HOW TO ESTABLISH  URBAN GARDEN FOR FUN AND PROFIT 

Urban gardening is ideal in the city or town where your space for planting is limited. If you’re employed in the city and you’ve no time to go to the province to do your farming activities, then urban gardening is best for you. 

Benefits you can get from urban gardening: 

It could be therapeutic. Tending your plants early in the morning or after office hours relieves you from stress in the workplace and in the home.  It could be enjoyable. When you see your plants with attractive flowers and vigorous growth, your imagination wanders like you’re in heaven with a happiness and satisfaction you can’t explain.  Generate additional income. You can sell your extra plants to others if you think they are surplus for your personal needs. The city is a ready market because there are plenty of people and there’s the purchasing power.  Reduce waste accumulation. You can recycle used materials such as; tin cans and plastics, sachets, tin foils  for potting, Styrofoam for seed boxes, biodegradable products for composting, and others. 

Strategies in Urban Gardening 

Select the right crops to grow, depending on the purpose or purposes of going into urban gardening.  Identify a particular target market if you’re into commercial production.  Develop your own passion or specialization and concentrate on that line.  You can rent or borrow vacant lot.  You can use your roof top if you have any.  You can create plant boxes along your fence and walkways.  You can grow plants in pots and other containers. 

What kind of plants are ideal for urban gardening 

You can grow all kinds of plants from fruits, vegetables, and ornamentals. 

Fruits. You can grow fruits if not in the ground, you can plant them in containers, e. g. citrus, guava, lemon, balimbing, etc.  Vegetables. Many varieties can be grown both in the ground and in containers.  Ornamentals. There are many types of ornamentals you can grow, depending on your target market, capital required, and your inclination in urban gardening. 

Requirements you need to know in urban gardening 

Before you enter into urban gardening, strictly observe the following requirements in order to be successful: 

Water. Water is the most important item for any kind of plant. Without it, your gardening activities will be amiss. You have to consider the cost and continuous availability of water.  Soil media. If you intend to grow your plants in containers, soil or potting media are important. You should have available supply of it all the time.  Source of pots and containers. Try to know where to get the cheaper source and continuous supply for pots germinating trays of different hole sizes, and containers.  Tools and implements. All of these should be at hand for your gardening activities, such as shovel, hoe, pick mattock, spade, trowel, sprayer, tractor (with accessories for bigger areas), and others.  Manpower. Provide yourself with available workers to help you in the garden. Though you can do it yourself, but at least there is one you can trust to tend your plants when you’re out for some other business.  Materials and seeds. See to it that you have available of these materials and seeds in your nursery such as; seeds and other planting materials. Get your planting materials from reputable source or certified seed suppliers. 

Improving unsuitable soil 

When your place is stony or adobe and you think there is no more hope for the plant o grow, don’t panic, there is still remedy to improve it. The strategies to undertake are:

 Look for plants that will grow in rocks or adobe stones (rock gardening). There are plants that grow vigorously on rock such; balete tree, some cactus species, etc). Arrange them in such a way that they will not compete with space and sunlight. Add garden soil or organic material such as manure, compost, and others. You can make holes on the rock just enough to hold the soil media in place for specific plants. For larger plants you can make bigger holes so that more soil media may be placed to sustain the growing period of the plants. Look for possible sources. 

How to earn profits from your urban garden 

There are so many ways you can promote your urban garden to make it known to the public and earn you a profit. 

The following tips can enhance your promotional strategies: 

Attend garden shows or trade fairs. You can bring and  display your exotic plants in the garden shows or trade fairs so the customers will see them. Display your gardens’ name, location, proximity to the market, and plants grown.  Publish in all media outlets. Submit pictures of your garden and plants in magazines, TV, Internet, and newspapers to have a wider dissemination to the reading public.  By word-of-mouth. Often times you invite some visitors for some special occasions like; birthdays, get together, Christmas parties, or any occasions you may establish.   Show to your guests your beautiful urban garden plants. You may give them as a  token out of your plants and tell them your plants are for sale if they have some friends interested to buy plants from you at discounted price. Send brochures of your urban garden to gardening sites. Invite site owners to help you promote your urban garden plants for a percentage fee say 50-60% for the gross sale of your plants. This methods is called affiliates, resellers or partners wherein both of you earns an income. A win-win strategy.  Accept consultancy or speaker ship.   As an expert you can accept consultancy in symposia to those interested in urban gardening. While at this event you can insert your garden in your talks. You can tell your audience about your urban garden, what plants are grown and they are for sale. You may also bring with you your sample plants to the events and sale or give them to your audience. 

In urban gardening you can enjoy the work in your garden, feel the freshness of the surroundings because of the smell of sweet flowers, the vigorous growth of your plants, and at the same time it can provide you with additional income. 

Enjoy urban gardening and let your expertise flourish for the benefit of others while giving you fresh vegetables and fresh flowers. Above all gives you an income out of your plants. 

Come on, stretch out your aching back and body and let the soil and plants in your garden provide the solution to relieve your pain and at the same time earn you an additional income. 

What about that, are you serious in urban gardening? 

Then, come on let’s go, roll out your sleeves. 

 

Cris Ramasasa, Freelance writer, writes about home gardening and Internet marketing tips. You can get a copy of his latest ebook “How to get started in Flower Gardening” and “Vegetable Gardening Made Easy” and also get lots of tips, Free articles, and bonuses at: www.crisramasasa.com