11+ Easy Tips How To Make Money Gardening And Turn your Garden into a Side Hustle

Ssssooo you are wondering how to make money gardening. Or if it’s even possible?

If you’ve been around for any length of time you know I am a big fan of having what you do on the farm or homestead pay for itself as much as possible.

Gardening is great for your pantry, physical and emotional health, but did you know gardening can also be great for your wallet? Yes! With a little effort, you can turn your backyard garden into a side hustle.

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Bringing extra cash into your budget can help you do a lot. (If you don’t let it burn a hole in your pocket.)

• Pay off debt
• Invest in your future
• Go on vacation
• Increase savings

Everyone knows having multiple streams of income is a smart move. Having a second or third source of income is a great way to offset your regular budget and can create a cushion without having to commit too much time and effort.

🛑Now before you start to see dollar signs🛑 I want you to start with the small goal of getting the garden to pay for itself. That’s it.

Save the receipts of anything you buy for the garden. Then total it up and let that be your income goal for your first year making extra money. Then if you feel comfortable trying for more then let that be the goal for next year.

Now, more than ever, people are aware of the health benefits of fresh, organic produce. They are looking for local ways to bring the farm to their tables and that’s great for you.

People are really getting into this whole buy local thing as well as getting fresh or even organic produce. Use this to your advantage. 

Simply increasing the volume of your plants can generate enough fresh fruits and vegetables to sell as a side hustle. Once you’ve harvested all you need for personal use, you can easily sell the excess.

This post is all about how to make money gardening and generating income from your farm.

Ways To Market Your Garden To Make Money

Like any business, people have to know you exist to buy from you. You can’t just grow extra produce and expect people to buy from you. 

You have to show them what’s going on and get them excited. Nowadays with the world, we live in that means being online in some way.

Use Social Media To Build Awareness Of Your Garden And Produce

Thanks to social media it’s very simple to highlight your gardening journey. You can use platforms like Instagram or Facebook to showcase your garden and generate interest.

The more engaging you are, the bigger and more excited your audience will be. People will be ready, willing, and able to buy products from you when you take the time to include them in the process.

You can also use platforms like YouTube to share longer videos, teach gardening tips, or creatively showcase the process.

CraigsList

Craig’s list is a great short-term strategy to get people to know what you have for sale. People go to Craigs List intending to buy things. Which makes it a great place to start sharing what you have for sale. Even if its just a little bit. 

Facebook Marketplace

This is starting to be the new craigslist. While it’s only a few years old it’s catching on quickly. It’s very easy to list something and people can message you directly on the platform so you don’t have to give your email or phone number if you don’t want to.

Etsy

Etsy is a place where people go to find root starts or clippings of new plants. Whether it’s indoor plants or unique outdoor shrubs you can’t find at your local garden center. 

It’s also a great place to sell items you make from your garden plants. Things like homemade tea blends, lip balms, herb-infused vinegar or oils, extra seeds, medicinal herbs, and beauty products.

Join a co-op

Some areas have cooperatives where people can share their abundance of food. This is an excellent way to make your excess bounty available and barter for items and goods your family can use.

Participate In A Farmers Market

Local farmer’s markets are making their presence everywhere. Weekly markets are sprouting up in communities where you can easily pop up a table and offer your fresh produce.

Build A Roadside Stand

If you’ve got the space, consider building a small roadside stand to offer your fresh food. Think of it as a modern-day lemonade stand but for you to make money from gardening.

Now as a word of warning this will work best if you are on a road that has people driving from a city. Why? Because everyone and their brother has a garden that lives in the country has a garden. People who can’t or don’t have their own garden space will pay much more for your garden crops.

If you are trying to sell to people who already are growing what they want… well, you likely won’t be able to give it away.

What To Sell To Make Money

The options are endless as far as what you could sell to make money. Before you jump headfirst into creating products to sell. Make sure you know what you are doing before you just cut up some plants and sell them on Etsy.

Selling Cuttings

Selling plant cuttings is much easier than saving seeds. It’s also a great way to make an income from your already established plants. Most cuttings are only a few inches long so if you package them well shipping shouldn’t be too difficult. 

Things like apple trees, grapes, and woody herbs need to be tried back every year anyway. So why not make some extra cash for what you are going to cut off your plants.

Plants that are good for Cuttings

• Butterfly Bush
• Chrysanthemum
• Hydrangea
• Rose
• Honeysuckle
• Azaleas
• Gardenia
• Dahlias
• Boxwood
• Sage
• Lavender
• Geraniums
• Rosemary
• Philodendron
• Jade
• Begonia
• African Violet
• Mint
• Comfrey
• Oregano
• Thyme

Make sure to learn a little about propagation before you plant your garden for your own cutting beds. Being able to educate your customers will help them feel confident in buying from you and you will likely get repeat customers.

Not everyone has a green thumb or gardening skill.

Selling Spring Seedlings

Selling seedlings is the most beginner-friendly and probably the easiest to sell. Because if someone is not an avid gardener they likely don’t have a tone of confidence in their skills. 

By establishing cuttings or seedlings you will be able to more than double the price. A seed packet is often less than $2 for hundreds of seeds. You can start those seeds and sell them from $3-$5 a piece. The longer you grow them out the more you can get for them.

Even country people will pay for these. The reason is you are putting the time and effort into starting the plants so they don’t have to. It can be tricky business and fragile plants can be easily lost if you don’t pay close attention to them.

You will need a greenhouse type of environment to be able to produce seedlings early enough in the year to make it worth your time. 

Whatever you decide to grow make sure to see what your local stores are selling. Places like Lowes, Homedepot, and local feed stores sell herbs and veggies. Pay attention to how quickly they sell. 

Are there plants that you don’t see there that you could offer for sale? 

High Dollar Specialty Crops

You’re never going to compete with the 100 acres organic CSA down the road on most generic crops, but those big operations cant grow everything. They can grow a lot of the staples most families use every day, but backyard gardeners can grow small amounts of truly specialty crops that demand high prices. Here are a few good options:

Husk Cherries – Also known as ground cherries, these plants produce huge crops of sweet pineapple/strawberry flavored fruit. They grow on plants similar to tomatoes, and each bright orange fruit is wrapped in a papery husk. Just one taste and you’ll want more.

Cucamelons – Also known as mouse melons, these tiny little grape-sized cucumbers taste like a cross between a cucumber and lime. They’re really wonderful fresh out of hand, and they make great pickles or mixed drinks. The cuteness factor means that these sell for about $5 per half -pint.

Source: practicalselfreliance.com

Start a Backyard Nursery

If you choose the right plants you could do quite well. You need space for the slower-growing plants but what if you started to put together pots that are ready for someone’s front porch? People who want flowers for the outside of their homes will pay a HUGE amount if the plants are full and looking beautiful.

Your busiest season will likely be April through June so you would have a nice portion of the summer off.

Now there is one drawback to this type of product is they are often designed with annuals. So you do have to figure out what to do with the plants you don’t sell. 

If you want to add some long gravity to your greenhouse you could add some perennials if you have the space. This way if they don’t sell you can just put them away and let them go dormant for next year.

Apple Picking And Fall Vibes

Fall, oh fall. People love to go pick their own apples and create an event out of it. If you live close to a city you are golden. People will pay a premium price to dress up in a fall outfit, to come and pick apples, get a cup of hot cider, and some form of fall baked good.

Apples sell at $3-$4 a pound in the grocery store. Depending on the type of apple that is only 2-3 apples. 

You can also do things like turning the apples into cider and selling that. Then take the crushed apples and add them to a baked good recipe. 

Offer Shoppers A DIY Experience

If you’ve got the space and the interest, you can use your garden to give people a do-it-yourself experience.

Now for people like you and me who like gardening but can also look at it as a chore. We might think what kind of a nut would pay to do work… Well, you might be surprised.

From planting pumpkins for people to pick in the fall to offer a wide variety of heirloom tomatoes, people love the opportunity to get in there and source their food from the vine. Create a You-Pick Garden for some extra income in the late season.

Education

There is so much opportunity in the education space in ANY niche. From garden blogging, garden tours, garden workshops, and more there are lots of ways to educate beginner gardeners. 

Your garden could easily bring in extra income. With very little effort, you could earn money by sharing food you grew from seeds or sprouts. It’s rewarding to offer fresh, organic foods for your community and know you are making people’s lives and your wallet healthier.