Growing a vegetable garden for your own food supply takes time but saves money over purchasing the same quantity of supermarket produce. If you grow more than your family can eat, or that you can freeze or can, selling vegetables at a farmers' market or a roadside stand can bring in extra income.
Vegetable gardening is a great way for a stay-at-home parent to save money on groceries, to include kids in a fun and useful outdoor activity, and to earn some extra cash from selling vegetables to the community.
Here are some tips for selling vegetables and other items from your backyard garden.
Research Area Farmers Markets and Government Policies
Visit the websites or call the coordinators of the farmers' markets in your area to find out how to become a vendor. Local Harvest lists many of the main markets in the U.S. Larger farmers' markets may have more restrictions on vendors, such as requiring proof that vendors’ produce is certified organic, or require annual fees to sell throughout the season. Home gardeners who want to sell their produce should look for farmers' markets that allow vendors to purchase a day pass, since they likely will not have enough vegetables to sell throughout the entire season. Market coordinators will also provide you with information on any licensing required of their vendors.
To sell from a stand in front of your home or from the back of a truck at a busy intersection, check out local government restrictions on produce sales or call your local state extension agent. Some municipalities may require an itinerant merchant license or not allow for stands in certain neighborhoods. Selling from your garage or a stand in front of your house is convenient for you as well as vegetables lovers who pass by your house regularly or live in the neighborhood.
Plan Your Vegetable Garden Early, Grow Greens and Peas
Vegetable lovers are eager to begin eating freshly grown, local produce as soon as the weather begins to warm. Early spring vegetables, such as spinach, peas, and salad greens will likely attract hungry buyers. Gardeners lucky enough the have established asparagus plants (and who are willing to share some of their bounty) will also enjoy spring-time sales.
For vegetable growers without large plots of land, planning your succession of crops in a limited number of vegetable beds requires some advance planning. To grow popular hot-weather-loving plants, such as tomatoes and peppers, in a small garden where you already grow lettuces and peas, start your hot-weather-plant seeds early and plant as soon as your early season plants are expiring. You can even plant young tomato seedling next to mature pea plants and use the supports for both plants once the pea plants die.
Lettuce will often keep growing beyond the period where it tastes tender and sweet. Although it may seem wasteful to pull up a thriving plant to replace it with your next planting, tossing it into a compost pile will ultimately add its nutrients back into the soil, and you now have space to plant your tomato seedlings.
Consider Unique Varieties or One Big Crop for Sale
Heirloom tomatoes and fancy fingerling potatoes are a rarity, or prohibitively expensive, in the grocery store. Offering them for sale at a market or roadside stand will please rare vegetable enthusiasts. Another vegetable selling tactic is to grow a large quantity of one or two items that keep fresh for a long while once picked, such as watermelon or winter squash. Vines will overrun your garden, and perhaps your yard, but you will have a bountiful reward for your efforts.
Grow Vegetables to Supplement Income
Families who depend on one income can earn extra money, while saving on groceries, by growing and selling their own produce.
Judith Zwolak - Judy is a mother of two and a freelance writer living in South Dakota. Raised by notoriously frugal parents, she comes by her family ...
