How to Make Money Selling Your Garden Produce

The last three summers, I have made a healthy profit averaging about fifteen dollars per hour, for about half the summer. Here are some tips after the vegetables have been planted and are starting to produce.

Get baskets and have a table or wagon to show the veggies off. I load the baskets evenly and fully, showing the best sides and ripest. These baskets can be procured from a garage sale or online from one of the websites listed. If you can't find these, use plant containers. Mix up the colors of displayed produce so greens, reds, oranges, yellows, and purples alternate. (We grew gorgeous purple peppers this year.)

Pick from your garden every day or every other day depending on how many rows you have of each variety. Know the ripe appearance and feel of each. For example, I didn't know that a cantaloupe should smell fragrant and sweet on the butt end. If one item won't fill a basket, try pairing different kinds of peppers together, or cherry and pear tomatoes, or even zucchini and yellow squash. A customer may not want all the same thing anyway.

Make signs out of sides of cardboard boxes and staple computer paper over the outside on both sides. On one side write "Fresh Produce" or "Homegrown Veggies" in bubble letters and on the other side advertise your best seller. Best sellers are tomatoes, okra, cantaloupe, and squash. Do yourself a favor and if you think you'll have any interest in this later in life, plant a peach tree now! These are the best sellers of all. Color dark thick letters on the sign with a Marks A Lot type marker.