The study examined the characteristics of market gardens in Anambra State Nigeria. Questionnaire was
used to collect data from 48 respondents using snow ball sampling procedure. Descriptive statistics
were used to analyze data. Majority (79.2%) of the respondents were sole owners of the gardens. About
38% of the respondents used personal savings as initial investment in their operations. A greater
proportion (31%) of the respondents invested N111,000 - N140,000 in establishing gardens. The output
of the gardens include Citrus aurantifolia (100%), hedge seedlings such as Ixora coccinea (100%),
Solanum melongena (87.5%), medicinal seedlings (e.g. Ocimium viridus) and grasses (52.1%). All the
respondents sold their produce at farm gates. Majority (98.0%) of the operators used wheel barrow for
transportation of the produce for sale. Watering, planting in polythene bags, and manure application
were practiced by all the respondents. All the respondents used rain harvested water in their gardens.
However, 60.4% of the gardeners dug shallow wells. Some (29.2%) of the respondents had pruning saw,
25.0% raffia rope and 22.9% budding knife as tools used for budding. Constraints encountered by
farmers include difficulty in securing land, lack of capital and ability to control fire outbreak.