Growing a Backyard Vegetable Garden for Profit
Wondering how you can convert some extra time and resources into some extra income but you aren’t sure how? Well, vegetable gardening is one of the most effective ways to use what you already have (a backyard) to provide something that other people need (healthy food) in order to make some extra money—a small investment and a big reward!
Even if your backyard is very small, all it really takes is about 100 square feet of space that can be used for growing vegetables. Backyard vegetable garden ideas can include a simple plot in the ground, a raised garden bed, or a combination of the two.
Growing a garden takes planting, watering, weeding, and harvesting. The whole process is pretty simple and can easily be done in your spare time. If you want to be more ambitious and grow to make money, you’ll need to spend time selling your vegetables as well.
Preparing your Backyard Vegetable Garden
Getting ready to grow vegetables takes a bit of planning, as you’ll need to some gardening tools (shovel, rake, hoe, and spade) to break up the soil and get it ready for planting.Choose a spot that gets at least 6-8 hours of sunlight every day. Adding fertilizer or other organic material, such as compost, to your soil will give it more ability to provide nutrients to your plants, helping them to grow more larger and tastier and nourishing.
Planting your Backyard Garden
When first starting out, it’s best to grow the easiest vegetables so that you have quick success. When you have your seeds and it’s time to plant, simply space your rows as guided on your seed packet, sprinkle the seeds, cover with topsoil, and water gently. After they sprout two sets of leaves, you’ll want to separate the roots and space the plants apart further in order to give them room to grow.
Tending your Vegetable as they Grow
As long as you check on your vegetables once per day, to give them appropriate water and make sure there are no pesky weeds popping up, you’ll find that tending to your garden is very easy. It’s actually quite fun to see the progress that happens each day as you get ready for your harvest.
Harvesting your Vegetable Garden
Depending on the crops you choose to grow, you’ll find that your garden is ready to harvest in as little as two weeks. It’s such an exciting moment when you can actually eat (and sell!) what you’ve grown in your own backyard. If you are planning to sell your crops, be sure to harvest at an appropriate time so that your vegetables are fresh on the day that you are selling them.
Selling your Backyard Vegetables
Selling to friends and neighbors is likely the easiest and most cost effective way to earn a profit. Some people enjoy putting up a roadside stand, others will set up at a local Farmers’ Market, and still others will do business with local chefs and restaurants. Don’t forget that all throughout your growing season you should be having conversations with everyone you see and know to let them in on the fact that you’ll be selling your vegetables very soon. You’ll likely find that you have no shortage of people who want fresh, tasty vegetables that are grown locally in your own backyard.
How Much Money Can You Make?
To make money gardening you can’t garden the same old way, If you do, here’s the mistakes you’ll make:
–your garden layout is difficult to work physically so every task becomes a back-breaking chore
–you won’t plant enough to achieve significant supplies of food
–you’ll grow inconsistently with big gaps in supply during the season
–you’ll grow a little bit of everything and end up with little to show for the effort
–you’ll grow veggies that are inexpensive to buy at the supermarket or local farmers markets
–you’ll grow veggies that tie up your garden for long periods of time between harvests
–you’ll spend money on specialized impractical tools you don’t need
–you won’t maximize harvests
–you won’t put a dollar value on what is grown, and the time and effort you spend
Even if you are starting out at the dummy level, you don’t need to grow like one. You can really make your garden pay off. By how much? Access the food calculator and find out now….
