Ideas for planting

I have a husband WHO THINKS I need to plant a garden that I can sell veggies from!
We have plenty of ground for a huge garden, and he just seems to think that I could sell veggies to make some extra money...I do love working in my flower beds, but their not making any extra income..LOL
So I would love to have some input on this, as what to plant, etc....
thanks

A lot of people sell flowers and plants. :)

First of all, I'd have a serious discussion with my husband. If HE THINKS it's a good idea, let him do it! If you really are on board, then make sure you plant veggies that are open pollinated and/or heirlooms so that you can sell the veggies and you can save seeds from the ones you keep. Then, you can sell the seeds, too!

You can also save seeds and sell them from your flowers.

Stephanie

And like doing anything you want to try to make a profit at, make a business plan. Doesn't have to be complicated, just cover the basics; all your costs, how much time you'll spend, specifically what and where and when you'll sell, how much you can sell it for, how much you want in your pocket after all costs are covered, & how much you have to sell to make that much.

If it's "work", it's not fun anymore - lol.

Really take a look at the advantages/disadvantages, start up costs and all that...

There is a forum here somewhere for market growers. I bet they would have the ideas and encouragement you need...

Kelly

I'm just getting into veg gardening myself but got a couple of things you might want to consider. First, I have heard on podcasts and read in books that it can literaly take years (5 - 7) of ammending the soil before you get good soil that is truely productive. Up until then you will have a hobby garden as the yields will be too low to support your up front costs.
Second, if you are converting a lawn into a garden, even if you remove all the sod first, you are going to be dealing with weeds sprouting from the missed seeds and rhiozomes. Five years after solarizing my butterfly garden I'm still fighting grass weeds.
Three, commercial gardening, even on a small scale is HARD work. In a family garden we endure a certain amount of backbreaking work because of the joy of eating something we produced that is tastier than what we can get in the store. With a commercial garden all you are getting is the jingle in you pocket which may not be much.
Finally, when you are tallying up the costs make sure you consider the fact you might loose an entire crop (blight, frost, drought, infestation). If you can't afford to loose every dime you put into this endevor each year, don't do it.
If this was your idea I would say take a stab at it once you assess all of the costs. But as this was your husband's idea and you seem ambivalent about it I would suggest you start with a small family plot and then decide after a couple of seasons if you want to go commercial.

I think it's a good idea. I would consider however visiting local farmers to get some resale items to keep stock and variety. plants - especially around the holidays will move. If you are like around here - you can have a stand as long as you are a 'farmer' - taking income and growing a certrain amount (not sure of the details) there may be tax incentives as well.
I consider it every year, but than I have been doing it for nearly 20 years.

it can be nearly full time, you may have to be there every day so people can count on you and your product....

however - i have an idea I have been condidering.. an 'honest box' leave food out and let people drop donations in a box.
- dunno-
joe

I too, like the honest box idea, BUT I know too many people who have abused that!
I have family members and friends, who really think their getting away with something! JUST DRIVES ME CRAZY!!!

Nothing beats eating fresh!!

jj my mother has done the honest thing for more than 50 years in front of her house by the rd and usually has extra money . The veges are in a plastic bag with the price marked on it and a mason jar to collect the money. She checks it about once an hour.Never a problem.

Deanna.... your mom makes out well enough to keep doing it... that is heartwarming, i may actually do it soon, we have lots of traffic.

I have only seen it around here for fish from long island sound (we live in a big fish/shellfish area) . a few fishermen have chest freezers in the garage with a sign on the road. they have been there for years as well.


i guess it's win some lose some, just hope you get ahead, it is a shame the 'freebie' people don't understand that if you are short, give what you can.

-joe-

I have a friend who gardens for the market. He has a full time job, high up in his local school board office. He makes more in three months selling his produce than he makes twelve months with the school board. The picking and selling take place in the summer when he is off but the plowing, planting, weeding, fertilizing, and poisoning have to be done after putting in a days work. He sells all his produce at a Farmers Market fory miles from his home. This market is strickly controlled and nothing can be sold there unless it locally grown. Because everyone know it is locally grown he sells out every day. The only problem is he must be there and have his produce out by six a.m. if he wants the early morning market which is the best one. By noon he is sold out and goes home to harvest for the next days sale. He has to do this in the hottest part of the day. It is not easy but it can be done and make a substancial amount of money but it is hard work. I'm not trying to discourage you but just to point out what your looking at.

want2bee,

Last year, I decided to sell some of my produce along with selling plants that I sprouted. The best advice I can offer is do your homework.

1) Visit local farmer's markets-- get prices for vegetables you are considering selling and also prices for plants you might consider selling

2) Figure out what does sell, ask around because some rare vegetables do great whereas others do not.

3) Find out if their is a charge to sell your stuff there. They charged me 25% commission for selling it for me which was much easier to keep up with than having to tell it out of my home.

4) Also you might have to invest into a scale which gives you the weight of your produce when you take it to the market. Because you will have to have the quantity and the price per weight (ounce/pound).

5) If you decide to sell in bags, you might want to invest into a label maker. And extra labels.

6) If you want to cut down on costs, you might consider selling the plants rather than the produce because if there is a drought or frost that ruins a crop you have no loss. If this is the case you should find a local garden co to work with. Sometimes they will trade plants for the plants you've grown for them to sell. This can be really benefitial if you are not planning on using all the seeds in your seed packet this year.

6a)Your going to have to plan what seeds and how many you are going to plant and when to plant them. You don't want to do it too early or too late into the season if your selling the plant.

7) Know that you probably will not make profit the first few years like rocketgardener stated. But my goal of selling was to at least help with the costs of consuming my own produce or help with costs in the next growing season.

I was able to sell enough last year to buy a seedling heat mat and a thermostat this year but no where near enough to pay for the cost of having a garden.
Produce: Thai burpa peppers (did great); shishito peppers (didn't do as well); Basil plants (sold in newspaper pots); and lots of dried herbs (did the best and made the most profit on).

8) And if your husband still insists on having you sell produce for profit, the him know that the Cost of Goods Sold will probably be more than Profit resulting in Net Loss for the first five years. But if he is still insistant only plant 2 to 3 more plants and anything that is extra that you are not going to consume then you can try taking it to market.

Good Luck!

Three things that are prolific and have a ready market and easy to harvest are tomatoes, squash and okra. A friend use to sell a lot of these and made a nice profit. He developed his own market by going by the banks where he lived a couple of times a week. He had everything pre-weighed and priced and bagged. Usually he'd sell out after a couple of stops.

If you want something a little lower key, you could try to do some fruits instead. Strawberries are fairly easy to grow and have a long productive season in the summer. Blueberries are finicky and often need raised beds or containers, but they are also a crowd pleaser. Pretty much any berry like black berries, raspberries, and elderberries are oft looked forward to crops. Hrm, I have a Goji berry that I bought before learning of the hype about it. The thing is pretty hardy and easy to grow if you want a specialty "superfood" to sell.

Really though, do what you want and put in a level of work that will make you happy. If you don't want to do it, just tell him he needs to do it himself. I love my orchard and edibles garden, but if it is work it's not fun. I have it for fun, not for work and it makes me happy that way.

For long term growing, think about doing a backyard orchard like me. There are some clever tricks for growing in much smaller space and earlier fruiting in their lifetimes. Techniques like multiple trees in a single hole, pleaching, successive ripening, espaliers, hedgerows and multigraphed trees. It'd still take time to get them settled and able to produce fruit, but I find it much lower maintence compared to a veggie garden.

We have a retired farmer down the street and now he does just the "honesty" box for our town. That may be a good way to start out if you're not sure you want to take on a grand expense and time away from your flower beds to be at the farmer's markets. But then again your husband may enjoy selling at the farm's market. Back to my neighbor, he just has a small stand covered by an umbrella and 3 or 4 small baskets outside everyday. Start with things that everyone wants in the summer cucumbers, green and yellow squash (if you want to battle squash bugs), tomatoes, peppers and eggplant. Or just do a few veggies that you have grown before and sell your separated perennial flowers and seeds. I love the idea of an orchard that sounds beautiful and fun!! Good luck!

That sounds like a such a good idea I wish enough cars went down my road to do that.

There are lots of approaches. A person who just likes to garden might simply set up a "trust" stand at the end of the drive and set out some produce of the day pre-measured and priced, fasten a box with a slot in it to a big boulder at the end of the drive, make an attractive sign, and let people buy produce unattended. There is the risk that some people wouldn't pay; but it's not a very high risk proposition - you only lose stuff that you may not have been able to use anyway. This way, you could tend the garden and sell veggies at the same time. If DH objects to the way you are doing it, let him man the stand or take the veggies to the farmers' market.

Of course, if you are serious about making money, then read books about how to grow produce and herbs for profit. And figure out how to sell them to local restaurants at high prices. Then make a business plan and invest in the stuff required to do it. Cedar Rapids is big enough to have some pretty serious restaurants, so there must be some market for premium veggies. This approach, though, will be a lot more work.

If people find out you have good fresh garden produce for sale they will come a long way to buy it. A few years ago we found out that a lady had fresh vine ripe tomatoes for sell. She had built a green house and was raising tomatoes in the winter. It was the most out of the way place you ever saw. She had to get folks to call in and place orders and let her call them when she had them filled.

I sell to some local restaurants. I don't always have enough so they offer "specials" of what I do bring in. I don't think it is really that hard. I like taking my produce to a small # of places its much less time consuming then a little here and there and I know ahead of time that they will take it. I also try to grow stuff that they want so its sold before it ever ripens. Like Jim said about the lady who grew tomatoes during the winter, I have a waiting list for my greens and salad blends. All I have to do is harvest, wash and deliver.

Want2be ~ why don't you think about doing what you enjoy? Sell flowers... cut flowers, potted flowers, rooted blooming shrubs, etc. If that were my desire, I would do things that are out of the ordinary and create a niche market. I would research what the box stores sell on a seasonal basis and I would steer another direction. There can be big business providing certain cut flowers to the flower shops but that would have to be researched also.

If an edible garden is new to you, (and if you ARE interested) I would start small and see if I could produce enough to feed my family on a year around basis from it first before I considered selling. After all, that is really putting money in your own pocket these days. The only selling of vegies I would do would be the excess we couldn't consume.

Just a couple of thoughts... pod

Get in touch with Agricultural Extension--seems like this is right down their alley.

Jim41, I, too, am in Louisiana (central), and was wondering if many folks your way had roadside stands by their homes in which to sell what they grown. Thinking about it, and just wondering. Thanks, Dona

Thanks for all the advice....
I really would start SMALL and grow from there...I would like to incorpate making the spice blends and seasoning also, and selling retro aprons and the cut flowers....the aprons I can making during the winter months while being stuck inside!!!

I can see the aprons, flapping in the breeze being a good attention getter for a veg stand.

Cocodrie 11, Around where I live you don't see any road side stands. At Winnsboro and Delhi there are a couple of permanent stands that sell produce. If you get up around Epps and Oak Grove (big tomato producing areas) you see more. At Mangham there are several commercial produce farms and they all sell direct from there homes as well as wholesale. One thing you do see in our area is a lot of peas being sold locally. Most of these take orders by phone and call back when they have your peas picked and shelled.