Need Some Of Your Thoughts!

Aldaniti

Aldaniti

At the Start
Joined
Dec 21, 2005
Messages
2,360
Location
Wickford
I'm going to be doing a few bootsales this spring to raise some funds for the small pet rescue I run, I'm concentrating on plants, I don't what to do shrubs or bedding plants as there is always lots of stalls selling those :rolleyes: I want to sell something a little different! so lets say you were wandering around your local bootsale & you came across

A Hanging Baskets filled with Tumbling type tomato plants ready to hang
" " " Strawberry Plants " "


Chilli Peppers

Would you be tempted to buy them? if you were What would you pay for them?

Any thoughts & ideas would be gratefully received :)

Helen
 
Helen - you need MarkEE !

I would think those ideas would sell very well - many folk like to have something a little different to display in their gardens and those tumbling toms are delicious. I have a load of seeds that I must start to do something about soon - you've given me a timely reminder!

As to cost, I think you need to cost out your seed, compost, container, and then add a sensible p[rofit margin - I have no idea what that is for garden items, though!
 
Aldiniti, hanging baskets filled with anything colourful or unsual always catches my eye!

As to cost, nice to have a price for one, then make it cheaper if they buy two or three. As Songsheet says, work out your costs, having hopefully brought in bulk, and then add your margin. You can always cost up for your first car boot, and then work out if you need to change your price for the next one.

Make sure you keep them nicely watered and have something useful for people to wrap around them to put them in the car.

Put up a nice big sign advertising your rescue centre, and hopefully the £'s will roll in quickly. Put a small bowl down as well for any donations, as people might well put their loose change in there as well! B)

Best of Luck!
 
In theory the costing of each basket if you made it up yourself is
£1.20p for two Tom Plants, £1 Basket (local cheapy shop) 80p compost = £3 per basket, Would you pay say £4.99p for a tom basket?
 
My local garden centre sell chilli pepper plants for £1.29-£1.99. I was very happy to buy one of them and got quite a few peppers off it. I would be tempted to buy more if cheaper as they are excellent for freezing. Good Luck Aldaniti.
 
I have done a few bootsales with Surplus plants and find they sell very well, especially in spring. I did seem to be one of the few sellers with plants for sale though. If there are a lot of sellers offering flora you will obviously need something eyecatching to sell. I had two large bamboo plants that I could have sold 5 times each for the tenner I asked. You aren't going to grow one of these from seed before spring though :P.

I would think your best bet of selling the plants is if they are in very good nick. Pristine plants will alwaya sell better than tatty, ill cared for stock so try to give them the best care when growing on. Tomatoes and peppers seem to be a good idea. Try other quick growing veg as well - maybe some herbs, Martin mentions mint. If you had a nice big tray of herbs, there would be an aroma attracting buyers as well as the visual display.

A sign advertising your charitable intentions will also help.


Very best of luck, let us know how you do.
 
MarkEE: wonder if you could help with this, please? We have a HUGE Yukka tree growing on one of the landings in our flats. Given that the flats are for the over-60s, the stairways/landings should be kept clear in the event of an evacuation, or stretchers needed. (We have a lot of over-90s, too!) The Yukka is twin-forked and is now around 8' tall. Would it be worth anything to sell, or could it be cut into two and one part re-grown? It is posing a safety hazard now and needs to go, but none of us wants it just thrown out, poor thing!
 
I'll try Jon.

Is it Yucca elephantipes do you know? This is the usual houseplant Yucca you see everywhere - B&Q/IKEA etc sell thuosands.

yucca.gif


It wouldn't be worth an awful lot Jon because they grow quickly and are readily available. You can cut it down though and get three plants very easily. Make a sharp, clean cut just above the fork on each 'head'. Pot these two cuttings into a very free draining mix of sharp sand, horticultural grit, and some john innes compost. 1 part of each is about right but don;t worry too much about the right balance. As long as it drains very well. Water once and then leave it in warm, bright spot. It is almost the right time of year because light levels are increasing and the plants will readily start to root. Don't be tempted to water again because until they have roots they cannot take any moisture on board and rot may set in. In a few months roots should be visible through the drainage holes. Then you can give it another watering. Some people advocate placing a plastic bag over the plant for retaining moisture and/or removing lower leaves so less is lost through transpiration. They are very tough plants and I wouldn't bother.


The base of the plant will start to grow once more below the cut. You can plant it out of doors in mild Brighton. This 'houseplant' will happily take -6 degrees. Plant in a sunny, south facing, well drained spot. I have one outside my front window that is hardly marked after this cold winter.
 
Apologies for calling it a 'yukka' and not a 'yucca'! :P Oooops - another booboo might be that it's not the one you show, Mark, but something similar. Its leaves are a much brighter green, non-spiky, and downward-turned; the trunk does look a bit wrinkly, but not very elephantine!

I'll write out what you say, though, Mark (and for which many thanks for the time and trouble), and I'll give it to our little group of avid gardeners in the flats. They've made a fantastic job of outdoor plants for our roof garden, and I think I'm going to suggest we do a small, massed planting of indoor plants for our foyer, rather than the ghastly plastic effort from the manageress! The yucca could then feature in that quite safely, rather than leering Triffid-like at the ancients tottering about the stairs.
 
Any chance of a pic Jon? It may be a Dracaena not a Yucca, but you may still be able to do the cutting trick.
 
Ermmmm... ah... uhhh... no. :D I haven't got the equipment with which to scan and post onto here. My level of photographic expertise is the £5 throwaway camera still in its wrapping in my desk drawer! Maybe it is a dracaena - it's (now I really think properly!) not a yucca. Greyish, semi-smooth stem, no furrows in it. It grows like mad, though!
 
Don't know what their diameter is, Mark, but they're 9 inches in circumference on both stems. The spread of the thing is about 4 ft. across by 8 ft. high! :o
 
Back
Top