Easy Backyard Cash Crops

Simple Cash Crops From Your Backyard

Would you like your backyard landscaping to beautify your property and earn you cash at the same time? Not such a novel idea and we offer you some great ideas of how to generate cash from backyard cash crops today. Depending on space you can actually earn a lot of money off your backyard with certain crops that bring in high dollars. This is also a great family project to involve your children in and make it a family affair.

What Crops Bring in High Dollars

There are many crops these days that lend themselves to backyard landscaping and farming that bring in high dollar amounts and move quickly because they are in high demand. The best crops for you to grow are ones that you enjoy, plants that sell well locally, and plants that adapt well to your growing zone. Be sure to test your soil before you get started to make sure your soil supports the plants you are growing

We look at these parameters when choosing cash crops for the backyard; demand, cost of growing, yield per acre, length of growing cycle, climate, labor required, storage, and transportability. We share with you some of the best options for the backyard cash crops below.

Blueberries as a Cash Crop

Blueberries are a wonderful cash crop for your backyard. Blueberries don’t take up that much space and they make for some great landscaping. If you pick a few different types of blueberries, you can stagger your harvest times and have an ongoing crop through most of the summer. Blueberries yield 5-10 pounds a plant. when you break that down to an 8- ounce container you can sell between 10-20 containers per bush. Depending on where you are located blueberries go for $3-$6 a pint and more for organic blueberries.

Goji Berries as a Cash Crop

Goji berries are simple to grow and each one can grow to 13 feet tall. Think fence line when thinking of where to plant goji berries. Goji berries can be sold to grocery stores, restaurants, and Farmer’s markets. They are know for being a good-tasting high-end snack. Goji berry plants can easily be ordered online. Maximum production is reached in 3-5 years but they yield fruit before that time. You can easily yield 2-6 pounds of goji berries from one bush. Goji berries bring about $30 a pound depending on where you live.

Oyster Mushrooms as a Cash Crop

Gourmet mushrooms like oyster mushrooms are often used by chefs and home chefs in their dishes. Oyster mushrooms grow quickly and are inexpensive to grow compared to other mushroom varieties. Oyster mushrooms can be grown indoors and outdoors. Oyster mushrooms can be harvested within as little as 3-4 weeks, making them a fast cash crop. Growing oyster mushrooms on hay bales is pretty inexpensive. Figure hay, mushroom spawn, plastic bags, and you are under $100 to start. To give you an idea, utilizing 200 square feet you can produce 800 pounds of mushrooms per crop worth approximately $30,000 at current prices.

Microgreens & Sprouts as a Cash Crop

Microgreens and sprouts is a growing trend in food. Microgreens and sprouts are more nutrient-dense than full-lifecycle vegetables. Microgreens such as arugula and other leafy vegetables are really in demand as well as all varieties of sprouts from alfalfa to garbanzo beans. Both microgreens and sprouts are easy to grow and they don’t take much space or money to get started. The cost to set up microgreens for harvest is about $3-5 a tray. A tray of microgreens will yield anywhere from 1/4 pound to over a 1/3 pound per tray. You can make an average of $15-$30 for each tray of microgreens you produce.

Sprouts are just as inexpensive to start growing. Figure a dozen 1-quart mason jars and your sprout seeds. People sprout everything from alfalfa seeds to radish seeds, lentils to garbanzos. The more exotic the sprouts the more you can charge for your sprouts. Of course both organic microgreens and sprouts bring in higher prices.

Lavender & Other Herbs as a Cash Crop

Lavender makes for beautiful landscaping and is a cash crop that continues to be in demand. Both culinary and medicinal herbs have had a continuous demand and bring good prices with organic herbs bringing the highest prices. The most popular culinary herbs are basil, chives, cilantro, and oregano. Did you know that there are over 45 different species of oregano alone? The most popular medicinal herbs are lavender for both dried flower arrangements and used for soaps, scrubs, sachets, tinctures, and making essential oils. The other popular medicinal herbs are valerian, chamomile, feverfew, evening primrose, and goldenseal. All of these are relatively easy to grow and make wonderful landscaping plants.

Garlic as a Cash Crop

Garlic is always in demand both for culinary purposes and also medicinal purposes. Garlic is easy to grow and takes up very little space, it can be planted alongside other vertical plants since it is a root herb. Organic garlic brings the best price. Conventional garlic brings $1.25 to $2.50 a pound and organic garlic can bring $6-$9 a pound. A 4’x4′ bed will hold approximately 64 plants or a 25′ row with 6″ spacing between cloves would yield 10 pounds for every one pound planted. Garlic also helps keep pests out of your garden and can yield fresh garlic for your cooking and lots to sell as a backyard cash crop.

Other Backyard Cash Crops

There are many other backyard cash crops to choose from. We have chosen the crops that are the easiest to grow, costs are relatively low to get started, and yield the highest amount of money. Depending on your climate, time, and money to invest you could also try almonds, coconuts, ginseng, saffron, bamboo, hemp, sunflowers, or pumpkins.

When thinking of your next DIY or construction project look no further than Shed Windows and More for an outstanding selection of everything you could need for smaller building construction. We have a large selection of double pane windows and Florida-rated windows for those of you that want the best windows for your home remodeling project.