Budgeting and Insourcing...Quick and easy money makers....

 
I come from a long line of gardeners.   My parents and grandparents all had an enviable green thumb and in fact my Grandparents earned a living from a strawberry farm for many years.   So, how come I didn't get the gene?   I'm okay at herbs and fruit, awful at veg, and so-so at flowers. A bit sad really considering my gene pool.   But there are some things that I not only grow, but have found can make you good money if you can be bothered potting them up and dragging them to the markets, or even setting up a sign on the fence that says 'For Sale', and a sample. I haven't had one stolen yet, although I suppose there's always a first. Mind you our little whippet goes nuts as soon as any car pulls up outside our house, so having a dog doesn't hurt!   In fact, we're considering making this a retirement Saturday afternoon job as we can sit and read at the same time.   Here's what we've grown, and very easily, given my black thumb.   Yucca Dracaena Hydrangea Ivy Geranium Agave Frangipani Lavender Jade plant (Money plant)     The Yuccas are brilliant. It takes time to get them going, but we started with just one, and now have dozens. You just have to cut them off at a height at which you're happy to have them regrown and each stem will produce several new plants. Keep doing this and soon enough, you'll have Yuccas coming out of your ears.   The great thing about the Yuccas is that they are so expensive at the nurseries, that you can sell them for $25+ each and people think they're a bargain.     Dracaena work the same way.     Hydrangeas are astoundingly easy to propagate and I have half a dozen growing well from a single plant for which I paid $20. By Christmas they'll be worth that much at least. Just cut a piece off, dip into Hormone powder (about $5 for a sachet that will do dozens of plants), or Honey, and put into a pot with potting mix.     Ivy and Lavender are the same. Cut off a little sprig, poke into soil, and off they go.    

  Geraniums the same again, and people still love them, believe me.  

  Agave have the little 'pups' growing off them constantly. Pot them and watch people pay $15-$40 for a decent sized one. The Agave and Yuccas are really favoured as landscaping plants at the moment as they're so hardy and low maintenance and look very stylish as a combination.  

  Frangipani, well, you just break a piece off, let it dry out for a day or two, then stick it in a pot with potting mix.   Usually they'll strike, but you do get a few failures. I have a Fijian style evergreen one that doesn't drop it's leaves. It has the enormous white and yellow flowers that just about fold back on themselves. Husband paid $95 for it for me for an anniversary present years ago.   So each cutting from that one, is worth about $50. I have four.   All up, I think we have the potential to earn at least $1000 come Spring and Summer, and for just a small initial investment of a plant or two, some recycled pots and a few bags of potting mix. $100 at the most.   And the bonus is, what you don't sell, you can wrap beautifully, tie a big bow on, and give it as a gift.   Win either way!   But start now...   Do you have some more plants to strike and sell, or give as gifts?   Tell me all about it...