How to Make Money From Your Garden
What to grow and how to sell it.
If you have access to one hundred square feet of sunny garden space, you can make some extra cash selling produce you grow yourself.
It’s fun to share what you grow, and it can help pay for your gardening projects. Or go bigger and make some supplemental income.
I started selling vegetables simply because my garden was producing more than I could eat, and I’d maxed out giving veggies to my friends and family.
In my small town, everyone went to the post office, so I just shared my dilemma with the friendly Postmaster. Within a week, I had all the weekly garden box subscribers I could supply.
I moved to a bigger property and partnered with one of my sons and his family to start a full-time organic vegetable farm. Within two years, it was providing a decent living for his family and myself with just family labor.
We grew and sold just about everything imaginable, from earthworms and luffas to pickled okras and wasabi arugula. Our farm experimented with subscription veggie boxes, and we sold at large farmers’ markets as well as providing food to top chefs in Austin, Texas.
I kept careful records of what crops were profitable, and I’ll share some tips with you.
What are profitable crops to grow?
My two-step process will help you figure out the most profitable crops for your market, climate, ability, and garden.
Even if you plan to stay small, think about it as a business. Every business requires two essential things; product or service and customers.
Who are your potential customers, and where will you find them?
What do they want, and can I provide it?
If your potential customers are your friends and neighbors, what vegetables do they like? How often and how much would they eat?
If you are thinking of connecting with local chefs, can you grow enough of a crop they want? Would you be better off focusing on a hard-to-grow specialty crop or perhaps herbs that can be grown in a small space?
Which crops have you successfully grown in your garden?
Finding the sweet spot is the key.
What you are looking for are crops that hit the bullseye of high value for the investment of time and space.
After I’d been growing for market for a couple of years, I came up with a grading system for each crop- simple A, B, or C.
Each plant received a grade in these categories:
Value per square foot of garden space over a season (4 months).
Ease of growing: no special care, overwhelming disease or pest problems, and not too fussy about the weather.
The time required to harvest and prepare for the market.
Customer demand: If nobody wants my 500 loofas, it doesn’t matter how easy they were to grow.
Let’s look at some examples.
You can use this tool to help you estimate yields.
One cabbage will be grown in six square feet and weigh 3 pounds. Valued at $2.00/pound (retail), this is worth $6.00 or $1.00/square foot.
Six square feet of lettuce mix, harvested repeatedly, will produce 1 pound per harvest for a total of 8 pounds of salad mix sold at $2.00/pound or $16.00 or $2.66/square foot.
Radishes can be grown closely together and only take 30 days to mature. In six square feet, in three plantings, will produce 36 bunches at $2.00 each for $72.00 or $12.00/square foot.
Wasabi arugula will yield about five pounds over three or four months in this space. It sells for $10.00/pound. $50.00 equals $8.30/square foot.
Two zucchini plants can be grown in this area, and you probably know how prolific they are. I estimate three pounds per plant for at least four weeks. So, twelve pounds each equals 24 pounds at $2.00/pound; $48.00 comes out to $8.00/square foot.
So the winners are
For value produced:
Cabbage gets a grade of ‘C’ for $1.00 square foot
Lettuce mix= a grade of ‘B’ for $2.66/ square foot
Radishes=a grade of ‘A’ for $12.00/ square foot
Wasabi arugula= a grade of ‘A’/$8.30 square foot
Zucchini= a grade of ‘A’/$8.00 square foot
Ease of growing and time to harvest:
Cabbage ‘A’ & ‘A’
Lettuce mix ‘A’ & ‘C’
Radishes’ A’ & ‘A’
Wasabi arugula ‘C’ & ‘C’
Zucchini ‘B’ & ‘A’
These grades are subjective and based on my experience. It helps me compare one crop with another. If a gardener had an extra half acre, cabbage can be a good crop as it doesn’t require a lot of care while growing and is easy to harvest. However, for a small gardener, it would be less profitable, even though fresh cabbage is surprisingly delicious.
Customer demand:
Is highly dependent on your customer base. For our steady customers, lettuce and Wasabi arugula were in high demand and short supply.
During the season, there can be too much zucchini, and people don’t grab up the radishes. I like cabbage because it stores for weeks and the average head sells for $6.00.
These ideas give you a place to start.
Do some calculations and figure out which crops might be worth growing. One of the easiest ways to get started is just letting some friends and neighbors know what you have each week via email or text.
My projected prices are based on Farmers Market prices for organic veggies here in Austin, Texas. Check out prices where you live for comparison. When I visit markets in the mid-West, prices are much lower and in Alaska, much higher.
My dream would be for each gardener to grow fresh vegetables for themselves and a couple of additional families. In many parts of the world, this is entirely possible and is the surest way to keep our food production local.
So, have fun and get growing!