Make Money Gardening: Turn A Hobby Into a Business

Make money gardening and discover how you can turn your gardening hobby into a worthwhile business.

If you love being outdoors and have a few hours to spare a week, you might like to consider making some extra money by offering gardening services. You don’t need to be Monty Don, but you do need to be reliable and not put off by a little rain! Here’s how to start a gardening business and make money gardening.

Make money gardening: Equipment essentials

Professional gardening services can earn you money — Photo by Boris Debusscher on Unsplash

Put simply, the more of your own equipment you own the greater the range of services you can offer as a gardener. Lawn mowing is the number one garden chore that people like to ‘farm out’, and sometimes they won’t even own a lawnmower that you can use. Having your own equipment means you’ll always have exactly what you need, and there’s no chance of accidentally breaking something that belongs to a client.

The basic equipment you’ll need to make money as a gardener is:

A spade
Fork
Rake
Gloves
A tub or bucket (for weeding into)
A trowel and hand fork
Secateurs
Shears and / or lopping shears
Kneeling mat
Sweeping brush
Some decent wellies and waterproofs
A vacuum flask – for that important hot drink on a cold day!

Later on, you can also consider a lawnmower, chainsaw, strimmer and leaf-blower. This might sound like a lot, but you may be able to borrow some of it from family and friends. If you have to buy it new, it’s worth investing in decent quality equipment as it makes the job easier. You’ll also need a vehicle capable of carrying all your gear!

Make money gardening: Insurance

As always, it’s well worth thinking about getting some insurance, even if you only intend to make money gardening a few hours a week. Not only will it make clients more likely to employ you, it also means you’ll be covered if a passer-by trips over a rake you’ve left casually leaning against an outside wall, or you cut through a gas pipe with your spade.

Gardening experience and qualifications

Gardeners re-planting a border — Photo by Anna Earl on Unsplash

Although it obviously helps if you have some experience, you don’t need any formal qualifications to make money gardening. You’ll need some basic knowledge, such as how to tell which plants are weeds and how and when to prune different shrubs. If you’re starting from absolute scratch, then enlist the help of a knowledgeable friend or enrol on a short course. The greater your skill and experience, the more likely you are to find work.

Make money gardening: Earning potential

The amount you can earn from gardening varies greatly depending on where you are in the country, the amount of local competition and what services you’re offering, but you can expect to earn between £9.50 and £18 an hour. Your overheads will be fairly minimal, but remember to allow for fuel for your vehicle and maintenance for your tools, particularly your lawnmower.

The pros and cons

Garden trowel and potting soil — Photo by Neslihan Gunaydin on Unsplash

If you love working outdoors and doing something creative, then gardening is an ideal choice. It does fluctuate seasonally though, and you’ll probably find you’re overwhelmed in summer and twiddling your thumbs a bit in winter. It can be physically demanding, and you’ll normally be expected to work in all weathers.

How to find work as a gardener

The best way to find work locally, which won’t involve too much travelling, is to advertise on neighbourhood noticeboards or on local Facebook groups. Once you get up and running, you’ll probably find you’re being referred via word of mouth as well, plus it might be useful to join and advertise through a trade network for professional gardeners.

Even more important than gardening knowledge to most customers is to have someone who’s reliable, tidy and is equally good at following instructions and working on their own initiative. If for some reason you can’t fit a client in as usual, always get in touch and let them know when they can expect you instead.

Just like any other type of work, there’ll be times when it’s tipping down, you’re freezing and you’ll wonder what on earth you’ve signed up for – but there’ll also be times when you’re outside in the sunshine, the birds are singing and everyone else you know is stuck in an office.

Happy gardening!