A Colorful Market Table

[Worth1]

Originally Posted by BigVanVader

Worth pots bought by the case are super cheap. Selling plants is much more profitable than selling produce. I actually am leaning more towards going the nursery route with a side business of heirloom tomatoes.

The only thing I would ((ever)) want to sell is plants never produce.
Way less time and expense involved and less risk.
The more time it takes to get to the end product the more risk factors are involved to set you back.
Plus I dont have the right land to grow that many plants to produce any amount of crop.

I just need to get used to the fact people will pay for things you couldn't give me.
Like five dollar containers of dwarf sunflowers.
I cant get over how people will pay for something that is as easy as falling off a log to do themselves.
This has been a big fault of mine for years.

Worth

[clkeiper]

Originally Posted by Worth1

The only thing I would ((ever)) want to sell is plants never produce.
Way less time and expense involved and less risk.
The more time it takes to get to the end product the more risk factors are involved to set you back.
Plus I dont have the right land to grow that many plants to produce any amount of crop.

I just need to get used to the fact people will pay for things you couldn't give me.
Like five dollar containers of dwarf sunflowers.
I cant get over how people will pay for something that is as easy as falling off a log to do themselves.
This has been a big fault of mine for years.

Worth

Worth I am amazed at the number of people who do not have any life skills at growing garden plants. They have no clue what to do where to plant or what to fertilize (if anything at all) their plants. seriously, no idea! and as for growing produce... I am amazed at how little the younger people actually want to do for themselves. the older generation needs those of us who can and do sell produce. Many of them are living in condos , hoa's or retirement community/ apartments and no place to grow a garden. we have no community gardens in our town that i know of. no one wanted to participate enough to make it work. we couldn't even get the "needy" ones to go pick their own in the section that was planted by the salvation army for them specifically. nope, they wanted it picked, washed and ready to eat.

it is a liability if you use manure that is too fresh. clean hands and tools are a must. no animals in your garden! clean containers and new bags.... I don't open myself up to the liability of recycling those plastic bags from the store. I have no idea what was in them and I can't afford to take the chance. If I was giving it away? maybe I would not worry so much over it but since I sell it.... nope.

[Cole_Robbie]

Originally Posted by Dak

Cole, what a great thread, your plants look so healthy, like they could handle a little weather and not come out for the worst.

Can you tell me what the microdwarf is in the lower front corner? It's really striking.

Thank you. The microdwarfs are the breeding work of one of our members here, dfollet. I have a few of each in the greenhouse that I am keeping as my own. One is a multi-flora, and very pretty.

[Salsacharley]

You know, after transplanting a couple hundred tomato and pepper plants from seed trays to 4" pots, and confronting the imminent project of putting them into the ground or containers, and then caring for them and harvesting them, then selling them....I'm inclined to go the nursery route next year myself.

[BigVanVader]

If nothing else it allows one to always have something pretty to sell. Next year I am definitely doing a bunch of hanging baskets. I can get 120 plug trays for 30$ pots are $1 each including hangars. 3 plugs per pot sell em for 12$ all day long.

[bower]

People who only want a plant or two, it just isn't worth it for them to invest in lights, pots, starter mix, seeds, ferts etc. Unless you're producing on a larger scale, you are also paying retail price for every necessity along the way. By the time you add it up, without even considering the labor and the risk of failure if you're not skilled and experienced, it is appealing to pay someone else a retail price for the healthy ready plants.
Every business is the same, your raw materials have to come at wholesale price and for that you must buy a wholesale quantity with the intention of producing and selling a lot. Otherwise you will never have the margins to justify your labor.
The up side of nursery is that you can produce a lot of value per unit of greenhouse area. Compared to the value of produce for the same amount of area, it is a far better return.
The down side are the risks to your product early in the season. Pest infestations, forget it, you would ruin your chance of repeat business by selling a pesty plant. Damage from bad weather, or anything else that makes the plant look less than perfect. Stress on the plant of being moved to market and then home again if it doesn't sell. Stress of being in a small pot if not sold at the optimal time. Etcetera. Potted plants are heavier and more space consuming to move from home to market.
Cole is doing a great job of this business, very clever and well thought out, especially with being flexible about the price. $4 on a rainy day, $5 on a sunny! That's the way to go home without having to lug back a bunch of beaten up, unsold plants.

[bower]

OTOH, there are benefits on the produce side, too. The $3 tomato plant that you sold would produce more than $3 worth of tomatoes if you planted it. Think about a $5 container plant vs $5 worth of tomatoes and how easy it is to carry around to market in all weather. The market for plants is mostly in early spring, unless you are selling containers that are the size they need to be for the plant to just go on growing (like the hanging baskets). Produce will be selling all season long until frost. (except for Southern Illinois where there is such a surplus of tomatoes at peak season!)
So there are upsides and downsides to both IMO.

[Cole_Robbie]

Thanks, Bower. I sold the rest of my sunflowers this morning. I did leave the price at $4 instead of five. I thought some of them looked less than perfect. But then I sold them all in two hours. They flew off the table. One woman bought seven of them. I've always preferred the approach of pricing my stuff on the cheap side, and then selling everything and going home early. That's how grandma and grandpa liked to do it.

I'm going to try to keep growing flowers over the summer. My short stuff zinnia seed should arrive in a few days. I will probably order a piece of shade cloth for the greenhouse this week as well.

[Worth1]

Better to sell cheap and run out than sell high and have a surplus.
That surplus can and will kill any profit you may have gotten from the high price.
Plus I believe in a fare honest price, not price gouging.
This many times leaves out the people of lesser income from being able to enjoy the good things in life.

Worth

[Jimbotomateo]

Originally Posted by Cole_Robbie

Thanks, Bower. I sold the rest of my sunflowers this morning. I did leave the price at $4 instead of five. I thought some of them looked less than perfect. But then I sold them all in two hours. They flew off the table. One woman bought seven of them. I've always preferred the approach of pricing my stuff on the cheap side, and then selling everything and going home early. That's how grandma and grandpa liked to do it.

I'm going to try to keep growing flowers over the summer. My short stuff zinnia seed should arrive in a few days. I will probably order a piece of shade cloth for the greenhouse this week as well.

Sounds like grandma and grandpa are pretty awesome!. . Do you have more sunflowers in the pipeline ?. Are you looking at other new plants , besides the zinnias, to add to your repertoire?. Jimbo

[BigVanVader]

Nice Cole, we also sold out of sunflowers and zinnias. The zinnias have sold out within 30 mins both times I took them...who knew they would be such a hot item? Only reason I ordered them was b/c they were on sale. I'm tempted to start some more now, thoughts?

I'm planning on trying to space out the flowers next year so I have some for every week. It just brings more customers to the booth and then they usually buy other stuff. I think plant lovers are just plant lovers, so if you have nice stuff they are going to buy it. I have a bunch of tropical milkweed growing too that I think will sell really well next year and it was pretty easy to grow. I'm going to try and save as much seed as possible so if it works out I can send you a bunch. Great for gardens and flower beds.

[Cole_Robbie]

Thanks, guys.

The zinnia I ordered is not the same as what you bought from Johnny's, Van. What size pot did you say that you put three of them in?

I have my best success with items that no one else sells. I'm thinking my dwarf basil in 4" pots will always sell, and cilantro too, but to a lesser extent. Other vendors already sell succulents, so I'm unsure about pursuing them.

I really don't know anything at all about flowers, so all of this is new to me.

[BigVanVader]

Originally Posted by Cole_Robbie

Thanks, guys.

The zinnia I ordered is not the same as what you bought from Johnny's, Van. What size pot did you say that you put three of them in?

I have my best success with items that no one else sells. I'm thinking my dwarf basil in 4" pots will always sell, and cilantro too, but to a lesser extent. Other vendors already sell succulents, so I'm unsure about pursuing them.

I really don't know anything at all about flowers, so all of this is new to me.

8x5 mum pots. I like the zinnias you ordered too. I planted a pollinator garden this year and I am going to save seeds and grow several of them to sell next year. Yarrows, milkweed, catchfly, cosmos, Joe pye weed etc. I'm going the butterfly/beneficial attracting route as that seems to fit my market. Plus most are hard to find.

[Worth1]

Has anyone tried to sell basil.
It seems to sell very well at the grocery store.
It seems every time I am there people have a pot of it they are buying.

Worth

[Cole_Robbie]

I grow a dwarf basil called Emily. It's great for containers, and I think it bolts more slowly than the typical Genovese basil. I sell it as several small plants in a 4" pot for $2.