If you are someone who likes to get your hands dirty and work with the soil you are a special person.
And if you have ever thought of taking your love of gardening and making a living from it, you are in luck because there are a lot of choices.
You don’t have to be one of those people who chokes down a 9 to 5 job if you like creating works of art from the earth.
If you like gardening there are lots of businesses you could start and many of them do not require a serious investment to get up and running.
To top it off, these businesses allow you to utilize your creativity every day you go to work.
You can do lots of things other than lawn care and landscaping if you enjoy gardening. While these two careers are able to make you money, if you truly enjoy gardening, there are countless other careers to explore.
From installing ponds to arranging wedding bouquets, there are plenty of ways to make money if you are open to trying new things, and you may be surprised at the possibilities. You may even come up with a business idea that has never been made.
If you are not sure where to start, the list below provides you with 11 businesses that most gardeners will enjoy.
1. Gardening Social Media Expert
If you have a wealth of knowledge about gardening and are eager to share it with others, why not start a blog or dedicate a YouTube channel to your passion?
The fact of the matter is you can discover followers in just about every area of expertise that you have, and yes, that includes gardening.
In fact, there are millions of people out there wanting to grow a plant, but they don’t have a green thumb. You very well could be a miracle solution to those people.
If you want to write about gardening, or record videos obsseived with lots of value, there are lots and I mean lots and lots of people willing to follow you.
2. Farmer’s Market Vendor
Whether you enjoy growing fruits, vegetables or even herbs, you’re going to find that you will be able to easily sell these to your local farmer’s markets!
You may also sell non-food items such as flowers and plants. Most of these items are not too costly to grow and you can charge a decent amount for them and you will certainly make a profit.
If you really want to, you can play around with a few other things too – such as dips and sauces made with your herbs and jellies and jams made out of the fruits you grow.
Think Outside the Box: You will even be able to easily come up with other items to sell as well (Gushing just gets you thinking). You are likely going to more than make what you would make in a week in just one weekend!
3. Custom Flower Shopkeeper
Custom flower shops require some planning time because you have to organize and determine exactly how you are going to set it up and what you are going to sell.
Be sure to know when the important holidays are so you can make plans; and you can even center the business around what you grow in the garden so you will never run out of anything.
The main part of having a flower shop is having enough inventory to meet your client’s needs, so it will be something you have to work to have and be successful with for as long as you own your shop.
4. Patio and Deck Work
If you enjoy building, you could easily build and install patios or decks for others.
While it does not involve digging in the dirt, it does involve using your hands, and people who take the time to design and embrace their decks and patios as much as their gardens in their homes will appreciate this skill.
All it really takes is a class or two, and your natural creativity, and the rest will come easy.
Just like with a landscaping services company, you will be providing a service that people who love nature outdoors will love that you are there as professional builders to help them with this sort of service.
Better yet, those kind of people share the willingness to pay handsomely for a patio or deck built and installed, simply because it is usually outside of their comfort zone to build a deck or patio themselves.
5. Landscaping Work
And while we’re on the topic of landscaping… You could be a landscaping expert if you want to give your customers lots of options to look even greater than what is currently in the yard.
You can offer both:
- Soft Landscaping– which is the planting of flowers and trees
- Hard Landscaping – which includes things such as decks and patios, outdoor barbecue areas, and so on.
Landscaping is a very profitable career to pursue, especially since most clients will have you return regularly so that you can perform maintenance to keep up the great work you did in the yard.
6. Wedding Flower Arranger
If you are a flower enthusiast rather than a plant or tree enthusiast, you may want to specialize in flower arrangements for brides-to-be.
Flowers arrangements are never “the same” for that special couple.
While working with brides-to-be can be challenging, it is also very fun, especially once you realize you are part of someone’s most important day.
It is also a wonderful experience because you get to show your talent and have it appreciated by the couple on their special day.
7. Grower of Vegetables and Herbs
If you choose to grow herbs and vegetables, you’ll have many options to sell them: private and retail, arts and crafts festivals, etc.
If you plan to sell herbs and vegetables, consider buying a greenhouse as a good investment in order to produce and sell the highest quality foods.
You could use flyers to advertise or sell them at a charity event, even donating some of the proceeds back to the charity.
You can also think of other ways, because selling herbs and vegetables is never difficult.
Take Your Time: Just put on your thinking cap, and think of ideas, and you should be able to generate one easily.
8. Grower of Flowers
Cultivating flowers is far more straightforward than you might think, considering you can either retail-or-direct sell to the customer.
You could sell flowers at flea markets and even sell flowers on the sidewalk outside of big chain businesses.
In fact, there is no shortage of places to sell your flowers, and there is likely a florist or two even that might buy the flowers you are growing if they are short on any particular flower you are selling.
Everyone loves flowers, so growing and selling flowers is one of the best business opportunities available!
When you are growing and selling flowers, you will be likely very busy on days like Valentine’s Day and Mother’s Day, but it is easy to make a great profit as well the rest of the year.
9. Pond Installer
Many people love to design beautiful ponds outside their homes, and if you know how to design and build ponds for other people, you can make quite a bit of money within this space!
Although this is not a cheap business to get into, you could get your initial investment back quickly due to how much you can make for just one job.
You will probably have to apply for a small business loan to get started, because you will need a lot of materials to build gorgeous ponds for people, but it should pay itself back in time.
You could also add waterfalls and other designs that will look amazing in people’s yards and allow them to be proud of their home or their office.
Commercial customers are also potential clients that may use ponds to spruce up their boring office spaces, so you will have all sorts of customers!
10. Garden Designer
A number of people that have the capability to design beautiful gardens work for landscapers, however, you could very easily design gardens for yourself and assist people in planning a garden that looks amazing from the start or a landscape that can grow to look amazing.
Gardens are always a custom design based on the likes and dislikes of the customer, therefore no two gardens will ever look alike.
Even better, this allows a great opportunity for you, to every time, custom design a unique garden with the client.
Given that opportunity, being creative also enables you to build an impressive portfolio so that you could be able to acquire more clients on a regular basis.
Your Takeaway: And people will pay for you to develop a garden just for them, especially if you work with a landscaper that will actually build the garden once you are done with the design.
11. Lawn Care Specialist
Naturally, being a lawn care specialist is a great job to think about if you enjoy gardening work.
These companies can be separate from a landscaping company, or they may have just lawn care or lawn maintenance services available.
With so many people who just don’t want to take care of their lawn, you’ll never be short of customers for this work.
With lawn care, you’ll do more than mow and trim lawns.
You can expect to do the following:
- pruning trees
- planting various greenery
- taking care of everything in the customer’s yard
- performing basic maintenance services throughout the year
It is a lucrative job and one you’ll enjoy if you love gardening and being outdoors a lot.
Final Thoughts
Once you practice one of the 11 business ideas suggested here, you will assuredly sharpen your gardening skills.
The additional bonus includes becoming synonymous with an expert in a specialty.