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This is not really something I should be giving advice on, because my garden attempt has been quite the disaster so far. I still keep hope and enjoy the idea of some day, having some fresh, organic, delicious fruits and vegetables growing in the backyard. So far, it is a bit of basil and a handful of mini potatoes. Far from the gigantic harvest I was hoping for. Anyway, if you are more gifted than me, you can take advantage of your green thumb and make money with your garden.
Sell your crop
If you have a garden, you know that all the vegetables of a kind will be ready to harvest roughly at the same date, unless you did a progressive planting from seeds. So on August 15th, here you are with 100lb of tomatoes. Enough for a year. Rather than let it rot, put a sign by the side of the road, or even a little stand, and offer your tomatoes for sale. Don’t forget to mention if they are organic. Putting the price on the sign can bring more people and help you avoid time wasters who will say it is too expensive.
For delicate fruits like berries, package them in small containers that you have already weighted to save time. You can also get cardboard cases from the market to put your bigger fruits like apples and peaches. Make bulk bags, 10 pears for $2, a tray of melons for $10…
Make a big discount on very ripe produce, better get something out of it than nothing. My grandma often buys heavily discounted fruits to make jams, a few are bad but she does save a lot. You will get people interested in them for the right price.
Be realistic with the quantity you think you will consume yourself, freeze or can. Overestimate, and you are missing out on income. Underestimate, and you will have to buy more produce at the market for a premium, after selling yours cheaply.
Sell your plants
There is a neighbor who always has a few dozen pots in front of his house with growing plants and flowers. People stop once in a while to buy some. It is quite an informal business, if you are gifted with transplants and know how to reproduce your species, convert your passion for gardening into a source of income! If you have many plants in your nursery, you could rent a spot from the council on market day and sell your flowers and plants there too.
Sell canned goods
One starts to can fresh vegetables to consume them over winter. But if you still have too much produce, you can sell a few jars to your neighbors and community. You will need to be pretty good at it, and try a few times before you put your stock on the market. A friend makes canned tomato sauce, but says about 1 in 10 jars goes bad earlier than it should. You don’t want your products to have a bad reputation from year one.
Buy the jars in bulk, or save glass jars for marmalades during the year, and price according to the weight.
Sell preserves
If you make jams and jellies, why not sell a few as well? The school fair, the town’s event, the local delicatessen are great places to start and put your products.
You can try to open an online shop, that could get you a better price in states with more demand for your products. If everyone has blueberries in a 100 mile radius, targeting out of state customers where blueberries are scarce is a smart move. But don’t forget to include in your price the shipping fees and a fee for the time you’ll spend going to the post office.
Swap with neighbors
Not technically a way to make money, but if you have enough tomatoes to feed four families, go around and ask your neighbors if they have a surplus in one of their harvests. Tomatoes for corn, beans for carrots, soon you will have a diversified stock of fruits and vegetables.
This works especially if you have an early or a late harvest, and your neighbors don’t have that variety yet. It can help you save a lot of money on your grocery bill.
Barter
You could also exchange your crop for something you need. I talked about how BF is the king of barter over at Budgets Are Sexy, and if we had food in abundance, I am pretty sure he would have swapped it for something else.
Considering the price of produce those days, your strawberries can get you a few hours of yard work, your plumbing fixed or your kids carpooled from school. I would trade one of my chickens for its price in corn, since the hens eat corn.
Even if you don’t expect much in return when you bring a basket to a neighbor, he will owe you one, and you should be able to cash in the favor later.
Save on gifts
Usually, when I want to say thanks to someone, I give them something I bought, a bottle of wine, a box of chocolates… and it isn’t cheap. Put a nice bow over your can of homemade gooseberry jelly, and you have a thoughtful gift that cost you pennies but doesn’t look cheap.
Same thing for Christmas, a food basket with your homegrown products is a fantastic gift because it is personal, and people will eat it, so you aren’t cluttering their house with stuff they don’t need.
The church is asking for food donations? give part of your crop or your jars, instead of money or store bought products.
You can save hundreds per year by keeping a bit of your jars for gifting.
Have you made money with your garden? Would you share your fabulous marmalade recipe with a beginner?
This post was featured on the Yazekie Carnival, Money Q and A, Lifestyle Carnival, Canadian Budget Binder, Money Bulldog, Cash Funny, thank you!
Of all the ways I don’t think I will be making money I think I will add this one. Now my grandmother on the other hand had some of the best plants/crops I have ever seen. She doesn’t plant much anymore though. Just goes to show there are really a lot of ways to make money.
Yes, enough to make a whole website about it 🙂
I look at a vegetable garden as more a money-saver than a money-maker, but I definitely can see how it can become a money-maker for some people. I think trading with neighbors is probably the easiest way to “make” money because you might be able to avoid buying vegetables from the store altogether.
DC @ Young Adult Money recently posted…I’m Pretty Sure Money Can Buy You Happiness
Yes, if you can trade you’re golden. Hopefully you are in a region were a diverse crop is planted, if everyone has corn it makes things more difficult.
Lots of interesting ideas here. I’ve never tried to keep a garden, but it’s something I’d be interested in when we get our own place. I’ve butchered anything I actually have tried to grow or even just maintain in the past, but I’m guessing there are easy ways to start small and build your way up.
Matt Becker recently posted…What Determines Your Investment Performance?
I am really bad too, but there are really easy crops, basil, spinach, oregano have survived my poor skills. Mint grows like weed too.
I want a garden so bad…but not at this house. It just wouldn’t work. If we move in the next few years, we’re definitely looking for a place that’s garden friendly!
Holly@ClubThrifty recently posted…Being a Landlord: It’s Not All Puppies and Cupcakes
I suck at it but love the idea of just eating from my garden!
I’m a huge fan of the gifting part. I’ve had a couple of friends give me homemade jams for presents and I definitely prefer that over filling my house with junk. Plus, I always give back the jars they used so they can save on continuing their delicious gift making. 🙂
At my dad’s old house, they definitely had the yard to garden as there was tons of sun and open space so you could always shade parts if necessary. It is hard to get the right space to do so if you’re surrounded by tall trees and/or buildings.
Tara @ Streets Ahead Living recently posted…What are you willing to sacrifice for your goals?
if you have little space you can still grow herbs, tomatoes do well on a balcony… there are options. And yes gifts are awesome and so cheap.
A few years ago, I never would’ve been interested in gardening. That’s changed recently and, although I don’t have any place to grow one, it appeals to me more now. For one, it helps with a healthy diet. Two, it saves money overall. Three, it must be satisfying to grow the produce (kind of like watching an investment grow!). I’m not sure I’d take the time to make money off gardening, but it’s interesting to know the options are out there.
Mr. Utopia @ Personal Finance Utopia recently posted…Build Your Confidence Instantly Using This Secret
I had that idea too, the satisfaction of watching the fruit of your hard work, but am reaaaally bad at it haha hope you will be better!
I think I’d have to pay someone to eat what I grow! LOL! Actually next year I’m thinking of paying someone to help me with my garden to set up for for success. 🙂
Budget and the Beach recently posted…Gimme a Break!
ooh another job idea! That sounds like a nice plan, so then year after year you are already set.
I love gardening, but I’m not very good at it yet. Also, we don’t really have enough room to grow everything we would like. I’d totally be up for doing some of the things listed above when I finally get a big enough garden and learn a bit more about gardening. I think it can be a fun and semi-productive side income opportunity.
Jake @ Common Cents Wealth recently posted…How to Save Money on Groceries
If you are not really good at it, don’t think side income, after a few months of doing it I got a handful of potatoes, a few herbs and that’s about it. Surely not the cost of my time or even the seeds for that matter!
Since I live in an apartment this isn’t really possible right now, but I don’t have any sort of green thumb so I’m not sure how my attempts would turn out. My grandma grows little tomatoes all summer – she gets so excited when they’re almost ready to eat. I remember my aunt growing basil at our old house as it always smelled fresh in the area it was growing. It is an idea I really like, since being able to sustain a food source on your own is amazing. I don’t think I live in the right type of community for a share type of thing, either. Neighbors rarely speak to each other. I really hope we can move somewhere with a tighter knit community as it can be so beneficial to be able to trade and barter for goods and services.
E.M. recently posted…Save More, Spend Less, or Earn More, Spend More?
We have basil and it is really easy to grow, I love the smell and it is supposed to repel mosquitoes as well.
A garden is a great way to make some extra cash if you have an abundance of fruits and veg or even flowers. We give away our crab apples for free every year to anyone who will use them so they don’t waste. My wife and I make crab apple spice jam with them every other year but there’s still loads to give away. We could ask for money but there are so many and for us it’s more important for them to find a home than to make money. When we removed a boat load of flowers out front we sold the bulbs and made a nice profit considering some people would just toss them in the bin.
canadianbudgetbinder recently posted…You’re cheap if you decorate rooms frugally
selling bulbs that’s interesting, it would not have occurred to me, so thank you for the idea. It is kind of you to give away your apples, I have seen people set up a small table in front of their house to offer their crop for sale but never giving away.
I wish I had a large garden so I can use these tips! I have very small garden on my patio and its grows enough tomatoes, cilantro, and peppers too cook with.
MonicaOnMoney recently posted…How To Be Frugal When You’re Not
that’s already great, I have the space but no green thumb haha so I get even less!
Back in my earlier life I used to make small crafts and sell them at farmers markets. Spaces at the market were $40 and I could easily pull in +$200 a day while making them at the same time. If I was there every week this would surely increase as I started to get regular customers. There were lots of people there selling vegetables or plants who were not commercial farmers, they were just locals with big gardens or a small greenhouse to grow things.
GamingYourFinances recently posted…How To Pay Off The Mortgage Early?
Impressive, that is a great payday to spend the day at a market.
They say a penny saved is a penny earned, and gardens can save a lot of money. Growing up we had a ton of fruit trees in our yard, and the neighbors had a huge veggie garden; we would swap half for half so that we had a wide variety.
Daisy @ Prairie Eco Thrifter recently posted…Make Life Better For Yourself And Just Breathe!
I love bartering as a way to make do with what you have, get more and avoid waste.
Unfortunately this is probably not an option for me – I absolutely struggle to keep my garden under control. Everything I plant dies, and everything I want dead (weeds) thrive. I have had a little bit of success with herbs (mainly parsley, oregano and basil) though which has saved a few dollars off of the grocery bill!
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haha me too, mint is really easy too, and so is potato, you just put a potato in the ground and wait.
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