5 Ways to Make Money Growing Plants at Home, Ranked by Speed

Growing plants at home can turn the roots, stems and seeds you already have into extra cash. You don’t need a farm, just a few plants people want and a simple way to reach local buyers.

One backyard grower sold $1,700 worth of ferns on a members-only plant board. That number comes from the sales page for Mike McGroarty’s Backyard Growers Business Center, so think of it as a best case.

You don’t need a members’ club to make money growing plants, though. Below are 5 ways to do it, ranked from fastest first sale to slowest, each with its cost, timing and a first step.

Pick Your Best Way in 30 Seconds

Not sure where to start? Match what you already have to the way that fits it.

If you have…	Start with
A crowded flower bed	#1 Divide perennials
Houseplants and a sunny window	#2 Houseplant cuttings
A spare shelf in late winter	#3 Spring seedlings, timed for spring buyers
Cheap containers and an eye for color	#4 Container gardens
Yard space and a season to wait	#5 Grown-on shrubs, the best margin here

How This List Is Ranked

This list is ranked by the time from starting to your first sale, counted from the right season for seasonal options. Every price in it is a real listed or sold price from a named source, not a guess.

5 Ways to Make Money Growing Plants at Home

The 5 ways to make money growing plants at home are dividing perennials, rooting cuttings, starting seedlings, building containers and growing on wholesale shrubs. The first 2 cost almost nothing, and the last pays the most per plant.

1. Divide and Sell Your Perennials

Dig up perennials that have outgrown their spot, split them and pot the pieces. You get free inventory, and the clumps you leave grow back healthier.

This way is best for anyone with an established garden bed. Skip it if you rent and can’t dig in the yard.

You only need pots, potting soil and a shovel.

Here’s how it works:

1. Water the clump the day before. Moist soil holds together around the roots.
2. Dig it out with a shovel. Lift it onto a piece of cardboard so you keep the soil.
3. Split it into fist-sized pieces. Each piece needs its own roots and a few shoots.
4. Pot each piece in fresh potting soil. Recycling nursery pots from friends keeps your cost near zero.
5. Keep the pots in shade for a week. The roots settle, so the plants look perky on sale day.

Then tag every pot with the plant’s name, sun needs and full-grown height. Buyers can see at a glance where each plant will fit in their yard.

2. Root and Sell Houseplant Cuttings

Snip stems from healthy houseplants, root them in water, and sell the rooted plants. It’s the one way on this list that needs no yard.

This way is best for apartment dwellers with a few healthy houseplants. Skip it if your plants are small or struggling.

You need small pots, potting soil and a jar of water. Even old candle jars work for rooting.

Say you have a big pothos (a made-up example). You take 6 cuttings, root them in jars of water and pot them, and the parent keeps growing back.

Never rooted anything before? Practice on foods you can regrow from scraps, like green onions, before you cut your best houseplant.

Before you list anything, check each pot:

• Roots hold the soil together when you tip the pot.
• The leaves are firm, with no yellow edges.
• No fungus gnats or other bugs sit on the soil.
• A tag names the plant.

One pot of bugs can lose you a buyer for good, so the pest check matters most.

3. Grow and Sell Spring Vegetable Seedlings

Start vegetable and herb seeds indoors in late winter, then sell the seedlings to gardeners who missed the window. They’re the same easy foods people grow at home, so buyers already know what they want.

This way is best for anyone with a sunny window or a shelf with grow lights. Skip it if you can’t water every day for 6 to 8 weeks.

Your costs are seeds, potting soil, a seed-starting crate or tray, and peat pots or small pots.

The best part? You can take orders before you plant a single seed.

That way, you plant to match real orders instead of guessing.

The catch? Seedlings started too early get tall and floppy, and some buyers never show up.

So start on time and keep extras for walk-up buyers.

4. Build Container Gardens and Hanging Baskets

Plant several small plants together in one pot or basket, and sell the finished arrangement. A full container sells as a gift or a ready-made porch display, so you price it as one finished piece.

This way is best for people who like arranging plants and have a covered spot to grow them out. Skip it if you want the cheapest possible start.

Your costs are containers, potting soil and the small plants that fill them. Fill them with seedlings from #3, so your only new costs are the containers and soil.

Themed sets help too. A “salsa garden” with tomato, pepper and herb seedlings gives buyers a reason to take several plants at once.

Just poke drainage holes in anything you thrift, because a container without them drowns the roots.

5. Grow On Small Wholesale Shrubs

Buy small, cheap shrubs and trees, grow them bigger in your yard, and sell them for more. The plant does the work while it grows, and that growth is your margin.

This way is best for people with some yard space and a season to wait. Skip it if you need money this month.

Mike McGroarty says he has bought flowering shrubs for as low as 65 cents each on his members’ board. Members there have listed Japanese red maples for $2.00, too.

The bigger and rarer the plant, the more it brings. A member named Andy from Maine listed rare Japanese maples at $11.00 each, and McGroarty says he watched the orders pour in.

To try it without betting much:

1. Buy 20 to 50 small shrubs that local buyers already know.
2. Pot them in 1-gallon pots with good potting soil, so the roots have room for a season.
3. Water on a schedule. Small pots dry out fast in summer.
4. Sell the next spring, when gardeners and landscaping crews go shopping.

Grown-on shrubs pay the most per plant here, but they tie up your space and cash for a full season. Selling young trees is also one of the bigger ways to make money in your backyard.

How Much Money Can You Make Selling Plants?

How much money you make selling plants depends on how many you grow and what local buyers pay. The only sourced per-plant prices here run from 65 cents to $11.00, listed on the Backyard Growers board.

No source reports a typical yearly total. In fact, McGroarty writes on that same page that he has no idea how much money people make selling plants on his board.

So get your own number in 10 minutes:

1. Pick 3 plants you plan to sell.
2. Note what your nearest garden center charges for each one in the same pot size.
3. Search Facebook Marketplace for the same plants nearby and note those prices.

Multiply a price between those numbers by how many pots you can grow, and you have a first-season goal.

How to Price Plants to Sell

Price plants to sell by covering your costs first, then coming in under your local garden center for the same plant and pot size.

Add up what each pot costs you: the pot, potting soil, seeds and tag. That’s your floor, and you never go under it.

Don’t try to be the cheapest seller in town. Sell what big stores don’t carry, like heirloom tomatoes or named daylilies.

Your time counts as a cost too. So make sure each price pays you something for the hours you put in.

Where to Sell the Plants You Grow

Sell the plants you grow through Facebook Marketplace, local gardening groups, a weekend plant sale, a driveway stand or a farmers market booth.

• Facebook Marketplace and local groups: free to list, and buyers pick up.
• A weekend plant sale: tables in your garage or driveway, with signs around the neighborhood.
• A driveway stand: priced plants and a cash box or payment app code.
• Farmers markets: more foot traffic, but usually a booth fee.
• Other growers: members’ buy/sell boards let you sell to people building their own nurseries.

Selling online means shipping live plants, so start local with a free Marketplace listing. On sale day, have cardboard boxes ready so buyers can carry several pots home.

Got old garden tools or other gear you no longer use? Put them out at your plant sale too, and check our A-Z guide on how to sell everything you own for where else each item sells.

Do You Need a License to Sell Plants From Home?

Whether you need a license to sell plants from home depends on your state and city. So call your state department of agriculture’s plant or nursery office before your first sale.

Also check plant tags before you divide or root anything. Some named varieties are patented, and propagating them for sale can break the patent, so leave those off your table.

Long Shots Worth Knowing About

These can pay, but most readers can’t start them within 30 days.

For garden classes, consulting and other ways to earn from a garden, see our guide on how to make money from your garden. And if you’d rather pick wild plants than grow them, learn how to make money foraging in the wilderness.

Frequently Asked Questions

The Bottom Line

The fastest money comes from plants you already own. So start with divisions this spring or fall.

If you like quiet, hands-on work like this, you’ll find more ideas in our list of side hustles for introverts. Or browse our 101 ways to make extra money.

Which way are you going to try first?