The learning garden

A lot of people want to learn how to grow things in their garden and how to build things for their garden. This gives you an excellent opportunity to create a stunning earning garden that can look however you want it to and that can contain any plants you want it to. The way to achieve this is to turn your garden in to a teaching garden. A garden where you offer classes where people can learn how to achieve different goals in their garden. To offer classes can be very profitable. It is often possible to earn a couple of thousand extra each year by offering one or two one day classes every weekend. I recommend that you hold a number of different classes so that people can keep coming back to different classes. How much you charge depends on where you live and what you teach. Anything from USD20 – 100 might be okay. More if you offer a class that runs over several Saturdays or Sundays.

You do not need to be an expert in all things gardening the hold classes. This is a common misconception. It is enough that you know how to do the things you teach about. You do not need to know about everything else. It usually does not take very long to learn everything you need to know to hold a class about a topic. You can usually learn everything you need to know in a week or two. The internet is an excellent source of information. Always make sure that you have done everything you are going to teach multiple times before you hold your first class. It is important that you have done it more then once so you are ready for all problems that might arise. It is also very important that you make sure that you got all the tools and supplies you are going to need before the class starts. If you do not have everything you need then you can easily get a bad reputation. A good reputation will make it a lot easier to get people to your classes and earn money.

The customer first

It is very important to always put the people that take the classes first and to make sure they have a good time. It is important that they have fun during they day. The people who take your classes needs to have a good time and get a good experience. It is not enough that they learn stuff. They come to you to learn but also to have a good time.

Make sure to plan a day that will give them the experience they are looking for and offer them some snacks and refreshments during the day. Try to find a way to offer them more then they are expecting. You should also try to turn it into a social thing where the different people get to know each other and where they have time to talk during the day.

Do not try to teach them too much at the same time. I recommend that you focus completely on one single thing if you are offering day courses. You can include more in the course of you stretch it over several days.

Classes to offer

Below you can read different suggestion for classes you can offer. The classes I recommend below are often very popular and it is easy to find people who want to pay to learn these things.

Build your own tandoori oven

A lot of people enjoy naan bread and other Indian food and would like to have a tandoori oven in their garden. Making a tandoori oven is relatively easy and something you can learn during a one day class. The class can be combined with a class on how to make Naan bread and tandoori chicken and the day can end with every one eating the food that you have cooked in the new tandoori oven. This gives the attendees a very good experience and it is easy to make this a very popular class. Price the class so that you can offer every one a good Indian dinner and some beer at the end of the day.

Make sure that you build the tandoori oven so that it is movable. That way you can sell the ovens that you made during your classes. This allows you to earn more money.

Build your own wood pizza oven

Pizza ovens are another type of oven that many people want in their home to be able to make good wood fired pizza at home. To make a pizza oven is more complex than making a tandoori oven but it is still something that you can do in a day.

I recommend that you plan a day where you teach the attendees to build an oven by building one and where you later teach them how to make their own pizza. Cook the pizza in a different oven then the one you built that day. The pizza oven you built should be allow to dry before you start using it.

By ending the class with a pizza dinner you end on a high note and people will leave happy and recommend your class to their friends.

You can once again sell the oven you made.

Growing your own vegetables

Growing vegetables is very easy but there is despite this a lot of people willing to pay to take a class to learn how to do this. These classes have to be equal parts knowledge, equal parts encouragement that the attendees can grow their own vegetables.

Always design the class based on the area where you live in. Do not copy anyone elses class. The vegetables and techniques that are suitable in one area are not necessary suitable in other areas.

These classes can be kept both during the spring and later in the season. The interest is often larger in the spring but the result if often better later in season when you can see growing plants and when you can eat a salad from freshly picked vegetables.

You can earn extra money by selling seeds after the classes.

How to build a pond

How to build a pond is more suitable for a 2 day course than it is for a single day course. It is possible to do it in a day but that is hard work. It is better to do it over two days. It gives a better experience. If you do not want a lot of ponds in your garden it can be better to offer to build it at one of the attendees garden provided that they pay for the material. It is a win win solution as they get a cheap pond and you get a good place to hold your classes.

You can travel and offer these classes on different cities where you found someone who want to host them. This increase your target audience a lot compared to if you only offer the class locally.

Grafting

Grafting can be a very interesting hobby and it is something that a lot of people want to learn. Grafting allow you to grow different types of apples, pears etc on the same tree. This allows you to have a wider selection of fruit in your garden. Most people think that grafting is very hard but this is not really that case. Grafting does not have to be hard. At least not if you try to craft compatible plants. Grafting takes a few months to learn but once you know it you can teach others by offering classes.

Other topics

This was just a few examples of the classes you can offer. Use your fantasy and design your own classes based on your knowledge and local demand.