Usually the main motivation for planting fruit trees is simply the pleasure of maintaining a tree and eating the delicious fruit it produces. However, in my personal experience, it is possible to go on to a fairly lucrative venture by operating a fruit stand with fruit trees or attending a farmers market.
When I moved to Florida, I was a little saddened by the fact that I had left behind years and years of hard work to get my lawn to that point. However, I was able to channel this depression into a desire to spontaneously acquire a new and more beautiful garden and lawn setup. The house I moved into was nice, but the previous owner clearly had no gardening skills. The lawn was barren by any features other than grass. Lots and lots of grass.
I decided that since I am now in a new environment that I had never experienced before, I would grow some trees that I had not had the opportunity to grow before. I decided to do a really Floridian job, and get some orange trees. It was easier than I thought. I've had some disastrous experiences planting trees in the past, and planting orange trees wasn't a problem. I decided to go with Valencia oranges, simply because they are the most popular orange to grow and almost everyone has been able to grow them successfully.
After choosing what kind of orange I wanted, I decided to pick three trees. It took me about 3 days to dig all the required holes and plant the trees. It was a flawless operation, and I really felt like an expert. The trees grew healthy and straight, and fruiting was expected during that time of year.
For three or four years, my orange trees didn't bear much fruit. Of course, I never ran out of oranges for my personal use, and I drank almost nothing but orange juice, but I didn't have the strange amount you might expect from 3 trees. I wouldn't say that I was disappointed with my trees. I was happy to get any fruit. But I had heard that people got hundreds of thousands of oranges from many trees, and I was a little puzzled why I wasn't so lucky.
About a year after that, my orange trees literally blew up. I went out one day and saw almost 5 times more oranges than I had grown in any previous season. I thought I was seeing things, but they all got stuck around. I harvested so many oranges that year, I hardly knew what to do with them all. That's when my neighbor suggested to me that I sell at a farmer's market. I found out when they move, and rented a spot for my truck (some farmers markets allow you to come and sell for free, but mind rent just to park your truck).
Within the first day at the farmers market, I had returned all the money I had spent on the original trees. My oranges were really a hit, and I was getting more customers than the other participants. After that week, I didn't miss a day at the farmers market. It wasn't enough money to live on, but it was a decent amount to sell some oranges. Besides, what else would I do with them? I certainly couldn't eat them all alone. So if you have more fruit, you should never throw it away or try to eat it yourself. Take it to the farmers market and try to get some extra cash for your gardening labor. If your products are delicious, you can be a hit among consumers.
You must be logged in to post a comment.