Home Gardening: A Hobby That Can Fetch Your Money
As the saying goes: “If you’re good at something, don’t do it for free”. If you have a passion for gardening, and you’re damn good at it, then share it with others (and turn a profit here and there). Here we will give you some options on what you can do to branch out your hobby and make some money while you’re enjoying the work.
Sell What’s Left of Your Batch
A great way of starting and testing the waters is by simply selling off your extra produce. See if there are people interested in the vegetables that you offer. If so, then you can start planning ahead and even taking orders.
Sell Plants
If you have an extra harvest, then sell it! You can pot up shrubs, lilies, and house plants to sell. Every little extra effort you make increases the price that you can ask for. Keep in mind that depending on where you are from, you could need a license to start selling.
Sell Seeds
If you want to make a quick dollar, sell your extra seeds, just put them into a pack and sell them at the market.
Sell Herbs
Mint, basil, rosemary, and thyme are all fantastic options that you can use to sell. Herbs are a great way of reaching culinary customers, which can also bring in potential branching customers in the future. If your herbs were good, why not check out your garlic as well?
Make Your Tea Blends
If you want to be on the more creative side, tea blends are easy to make, and the options are as limited as your creativity.
Growing Herbs in a Greenhouse
Getting a mini greenhouse is relatively inexpensive, and because of this, it is a simple business to get into, provided you have the willpower to do so. You can build one yourself for less than $100! As long as you maintain discipline and stick to the schedule of watering them (most of the time) once a day, you are bound to have a successful harvest. Keep in mind that you need to pay attention that your plants receive the necessary nutrients to thrive. Liquid seaweed or fish emulsion as foliar spray are both perfect options for this. It takes an hour or so to commit every day to do this.
Beekeeping
Beekeeping is a fun hobby that can make a nice profit. Bees don’t fall under the category of hard-to-manage, and you can get around 40 lbs of honey from one hive. Keep in mind that you have to notify your neighbours before actually doing it.
Sell at the Market
After you finish harvesting, get a stall, and start selling! This one does require significantly more effort and time than the other options, but it also propels you forward. That is a better way of making income when you don’t have an established brand or name so that you can sell most of your products alone.
Sell Freshly Cut Flowers
Freshly cut flowers market well and have a wide customer base. Homegrown flowers are a great way of making extra income, just put them in bouquets and sell them to near farmers markets, restaurants, grocery stores, and even florists.
Advertise Your Vegetables
Take advantage of living in the digital age, marketing has become key for a prosperous product. Make ads on social media about what you offer. You can use Facebook & Instagram. However, Facebook does have an older demographic, so it might be better to prioritize that one. If you feel like you have enough of an established base, make your website (provided you know how to do it), although that’s more for style points than anything else.
Take Orders on What to Plant
That is where you start being a serious planner. Take orders from customers in advance (preferably about a year in advance) for what plants/food you offer to grow. People are usually indecisive, so if they come to your stall or contact you and, you don’t have what they want, they will most likely leave. This way, you assure that you will have the products that the customers want in advance.
Community Garden
Community gardens can be used for several goals, you can use them to help the people in need, or you can use them for profit. Charging membership in the garden is a viable option provided the land is in good shape. As the host, you are allowed to get some profit out of it for making it a community space. To be more efficient, you can even get a smart farm, to deliver a higher output of plants.
Grow the Most Profitable Plants
If you are in it for the profit and don’t care about what you want to grow, go for the most valued ones.
• Exotic mushrooms are a stable and viable option that go for a higher price than most other vegetables, especially shiitake, and oyster mushrooms.
• Garlic is an easy plant to grow as it’s quite versatile. Even though it doesn’t go for a large price, it is bought very often, which results in easy and fast sales.
Author bio:
Alison Pearson is an interior design student. She is a writer and designer, and her ultimate passion is art and gardening. She is also a bibliophile and her favourite book is “The Sound and the Fury” by William Faulkner. Follow her on Twitter.
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