Gardening is fun, right?  You’re working outside, getting your hands in the soil, breathing fresh air, listening to the birds, harvesting the fruits of your labour.  For many people it is a peaceful hobby.  But how do you make it into a career?

The Bethany Garden Apprentices have asked us to shed light on the way to make a living with gardening.  Not only do you have to be very good with the gardening tasks, but you also need to know a thing or two about planning the garden so that you are growing what people will love, and buy.  You need to grow it in the right quantity, and at the right time.  You also need to leave space in the garden for soil-building crops, like clover and rye.  At the end of the season, it is important to ‘put the garden to bed’, by planting cover crops so the soil is protected over winter.  But you also need to know what you are going to plant in the spring.  This all takes a lot of planning.  Everything from ordering seed to mapping the garden rotation needs to be in the plan.  David Greenberg will be sharing all his ‘rules of thumb’ that make planning easier in the afternoon.

The other element that is needed to make a career out of gardening is financial.  This includes having money for garden inputs and other expenses.  Keeping track of expenses and income.  Tax reporting.  Forecasting, backcasting, and looking at other garden models.  Jen Greenberg will lead a discussion of these elements.

Please join us for this workshop from 10am to 4pm on Saturday April 11 at Bethany Centre, 45 Bay St., Antigonish.  Lunch is included.  Cost: $20.  Please register ahead by April 4 with Jen Greenberg (jenredfox@gmail.com).