Adam Castle had a love for gardening and a vision for a business. What he needed was help figuring out where to start.
In 2023, Castle found that help through Can-Do Kalamazoo — the nonprofit small business development organization serving entrepreneurs in the Kalamazoo area. The experience set him on the path to launching Green Man Gardening, a business rooted in sustainability, food security, and community well-being.
Finding a Niche
When Castle looked at the gardening and landscaping landscape in Southwest Michigan, he saw plenty of garden centers, nurseries, and landscapers. What he didn’t see was someone focused specifically on helping homeowners combine native plant landscaping with raised bed kitchen gardens, working with people at home to build food-producing, ecologically healthy outdoor spaces.
“There wasn’t someone that was focusing specifically on working with the homeowner to do native plant landscaping alongside raised bed gardens,” Castle said. “So I figured something I wanted to try to do — I just didn’t quite know where to start. And that’s what brought me to Can-Do.”
What Can-Do Provided
Castle credits Can-Do with teaching him the fundamentals of running a small business and connecting him to a broader ecosystem of support.
“Can-Do taught me how to be a small business owner,” he said. “They exposed me to all the amazing resources that exist in the Kalamazoo area — professionals that specialize in helping small business owners be successful.”
The organization’s one-on-one and small group support stood out. “They would meet with you one-on-one, or three or four on one — sometimes with their whole team — to really just ensure that you are successful, to answer your specific questions, to really just help you as you get going with your business journey.”
For Castle, the impact went beyond the business itself. “It’s something [I’ll] be forever grateful for, because they’ve helped make not only Green Man successful, but they’ve helped make my current life possible.”
Green Man Gardening Today
Green Man Gardening now serves homeowners across 10 counties in West and Southwest Michigan, offering consultation, design, coaching, installation, and maintenance services for raised bed kitchen gardens, foodscapes, and native plant landscapes. The business is built on environmentally friendly practices and aims to help people improve their food security, local environment, and family well-being by growing more of their own food at home.
Castle describes the work as a form of stewardship — and the rewards at the end of a day in the garden as something hard to replicate.
“It feels peaceful,” he said. “It feels as if I did good work that day. It feels as if there’s nothing else I would’ve rather done.”
And when clients harvest something they’ve grown for the first time? “You definitely just feel that sense of accomplishment.”
Green Man Gardening serves 10 counties in West and Southwest Michigan. Learn more at greenmangardening.com.
Can-Do Kalamazoo supports aspiring and existing small business owners through education, planning, and one-on-one coaching. Learn more at candokalamazoo.org.
This video was made possible with support from the Harold and Grace Upjohn Foundation.
