What will I be doing?

If your garden grows well, consider offering your green thumb—and your knowledge—to others for money. A gardening service selects, plants and maintains vegetable plants, flowers and shrubs. There are many ways to turn your talents as a gardener into a profitable home-based business. You may design flower gardens for the front entrances of a local businesses. You may offer answers to questions about eradicating garden pests. You may do soil analysis, give classes on better gardening, or even tend a garden for folks on vacation. Use your imagination.

What will I need to start?

To offer a professional gardening service you must know more than other people do about raising a successful vegetable or flower garden. What you will need to start, of course, is lots of experience with gardens. You’ll also need some resources such as books on plants and their care. You may need some gardening tools. It will help if you’ve taken advanced courses on plant care, especially ones that offer certificates. The more you know, the more you will profit.

Who will my customers be?

Most individuals won’t pay you very much for your gardening services. You can offer consumer classes, answer questions through a newspaper or magazine column or answer questions for customers of a local garden shop. But most of your business will come from businesses. Companies who can profit from well-designed grounds, flower beds and related plantings will be good customers. You may even participate in their care, depending on what type of gardening service you offer. A garden service sold the idea of planting and maintaining a large vegetable garden on one company’s vacant property, then donating the food to local charities. Everyone benefited.