Wondering if you can monetize gardening? This was my goal for many years, and here are my top gardening business ideas.
Hint: I’m currently doing all 5 of these to some degree
1. Landscape design & maintenance
Contrary to popular belief, this doesn’t require a degree in landscape architecture, or any degree at all. Check with your local extension offices, however, for certifications that could add to your credibility.
I have a degree in landscape architecture and the only thing this did for me (with regards to landscape design) was PROVE that this degree is absolutely NOT required for residential-scale horticulture and design work. Nor did the degree help in the slightest in building my landscape design skills. What I did learn was the value of AutoCAD in the landscape design process (though not necessarily required for smaller projects).
Requirements & getting started
Horticultural knowledge is a must. As mentioned, by no means does this require a degree. I got my hands dirty for the first time, with no prior experience, by starting at the bottom, working for a large landscaping company. It does help that I worked on Disney property, so detail work was a must.
It doesn’t have to be complicated. Start small, learn about all the common plants used in your local landscapes. Take a walk around the neighborhood and see which species are most common in your area. Use an identifier app like PictureThis to identify species you’re unfamiliar with.
2. Gardening gigs
When I first told a friend about this idea, she immediately shot down the idea of performing gardening work for clients. Her opinion was that they’d hire some landscaper for $10 per hour. I disagreed, and I proved myself right. I tested the market and indeed there’s demand enough that you can make a viable hourly wage doing so.
Generally people hire a landscaping company to mow and edge the lawn, and then trim their hedges in a very quick and unloving manner.
This is where the gardener comes in – we tend to hedges, flower beds and the like, with much more love and care.
You can cater to residential or commercial clients (I’ve found residential to be much more common, but then again, I haven’t done any marketing or advertising to larger-scale properties). This can be for weekly or monthly maintenance, or just seasonal cleanups of planting beds.
Where to start
I got my start on a website called meetagardener.com and I currently have as many clients as I can handle, with no other advertising whatsoever. If you want more business, options are endless (a google business profile, craigslist, yelp, etc.), but I recommend starting here.
3. Edible landscapes & market gardens
I’ve started with landscape design and gardening of all types (mostly non-edible), to learn the business and understand client needs. I’m working toward my ideal niche of designing only edible landscapes and I’m still in the learning process. Some ideas are as follows.
Design, build, maintain edible gardens
- Build or maintain edible gardens for homeowners or anyone with the desire to grow their own food but lacking the time or know-how to do it themselves.
- Edible gardens for hotels, restaurants, etc.
Grow your own market garden
- Turn your backyard into a market garden and sell your harvest
- No backyard? Grow on neighbors’ properties. Propose to maintain their edible gardens and take a portion of their crop to market
Where to start
Start by growing your own garden, even if this means a few pots in a sunny window or balcony. Get to know a few plants very well, preferably those in high demand or that easily thrive in your area. This way you can start small, making recommendations to clients and learning as you go.
4. Selling plants
Thanks to the digital nature of the world, options abound for selling plants profitably. Ideas include:
- Propagating edible plants
- Propagating plants in general
- Selling at markets, roadside, or whatever makes sense in your location
Where to sell your plants
- Online
- Etsy, Craigslist, Offerup, etc.
- Local market
- Sell homegrown seeds, seedlings and cuttings at a local farmers market
- In your own shop
- If you desire to open up a brick and mortar plant shop
- In others’ retail shops
- Vintage shops and other niche locales; you and they can share a cut of the profits
Begin with a backyard nursery
This is a great place to begin your journey of propagating and reselling plants.
Backyard doesn’t have to literally mean ‘backyard’ as you could propagate high-value indoor plants right in your kitchen. Another option is re-selling starter plants (known as liners).
In my case, I tried propagating or reselling many types of plants, and experimented with a few plant sales from my driveway (I’m lucky to live on a very busy road in an area with lots of foot traffic). From these activities I’ve discovered what’s most worthy of my time and attention from a business standpoint. Here’s what makes the most sense for me:
- Native Florida landscape plants
- Perennial food crops
- Indoor tropical houseplants
Experiment with one thing or many, and see what works for you.
5. Blogging about gardening
While I’m currently involved in all of the the above activities, I also needed something less labor-intensive that would provide passive income and allow me to focus on higher quality work, rather than higher volume of physically demanding work. Blogging is an excellent way to provide useful content that will continue to be valuable to readers and hopefully supply me with some spare change.
Start your gardening journey today, and share it on a blog!