Save Money by Investment Gardening

What is investment gardening? Well, what does the term "investment" mean? For the purposes of this article, "investment" will be considered to mean "...any purchase of an asset to increase future income". Thus, investment gardening is defined as any purchase of an asset (seed, plant, etc.) to increase future income (money or garden produce).

Any investment garden, regardless of size, offers the following avenues of using a purchased asset to increase future income. First, purchased seeds can be sold for a profit. They can also be traded or bartered for other seeds or goods. Plant them to produce a harvest, save some seeds from the harvested produce, and establish a seed bank to keep the investment - return on investment cycle going. You can even give part of them away as an investment in helping others.

In short, look at can happen with the purchase of just one packet of 100 seeds. You can: plant 10, give away 10, sell 10, trade 10, barter 10, and still have 50 seeds to deposit in a seed bank. Multiply this scenario by the number of seed packets you normally purchase each gardening season. Are you beginning to see the advantages of an investment gardening mindset?

The second income avenue of investment gardening is planning in advance to grow a surplus of vegetables. Again, you can sell, trade, barter or give the extra harvest away in a manner that suits your investment strategy. Vegetables can be easily sold from your own yard, by the roadside, or at a farmer's market. How about that neighbor who always blesses you with his extra zucchini? Why not plan in advance to have extra peppers or cucumbers to give him in exchange? You'll be investing in your relationship!

By always thinking in terms of using your assets to increase future income, or investment gardening, you can plan your seed purchases to yield enough vegetables to eat and preserve. Whether canned, frozen, or dehydrated, the garden fresh taste of these foods in the dead of winter will be a dividend from your initial investment! Having extra produce to preserve becomes a third avenue of income.

Last, start more seeds than you need. (Remember those 50 extra seeds from income avenue number one?) Purchase a 72 cell, Jiffy Professional Greenhouse. Do some comparison shopping. You should be able to find it for $6.00 or less. For an investment of $0.08 per cell, some water and some seeds (for instance, Park Seeds Magical Michael Basil, $0.95 for 100 seeds), you can grow young plants that will easily sell for $1.00-$1.99. Have a yard sale, sell them right from your home, or take them to the local market. Another nice return on your investment gardening technique. (Besides, you were going to buy the seeds anyway for your garden!) Save the money as a windfall to finance next year's seed purchases, and just keep the investment cycle rolling, season after season.

In summary, once you train your mind to think in terms of investment gardening,you will begin to see many more potential avenues of income. The ones suggested here are merely a starting point. Just as you would do with stock investments, plan your garden portfolio carefully and you can enjoy a high return on investment for years to come.

source: http://www.mvp.cfee.org/en/glossary.html.#1