I was a market gardener long before I ever knew it.
I came along it quite by accident, really. It would be several years
after my first experience that I finally realized that I, indeed, had been
a market-gardener all that time.
I worked at a small grocery store in town. Living in that same town,
I had a small garden in the backyard. It didn’t amount to much, that
garden, just a few rows of this and a few of that; just enough for my
small family, with a little leftover to share with others. My plant
of choice at that time was tomato, of which, I had about 16. Those
tomato plants are where it all started for me. One day the store was
short on an order for tomatoes. Luckily, I came to the rescue for
that order. I was paid for my tomatoes of course, thus the
real beginning of my market-gardening career.
I was able to sell the store more tomatoes after that, along with a few
green beans, and an assortment of peppers. I didn’t get rich that
first season, but I did make some money. Because I liked the
idea of selling my homegrown produce for a little cash, I made plans to
expand my growing space for the next season.
In those very early stages of my market garden I had very, very little
growing space but despite that I still made some money. Since there
was no one out there knocking on the store's door to sell their
homegrown produce, this market was completely open and I was fortunate
enough to fall right into an outlet for my produce.
So, depending on your needs, monetarily speaking, of course, the size of
your garden can vary. If you are looking for just a few dollars here
and there, a small garden will suffice, but if you have bigger plans, then
you will need more growing space. I eventually moved from that small
home to a much larger home with more ground in which to garden and for my
needs it has worked out perfectly thus far.
Planning is the key to
being successful and you will want to plan well in advance. Your
first big decision is where you will be selling. Farmer's markets?
Wholesale? Just to friends or family? Other outlets?
Then, do you want to grow several items or stick with just one or two?
Will you have a conventional garden or will you try to grow organic?
Will you start your own seeds or buy started plants?
If you plan to grow for the markets, then the first task will be to
contact local officials or a county extension office to find out what
markets are in your area. Most small communities have farmer’s
markets and most times you can find one occurring almost any day of the
week. Depending on travel distance, you can do one or two a week, or
all of them if you have enough produce. But for most backyard
gardeners one or two markets a week will keep them busy enough. It
will be to your advantage however to try and check all the markets out as
some will be more productive than others.
I myself am not a big fan of most farmer’s markets. I like the idea
of the market I just feel that most folks sell their wonderful homegrown
produce too cheap. It’s difficult to sell your green beans for $2.99
a pound, when everyone else is selling for $.99 a pound. If you are
in it to make a little pocket change then that is fine but if you are a
big market gardener then you need to make some profit. So, keep an
eye out and see what type of market you are dealing with, stick with the
ones where you can make some money, because after all, that is what you
are after.
I am, however, a big fan of wholesale selling.
After a few years into my venture with market gardening, I began selling
tomatoes to local restaurants and grocery stores. My tomato
plantings went from 16 that first year to well over 100 a few years later.
While you will not get as much money per pound (most times) as you would
at a market, you do have a guaranteed sale. Many times you can latch
into a guaranteed so-many-pounds-per-week deal until you are out for the
season. I had two restaurants, each buying 30 pounds a week, one
season. Just make sure you can produce whatever is needed.
