For those of us with a green thumb, it can be a lot of fun to grow and eat our own garden veggies, with friends and neighbors eagerly anticipating our extras at harvest time.
But have you ever thought about your home garden from a business perspective?
There are, in fact, many ways you could be making money with your home garden. Aside from setting up a table at the farmer's market, there are numerous ways to cash in on your home grown crops without breaking the bank to get started.
So get your gloves on and your spades in hand, because we've gathered up our favorite ways to make money from a home garden.
Have a fresh salad anytime with these little homegrown microgreens - and be sure to prep some to sell others, too!
Just grab some seeds and start them up indoors with a few cups of soil and a plastic salad mix container. Up to 40 times as nutrient dense as regular greens, these tasty tantalizers are ready for your plate as quickly as 2 weeks after planting.
It's very easy to start up your own microgreens business, complete with grow lights, metal shelving, and cute little to-go containers. And it's not only possible to sell them to folks at a roadside stand, but you can ask around to see if catering companies, restaurants, markets, or chefs need any, too. (It's advised that you check into licensing laws in your state before officially selling vegetables.)
You can sell healthy young plants for others to grow, or gather seeds from your best plants and sell those. Some enjoy making little garden starter packets (aggressively called "seed bombs" at times) of a few items that grow well or look pretty together. Again, before selling plants, be sure to check state licensing laws.
On the advice of Seed Savers Exchange's John Torgrimson and Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds' Consultant Shannon McCabe, saving seeds means preserving the genetic diversity of our part of the world - a practice handed down among generational seed savers long before the creation of the renowned Svalbard Doomsday Seed Vault.
And being part of a seed swap or neighborhood seed exchange is not only fun and interesting, but ensures our independence from a shrinking variety of commercially available seeds. You can sell them for a small fee if you like, or just enjoy being in possession of a unique variety of seeds.
A variety of herbs are great for cooking, while others are believed to have medicinal value. Check with area naturopaths and apothecaries to see if there's any interest in buying your herbs at a discount.
If you know how to make tinctures, salves, infusions, and extracts, you've got an even better chance of catching their eye. You could also combine and sell dried herb mixes or homemade teas.
If your garden is spacious and attractive enough, you may want to consider renting it out for events like weddings, farm-to-table dinners, yoga classes, or parties (remember to check your insurance before bringing strangers onto your property though, especially if liquor will be served).
If it's spacious but slightly less attractive, you could still rent it out as allotments for those in your community who wish to garden but don't have the space.
Upgrade your camera and take photos of your blooming beauties to see if you can sell them to gardening or photo websites. Some spots pay up to $100 per image!
If you've got an especially pretty spot, why not share it with others - or rent it out for photography sessions to remember special days? Whether it's for weddings, class or senior photos, family pictures, or otherwise, you could always loan your space out or invite folks in and take their pics yourself!
If you've got a large flower garden, you could invite people in to pick their own bouquet - or pre-assemble some for those with less time on their hands. Be sure to dry the withering ones out properly to make lovely potpourri or other crafts.
If you can make homemade soaps and lotions, why not try selling some? Or maybe a nice body scrub, bubble bath, or bath bomb? Etsy is full of ideas like this with people making money at it!
Vegetable gardens, but apple trees, plum trees, blackberry bushes, lilac trees, and even some flowers are great starter plants for jellies, preserves, and syrups. And there can be good money in this; just check prices on these at your local market. The good stuff can range from $4 to $10 per jar!
Along with the above items, you can also bake fruits and veggies into other foods - most notably, pies. Sell your fruit pies and other baked goodies at the farmer's market for a range of prices.
Cut out the chemicals of store-bought dried fruits/veggies and make your own at home. You'll save a buck or two making your own fruit leather at home, too. Slice it into strips for the family, or sell some to the neighborhood kids and parents.
Show off the secret to your eye-popping garden - nutrient-rich, homemade, organic compost. If you know how to make your own compost, why not try giving lessons to others or selling it to them? It can't hurt to spread the word and show others how to make waste-saving and useful compost.
When they come to pick their fruits and veggies, let them linger for a class in your kitchen.
If you've got enough space (or you can come up with it), why not show the less-creative how to make colorful plates of vegetarian fare, tasty pies, a healthy batch of elderberry syrup, pretty gift baskets, fragrant decorative wreaths, or lovely jars of homemade jam, etc.? Do it with a holiday in mind or just for fun anytime.
Some of us find peace among the trees and plants - why not branch out and invite in those who could really put your space to the greatest use and turn your garden (or part of it) into a meditation space or zen garden?
These veterans, for example, enjoy the rehabilitative traits of the VA's Healing Garden, and these folks have great ideas for a restorative garden space as well. Add some benches, optimally placed decorative rocks, flowers, and water ponds or fountains for the highest levels of serenity.
While you may not want to charge for this space, you could always put a donation box out with a suggested donation amount on it for those who can afford to pay.
Known for their nutritious content, restorative properties, and meaty flavor, mushrooms are an across-the-board favorite among both vegetarians and omnivores. Whether you prefer reishi, shiitake, oyster mushrooms, or otherwise, they can be fun to grow and harvest - and most certainly to eat.
If you're a great gardener, why not share your knowledge with others? You could start a blog featuring pics of your best ever plants and how you grew them, have a gardener's advice column with Q & A, and follow-up service where you visit guests' gardens and advise, or even a team of garden-starters who can help arrange, dig, and plant with newbies for a fee.
Blackthorne Farm of central Maine has several acres, a green thumb, a love of antiques, and an eye for vintage collectibles! With side skills of salve-making, flower arranging, and herb drying, you never know what you'll find among their unique and stunning wares.
Everybody loves fresh garlic, at least a pinch of it, in a fragrant batch of homemade spaghetti sauce, crushed into a bowl of hummus, or stirred into a pot of immunity-boosting garlic soup.
And they're likely to buy more than one head of garlic if you sell it in a pretty braid - try it with onions too - and keep in mind some folks have even sold gourmet garlic for up to $15 per pound.
Sell it minced in a jar, whipped into homemade garlic butter, spread onto pre-sliced garlic loaves to bake when they get home (oh, the house will smell good!), or separated into cloves for easy planting.
The prettiest note cards are homemade, and these are often found on display for weeks after they're received! If you've got the right kind of florals and herbals in your garden, get to flattening them out and creating your own unique greeting card designs. Don't be afraid to make them in the spring, fall, and summer, using whatever is blooming or particularly colorful at the time.
If you've got a friend or know of a business needing to test the efficacy of a newly concocted fertilizer or pesticide blend, you can allow them to use your garden as their "guinea pig" to see how it works - for a fee.
They'll pay you and tell you exactly how much to use, then you do it and keep the plants lovely enough for pictures and they'll come by for a photo shoot at the end. Easy money, and you will probably get to keep the produce.
Easy to grow and sold for up to $15 per painted final product, gourds are a unique way to use that home garden. Some growers sell their decorated gourds at gift shops, farmer's markets, on consignment, as well as straight to individuals. And a little goes a long way - a packet of 50 seeds can lead to over 1,000 gourds.
Take a cue from Denver's Garden Camps or Chicago's Botanic Gardens and engage your region's kiddos in a fun summer learning experience! You could offer different skill-building activities each day and kids could sign up by the week or the day - whatever works for you.
Some ideas we've seen include how to plant a butterfly or pollinator garden (HINT: these attracted hummingbirds on our balcony), how to garden in an apartment, how to compost with worms, planting different plants in different geographies, etc. The best part: letting the kids take home some of the garden's abundance to share with their families when it's ready!
It's easier than you might think to grow grains in your own backyard. Wheat, millet, spelt, rye, barley, and buckwheat - just to name a few - can all be grown in the average size backyard, depending upon the climate of your region. Once you've harvested the grain, mill it in a heavy duty countertop mill or blender and scoop it into packages to sell. If you aren't sure where to get kitchen quality grain seed, one recommended seller can be found here.
While this isn't a thoroughly exhaustive list, it should give you a pretty good idea of the enormous number of options you have in making money with your home garden.
It's easy to start experimenting with seed varieties in your neck of the woods, or at least trying some indoor gardening like microgreens.
