October isn’t exactly the month when people think much about gardens, but it happens that I was reflecting today on ways that people earn money from home. Kelly and I do it with our books and websites, and there are many ways to make money from home.  We know people who do catering out of their homes. We know a couple in our town in Colorado who run a CSA in season, and the Saturday market there is full of people selling their crafts, cooking, and veggies.

Ruminating while I was walking,  I started making a list  of ways you could make money from your garden. Some of these would be possible from an urban garden.

Here are a dozen ways:

1. Grow specialty veggies to sell.

2. Extend the growing season with a greenhouse or coldframe. This gives you items to sell earlier and later than most other gardeners.

3. Grow flowers to sell. Used to be that dried flowers were particularly in demand; nowadays, I’d guess edible ones also would be.

4. Sell the above at a local weekend market, in season.

5. With enough land and energy, start a CSA or Community Supported Agriculture.

6. Make jam from fruit you grow, or dried tomatoes, or otherwise add value to the produce you grow.

7. Grow herbs to sell. Mint, basil, echinacea, parsley, cilantro, and others are herbs I’ve grown successfully.

8. Dig garden beds for gardening newbies who don’t know how to start or for people who can maintain a garden but don’t have the strength to start one.

9. Think long term and plant fruit trees.

10. Go around to any local B&Bs or restaurants and ask if they would buy from you. Ask what they would want to buy.

11. Start plants early in the spring and sell the seedlings.

12. Grow sprouts and sell them. This would work in an urban kitchen, depending on local regulations.

Here are some books and ebooks with more ideas: