The Third-Oldest Industry

Image Gallery Mike, Linda, and their green gold mine.

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Bootstraps

How to garden for profit on less than an acre.

By Robyn Fontes

"Get Rich Quick." Open enough magazines or endure enough insom niac special late night TV and you'll be assaulted by "recipes for financial success" as diverse as swooping down on foreclosed real-estate and selling cosmetics over the Internet. While marginally more entertaining than the "Lassie" reruns they compete with, such ads are a tribute to the world's oldest industry (well, second oldest) ...swindlery. You won't get rich quick folks, provided you aren't strewing the walkway of your very old uncle Rockefeller with cooking grease. But there are good ideas out there, and we discovered one while talking to Michael and Linda Harlan. Both in their late 40s, Mike and Linda have carved out a piece of the good life in northern California, and they earn a full-time income working part-time hours. Not enough for you? What about a commute which consists of a step out their back door. What is this thunderstrike of a notion that has kept a roof over their heads..? Gardening.

For the past 11 years the Harlans have cultivated a nursery in their Sacramento County backyard, something they say any industrious plant lover can do. A small nursery doesn't take a great deal of time, vast sums of start-up cash, or a sweeping expanse of property. The Harlans spend just four hours a day managing their business, which they started in their half-acre backyard with a $200 investment.

Their business strategy is a simple one. Buy young plants in six-pack flats, repot them into gallon containers, and, once grown, sell them to retail nurseries for a profit. There's a bit more to it than that, but the Harlans are the first to admit that their business idea is so straightforward that even a gardening novice can earn $5,000 growing container plants on a 1,000-square-foot plot of land.

What to plant. First, do some research. Read gardening magazines and journals to find out what's popular. Readers often go to retail nurseries specifically looking for the plants featured in the articles.

Next, pay a visit to the local nursery. Ask the manager which plants consistently sell out and what the nursery could always use more of. Don't be discouraged if the larger, more established nurseries have saturated the market with the most popular plants; try cultivating plants that are harder to find, such as ethnic or heirloom vegetables.

If winter temperatures dip dramatically in your area and you don't have a green house, your choices will be limited to what can survive the cold. Keep in mind that plants in containers freeze and overheat faster than plants growing in the ground. Check with a nearby university agricultural extension service to find out which plants can be successfully grown in containers where you live.

Still can't decide? Then grow something that flowers. Michael's rule of thumb: "A pretty flower sells an ugly plant." One of the hottest trends in the nursery business nowadays is flowering perennials, such as delphiniums, irises, and geraniums. These plants are cold hardy, fairly easy to grow, and since they live longer than a year, their marketing time isn't limited to one season.

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