself watching 200 people walk by before someone stops to pay you the $$ you were hoping to make on a bunch!

A small market has 500 customers on a marketday -- you've got 2 1/2 bunches sold .

Steve

[rainbowgardener]

Horticulture is not a way to make money without working! It might be away to make a marginal to decent living doing something you love to do, depending on how good you are on all the organizational/ marketing parts of running any business.

The CSA is a great idea, but it too takes a lot of work and organizing. I belong to a CSA that is just a 5 acre organic farm. MH and I have a half share of all the produce from that farm. There are 100 families with shares or half shares. Our half share is all the veggies we can eat all through the season + a bit to put buy. For that we pay $250 (total for the season) and contribute 15 hrs of labor (total for the season). The farm has a full time farmer running the place plus a part time assistant, plus a lot of volunteer help, not only everyone's labor hours in the fields, but treasurer doing all the accounting, a board of directors, membership coordinator, newsletter person, etc. This CSA is now well known and established and always has a waiting list of people hoping to become members. People come out to the farm each week to pick their shares up. But there's an incredible amount of planning to it, to be sure there will be 100 shares worth of produce every week (obviously a share is more pounds of food at peak season than at the beginning and end) and figure out what that means and how to divide everything up and how many pounds of potatoes to pick, vs leaving some in the ground for next week, etc etc.

[Susan W]

Ib, you didn't say where you are. Your climate makes a difference, also if in or near large town/city.

As mentioned, more restaurants are going farm-to-table. Going organic isn't necessary, but advertise without chemicals.
Farmers Markets (they are growing, literally). I have talked to a few growers at one market and they also peddle to restaurants.
Specialize, at least to some extent.

I am working into the herb business. Got a late and slow start this past spring, and have plans to jump start early this coming season. Ideally I will do one farmers market and pick up a couple of restaurants. Given that one cannot grow enough basil!! I am growing in containers, a few very large, and others down to 10". They can be moved as needed (sun/shade), and pampered.

Not a get-rich-quick scheme, and lots of trial and error. Fortunately I am used to living on low income, and lots of trial and error.

Hope this helps.

[Imperialboy]

So to clear things up. I have a small garden. Like patches of areas where I can plant. As well as perhaps removing and planting new things if this goes well. If not, containers and small area plants might work

All that information confused me a bit. Anyone want to add more or to simplify them all into bullet points?

I'm not looking to "get rich" or make a living off this. Just a few hundred- maybe if possible a thousand a month. Willing to work of course, but just gotta know what to plant and how to get started first.

Heard about the Japanese Maple selling.
Is it a scam or do Japanese Maples really go for that much?

[Halfway]

So to clear things up. I have a small garden. Like patches of areas where I can plant. As well as perhaps removing and planting new things if this goes well. If not, containers and small area plants might work

All that information confused me a bit. Anyone want to add more or to simplify them all into bullet points?

I'm not looking to "get rich" or make a living off this. Just a few hundred- maybe if possible a thousand a month. Willing to work of course, but just gotta know what to plant and how to get started first.

Heard about the Japanese Maple selling.
Is it a scam or do Japanese Maples really go for that much?

You have to determine the market before you can determine "what" they will go for.

1000 heads of lettuce a month wholesale is 1000 per month minus expenses. The little patch of ground may have to be examined carefully. Crunch the numbers every which way to determine if you will net a profit let alone the cost of your time.

[jal_ut]

I'm not looking to "get rich" or make a living off this. Just a few hundred- maybe if possible a thousand a month.

You want to make this much and all you have is a backyard with some raised beds?

I am sorry, you need to rethink this. It is not going to happen. Well...... maybe, if you raise pot.

[Imperialboy]

Anymore get started ideas?

[DoubleDogFarm]

I am sorry, you need to rethink this. It is not going to happen. Well...... maybe, if you raise pot.

When it becomes legal and taxed like alcohol, it won't make you rich either.

I'm going to second what jal_ut said. Have you seen my garden, jal_ut's and several others here. I have (25) 3ft wide by 20ft long raised beds. It takes a fairly large garden to gross a thousand dollars or more a month. Then you deduct, seed, soil, compost, fertilizer, gasoline, market booth rates, legal scale, licenses, boxes, totes, vegetable cleaning equipment, water, folding tables, canopy tent or picnic umbrella, paper, pencils, calculator, produce bags and all the other stuff I have forgotten.

Oh, you my want to pay someone to help. and a truck or van for delivery.

Anyway the list above is a few items you will need.

Not to discourage, just putting it into proper perspective.

Eric