Vegetable Gardens

[Hanau]

Who else builds and maintains vegetable gardens for clients?

What are you growing? What's your most frequent request?

I stumbled into this niche a couple of years ago, kind of by accident actually. It's taken off though. We do everything from designing the garden, preparing the soil, planting, weekly maintenance, and even harvest. It's as hands on or as hands off as the client wants.

We buy our seeds in bulk from Harris and keep the selection basic. If you give the client to many choices it really drives cost up.

The most popular vegetable is the tomato, by far. Followed closely by corn.

Average garden size is 500 square feet and grows 10 varieties of vegetables. This year we installed 78 gardens. About half the clients had us come by every week for weeding, a quarter every two weeks, the rest had us on a "will call you incase of garden disaster" basis.

We've also sold a lot of herb gardens this year in window boxes or planters. Going to spend this winter looking for Walpole quality at a slightly better price.

For a tiller we use a Husqvarna landowner grade rear tine. Works good. It's about the only power equipment we used. The rest is done by hand.

For fertilizer we have a selection based upon client reference. Runs the gamut from organics to heavy duty commercial farming grade stuff.

Biggest problem we had is rabbits. Pesky little buggers, and too smart to trap.

Hoping to push this concept a little harder next year. As grocery prices go up it gets easier to sell.

So what are you guys doing?

[Hanau]

So, nobody else offers this?

[White Gardens]

I offer it, but no body has wanted it.

I do tilling, consulting, and soil tests if they have issues, but, even some of the white-collared professionals around here know how to take care of their veggie gardens and let the rest of the landscaping fall apart.

I'm actually surprised I haven't had one person ask me to do a garden full time. But, I think it has to do with the blue-collared, agriculture area that I am located in.

[Marcos]

Who else builds and maintains vegetable gardens for clients?

What are you growing? What's your most frequent request?

I stumbled into this niche a couple of years ago, kind of by accident actually. It's taken off though. We do everything from designing the garden, preparing the soil, planting, weekly maintenance, and even harvest. It's as hands on or as hands off as the client wants.

We buy our seeds in bulk from Harris and keep the selection basic. If you give the client to many choices it really drives cost up.

The most popular vegetable is the tomato, by far. Followed closely by corn.

Average garden size is 500 square feet and grows 10 varieties of vegetables. This year we installed 78 gardens. About half the clients had us come by every week for weeding, a quarter every two weeks, the rest had us on a "will call you incase of garden disaster" basis.

We've also sold a lot of herb gardens this year in window boxes or planters. Going to spend this winter looking for Walpole quality at a slightly better price.

For a tiller we use a Husqvarna landowner grade rear tine. Works good. It's about the only power equipment we used. The rest is done by hand.

For fertilizer we have a selection based upon client reference. Runs the gamut from organics to heavy duty commercial farming grade stuff.

Biggest problem we had is rabbits. Pesky little buggers, and too smart to trap.

Hoping to push this concept a little harder next year. As grocery prices go up it gets easier to sell.

So what are you guys doing?

Just curious....
Are you located in what most folks might consider an urban area?
Are your customers older, young busy couples with lots o' kids, or both?
A 500 sq ft garden might be anything from the standard backyard 10 x 50 plot to a "square foot garden" that hugs the sunny side of a 100' foundation 5' wide.

I spend a fair amount of time working with an elderly neighbor's square foot garden & mini-orchard (apples, persimmons) because her husband died about 6 years ago & she REALLY needs someone to help her out.....+ she happens to have the same first name as my deceased mother. :p
I've not given a lot of thought to charging for garden maintenance.
I have too much fun bartering labor for a little bit of her home cookin'! :laugh:

What IS all-the-rage around here is the concept of the community garden.
Folks can lease 5' x 5' or 10' x 10' plots for the season at a local park & plant whatever they want.... (that is legal, that is! :laugh:.)
The park doesn't have any supply of water, though. People have to bring H20 in their own store-purchased plastic tanks.
This year most everything grew like nuts as there was cool weather and ample rain. But the average summer in S. Ohio most of those plots would likely be burnt to a crisp come September.

[Hanau]

I'm located in the middle of farm country. The Palouse is the richest dry farm land in the world.

My gardening clients live in subdivisions, have big yards, and want the "country lifestyle" without having to do all the hard work.

Typically these are the same people that have things like energy efficient windows, solar panels, hybrid cars, and ride bicycles to work.

They're concerned about the environment and want to live a greener lifestyle.

Upper middle class on up. Professors at one of the three Universities in the area, execs at Scweitzer or Potlatch. IT professionals. Your basic save the whales yuppie.

I also started marketing rainwater collection and irrigation. It's pretty dry up here, hoping to get tanks at clients houses filled during spring rains.

[Hamatsa]

Like White Gardens, we've offered it as a service but no one has bit. Most of my customers prefer to do their own puttering in the vegetable garden. I did harvest some tomatoes and peppers for one of my elderly customers at her request....she was in a lot of pain and I did it gratis. I bought my Troybuilt with the intention of doing this for the 2008 season and have only used it on lawn repairs and installs. Go figure.

[Marcos]

Typically these are the same people that have things like energy efficient windows, solar panels, hybrid cars, and ride bicycles to work.



You'd think that people who have the gumption to get out & ride their bikes to work wouldn't be afraid to get a little dirt under their fingernails now & then, particularly if it were their own food they were trying to grow!
Or maybe that's it!:waving:
They have no clue how to grow their own food!

The type of people you describe want "greener lifestyles", but I'll bet a % of them probably wouldn't have a clue which side of the hoe to use to hoe a row of beans! :laugh: :laugh:

Hanau, maybe you're putting the cart in front of the horse.
Maybe you should be out there giving FREE weekend seminars & such on.... "How to Construct a Garden & Grow your own Food".
This will begin to put your name on the local map in terms of vegetable gardening guruism.
You can then build your customer base with the folks who are otherwise inspired, but lack the will and/or resources to do it ALL on their own.

[whoopassonthebluegrass]

Around here people are religious (literally) about maintaining their gardens. They'd never pay me to do it for them. :cry:

In fact, this time of year you have to keep all your doors on the car locked. If you don't, you'll go to climb in and find it stuffed full of zucchini from all the neighbors. :laugh:

[Hanau]

I'm pretty sure these people would do their own gardens if all it took was a few clicks of the mouse.

The best part is hearing them brag to their neighbors about how great their vegetables are doing. Like they grew them.

[Marcos]

I'm pretty sure these people would do their own gardens if all it took was a few clicks of the mouse.

The best part is hearing them brag to their neighbors about how great their vegetables are doing. Like they grew them.

Wow...what sad irony you're painting here, Hanau. :cry:

Well-to-do people wanting to live a "greener" lifestyle, yet they're too lazy to even begin to try, or they're so far removed from their rural ancestral roots they absolutely have no clue where to begin.

If your region of the country suddenly had ALL the electricity go out for 2 weeks to a month. And, let's say, the interstates leading out were closed.
It's a national calamity of some sort.
Do you think the people you're describing would have internally what it takes to survive?

[Hanau]

No interstates here brother. Click my website to see where I'm at. It's the boonies.

I'd survive, I think. No electricity would be hard. Farmers around here would likely make it. It's the folks in the subdivisions I'm worried about. Guessing 36 hours before cannibalism?

You have 2 extremes here. Country folk and yuppies. We're a farming, logging, high tech, and college economy. Quite a mix.

[kirk1701]

I'm pretty sure these people would do their own gardens if all it took was a few clicks of the mouse.

The best part is hearing them brag to their neighbors about how great their vegetables are doing. Like they grew them.

Don't tell me your hooked on farmville also :drinkup:

Log on to Facebook to check my virtual garden, harvest my tomatoes and go to market to get more coins to grow mow vegetables to get more coins to grow more :dizzy:

Actually I had to give up on my virtual garden after it just became to addicting I was spending way too much time NOT working in the real world garden :laugh:

[Marcos]

No interstates here brother. Click my website to see where I'm at. It's the boonies.

I'd survive, I think. No electricity would be hard. Farmers around here would likely make it. It's the folks in the subdivisions I'm worried about. Guessing 36 hours before cannibalism?

You have 2 extremes here. Country folk and yuppies. We're a farming, logging, high tech, and college economy. Quite a mix.

Well, you'd like to think in the event of a national calamity a lot of the hardy farmers & loggers would take in the high tech yuppies and resident student population & see to their temporary well being.
After all, that's exactly the kind of 'stuff' farmers are made of....

We had the remnants of hurricane Ivan come thru S. Ohio here one year ago this month and it REALLY brought out the best in a lot of people.
Some folks like ourselves only had power out for about 24 hrs.
People we know just 1/4 mile from us were without power for almost 1 1/2 weeks!
That's when we all chip in together & use shower facilities, share food & ice, etc.

But Ivan hit when it was consistently between 60-70 F temps around here.
People were just fine without AC.
I wonder what total # of deaths would occur if this region got smacked with a mega-ice storm that downed electric wires everywhere, then the roads froze over rapidly because of a follow-up sub-zero Arctic blast cold front.
People everywhere would be left to freeze in their own home w/o electric to turn on their gas furnace. Going to a hotel or whatever would be out of the question because ice-covered trees & downed power lines would be all over the place.
Think about it....anyone who heated with firewood would attract freezing neighbors & their families by the droves!

Something like this on a smaller scale happened last year in Louisville, Ky.
Frankly, I envision thousands upon thousands dying region-wide if it were to happen with the right type of cold front timing.

[Hanau]

Wrong century brother.

The days of the family owned farm are setting.

A lot of the farm land here is owned by corporations and uses contractors or employees to work the land.

Even Idaho Century Farms (family owned farms for over 100 years) are being bought out and subdivided or corporate run.

We got snowed in for a week winter of 07/08. It was crazy, our town store ran out of everthing in 2 days. Next nearest store is 15+ miles. Hell we couldn't even gasoline in town, nearest gas station is a good 10 miles away.

Had to make it with what you had on hand.

Profitable week for me. I was selling cords of wood for $1,000 that normally sell for $300. Folks just weren't prepared to be cut off for a week. Once the power lines went down and their furnaces wouldn't light it was the wood fireplace. That they didn't have wood for.

[Hamatsa]

Some posts generate the most interesting responses and discussion. People hate to mow their lawns and trim their hedges (great for us) but everyone else is right. The vegetable gardens are are thing of joy for some folks. Doesn't matter if they spend 5 bucks to produce one tomato, they do it anyway! Imagine if everyone could cultivate 250 sq/ft. What would that do to the cost of food? What if they were planful about it and bartered away their excess? This is just plain wrong. People shouldn't be allowed to grow their own food! Its gonna put big ag outta business and drive dividends down. Can't have it. It's Un-American!

On a lighter note; How about offering lawn conversions as a service. "We tear it up so you can put in vegetables." That sort've thing

[Hanau]

I think it's marketing to the right demographic that's the key to selling veggie gardens. Suburban, well off, eco conscious, people are the ones you want to market to.

Try your local farmers market, not the vendors, the folks spending big bucks on organic veggies. Make up a flyer that lists some basic prices, seed varities, and different maintenance packages you offer. Only catch is Farmers Markets are usually mid to end season, so this will be clientele for next year.

One thing is for sure, it's enjoyable work. It's a nice change of pace from running engines. To quickly and quietly weed a veggie patch. I fold it into the mowing route. If we're in the neighborhood mowing we tend the garden. Rather than make a day of just veggie gardening.

[Marcos]

On a lighter note; How about offering lawn conversions as a service. "We tear it up so you can put in vegetables." That sort've thing

That's an excellant thought. :waving:
Some thought would have to be put into possible pesticide contamination in the soil, though.

Also some marketing should go into the concept of 'square foot gardening'.
I help manage a small 3' x 16' foundation garden for the aforementioned elderly neighbor that's incredibly efficient because just about everything can be reached from the paver stones at the lawn's edge.
I don't do it all; we work on it together.

As of this weekend she's still getting ample amounts of lettuce, spinach, swiss chard, onions, carrots, radishes & lots of tomatoes from her two upright concrete-wire caged plants. :)
I've noticed a lot of larger gardens throughout this neighborhood are picked thru and flattened at this point in time.
I suppose the smaller the area, the easier it is to maintain for longer periods.

Anybody out there implementing the use of cold frames to extend the growing season? :confused:
This kind of thing is absolutely IDEAL for the square foot garden.
I think they could be quite marketable to homeowners looking to "get back to their roots" because of their relatively small size, and the fact that they have removable tops for summer use.
Around here you can get stuff like spinach, chard & dandelion greens to grow in cold frames sometimes all the way thru, or till at least Christmas or so.

[kirk1701]

That's an excellant thought. :waving:
Some thought would have to be put into possible pesticide contamination in the soil, though.

Around here you can get stuff like spinach, chard & dandelion greens to grow in cold frames sometimes all the way thru, or till at least Christmas or so.

My problem here is this: As I found out the hard way this spring, how do I get the garden to co-exist with the lawn? I sprayed the lawn with 2,4-D and ended up killing half the dam garden so now were paranoid?

I think I know what I did wrong but want to be sure before I spray yat again; lower the pressure on the sprayer and make sure its not a windy day. Anything else I should be looking at?

Yep, same here with growing in the fall, we have greens out now along with broccoli, cabbage and onions. :drinkup:

[White Gardens]

Anybody out there implementing the use of cold frames to extend the growing season? :confused:


That's funny you mentioned that because I actually built one out of old windows, salvaged hinges from the local habitat for humanity store, scrap poly from a window supplier, and an automatic hydrolic cylinder to open and close the top lid when it gets hot.

I need to re-paint it, but if I ever get it put back together I'll take pictures.

[Marcos]

That's funny you mentioned that because I actually built one out of old windows, salvaged hinges from the local habitat for humanity store.

Be careful when you handle & move those "old windows".
I'd wear dedicated lined gloves if I were you. Otherwise, keep kids away from the area and you're fine.
Habitat for humanity is certainly required to check for lead before they sell them, but with their typical budget constraints I wouldn't want to place a bet on that.

[Marcos]

My problem here is this: As I found out the hard way this spring, how do I get the garden to co-exist with the lawn? I sprayed the lawn with 2,4-D and ended up killing half the dam garden so now were paranoid?

I think I know what I did wrong but want to be sure before I spray yat again; lower the pressure on the sprayer and make sure its not a windy day. Anything else I should be looking at?



2, 4-d and related systemic selective pesticides can move laterally through the soil to varying degrees depending upon local factors like soil porosity & soil type.
Generally, the most often recommended margin of safety to keep pesticides away from vegetable gardens is 5 to 8 feet away from the outside perimeter.

I know of people in our neighborhood who are more paranoid than this and stay MUCH, MUCH further away.
And I know of others who try to act like brain surgeons with their backpacks & hand tanks and creep up within a foot or two on calm days.
Pick your poison! :waving: :laugh:

I personally like to stay about 3' away; and of course I only spot spray (use IPM), and do so on non-windy days.

[White Gardens]

Be careful when you handle & move those "old windows".
I'd wear dedicated lined gloves if I were you. Otherwise, keep kids away from the area and you're fine.
Habitat for humanity is certainly required to check for lead before they sell them, but with their typical budget constraints I wouldn't want to place a bet on that.

Oh, I found the windows myself and bought the hinges from habitat.

I originally found the windows at a property and used gloves and washed my hands well after dealing with them. I then scraped them down removing the loose paint and then painted an enamel coat over them.

What happened was that the moisture and the enamel acted like a stripper, so all the paint peeled off the last time I used it. The only reason I haven't put it up is that I need to re-paint it to protect the wood.

If, I ever wanted to build one again, I would use alluminum storm windows, or some other corrosive resistent metal.

Wood wasn't the best choice, but, if I paint it well, then I'll have no problems getting some good use out of it.

What I really want to do is grow herbs in it during the winter. I want to seal it against the house and use a basement window to access it and keep it warm without using a heater.

Boy Marcos, talking about it makes me want to get it out and back together as soon as the cold weather hits.

[gunsnroses]

This idea crossed my mind in the past...I was wondering if there were any legal issues with the dept. of Ag. because it is food. So lets say you do all this work, yield a few pounds of mators and said client is pissed because they could have bought 40lbs for the same price. Did you do some fancy wording in your veggie contract?

I'd like to see some photos

[kirk1701]

2, 4-d and related systemic selective pesticides can move laterally through the soil to varying degrees depending upon local factors like soil porosity & soil type.
Generally, the most often recommended margin of safety to keep pesticides away from vegetable gardens is 5 to 8 feet away from the outside perimeter.

I know of people in our neighborhood who are more paranoid than this and stay MUCH, MUCH further away.
And I know of others who try to act like brain surgeons with their backpacks & hand tanks and creep up within a foot or two on calm days.
Pick your poison! :waving: :laugh:

I personally like to stay about 3' away; and of course I only spot spray (use IPM), and do so on non-windy days.

Thanks Marcos. I'll give this a try however the case in point when this all happened this past spring; I was spraying the front yard (100 feet away) but I didn't know about drift, I don't even know if it was windy that day but do know I was pumping the sprayer up with top knotch pressure that much I do remember.

[Marcos]

Thanks Marcos. I'll give this a try however the case in point when this all happened this past spring; I was spraying the front yard (100 feet away) but I didn't know about drift, I don't even know if it was windy that day but do know I was pumping the sprayer up with top knotch pressure that much I do remember.

Good luck! :waving:

Also....the use of ester-based (alcohol-based) herbicides around gardens is never a good idea.
Usually ester herbicides are the ones marketed for use in cool weather because they can break into the cuticle of the plant tissue more easily through osmosis...
... vs. amine (water-based) herbicides which of course are generally less expensive & are typically used in the industry during warmer temperatures.

Bowling Green KY, huh?
Ever do any fishin' at Green River Lake? :)

[kirk1701]

Good luck! :waving:

Also....the use of ester-based (alcohol-based) herbicides around gardens is never a good idea.
Usually ester herbicides are the ones marketed for use in cool weather because they can break into the cuticle of the plant tissue more easily through osmosis...
... vs. amine (water-based) herbicides which of course are generally less expensive & are typically used in the industry during warmer temperatures.

Bowling Green KY, huh?
Ever do any fishin' at Green River Lake? :)

I wish I had time for fishing I love it, I know where green river lake is, (about 50 miles northest on me) but never been there.