# Sticky  Got any ideas?



## jackie c

I will be selling the regular early veggies at farmers market this spring, radish, lettuce onion, herbs and some plants such as herbs, tomato, pepper and such. Has anybody got ideas of what else I can fill up the sparse spring tables with?


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## Queen Bee

Do you do crafts or paint? --birdhouses, birdfeeders, garden signs or maybe you have honey or can purchase it from a local beekeeper. I would find something to 'fill' the tables with! Or if you sew make garden aprons...Purchase heavy canvas and make the ones with bibs and pockets.. or maybe kitchen aprons and matching dishtowels from fabrics( that look like they are from the fifties )with cherries, berries and herbs. Go to yardsales, goodwills, junk stores and buy baskets, sew liners to go in them and fill them with you fresh veggies as displays. But be sure to price them JUST in case some one wants a basket.. You know "Don't sit there and "think' about IF you want to sell them".. Good luck. I wish I had the time to sell at the market--maybe in a few yrs...

You could order bulk flower seeds and re-package them in your own envelopes and labels.. Just be sure to put the orgin of the seeds and the yr on the back of the package.. You can print your own labels on the computer.. In black and white with the flower (make it look old and like it is done with pen and ink).


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## fordson major

small evergreen trees ,garden stakes,row labels,bat house's, bird houses ,flower pots ,dandilion greens or heads.round here started tomatoe plants sell very well. depends on the market and weather lots of sun gets people thinking of there own garden. rain and bugs they look for fresh produce.


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## moonwolf

For plants to sell as garden transplants I might add: Celery, Leeks, Red Oniion, Brussel Sprouts, Red Cabbage, and other brassicas less common in the local nurseries. As it warms, then offer some starter plants like squash (summer and winter), melon, cucumber, maybe even asparagus and more of the warmer weather herbs to transplant. Ornamental cabbage and kale plants add a bit of variety and can be planted earlier.


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## Cyngbaeld

Have you thought of buying bulk bulbs and forcing a few each week so as to have a steady supply?


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## healing herbals

We have several "local" meaning surrounding communites, farm markets. But the largest in town, that started 2x wk last year, has joined a market assoc and they are now saying all plants have to be from nursery stock. I think that stinks. But, they are not the only game in town, so I will be looking into other markets.


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## jackie c

Thanks guys! Some great ideas here :worship: 

Healing Herbs, yes there are a couple of farmers markets here with 'rules', thats why I am starting my own! I have a few 'connections' and am getting some help with my ideas.


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## Jack in VA

When I planted Daffodils last fall I put a few in pots. During a warm spell last month, they started sprouting. I brought them inside and stuck them near a window. Yesterday I had my first bloom! The ones in the ground probably won't bloom for another month. Now I wish I had planted them all in pots. Could have had potted blooming plants by Valentines Day. At $4.00 for 50 bulbs, I could probably make a decent profit at $3.00 a piece. The bonus is what didn't sell this year could sell next year or go back in my yard.


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## Sylvia

If you have clear bottles available (i.e. old wine bottles, bottles from the dollar store - but replace with good clean corks) you might consider making herbal vinegars. Keep the whole herbs floating in them as well as whole garlic, baby onions, etc. then seal the cork with wax and decorate with a raffia bow. Have a few business cards made up, trim the edge with pinking shears, holepunch a corner and loop into the bow. On the other side of the card handwrite the type of vinegar and contents. 

Here's a link with 71 ideas for vinegars!
http://www.recipelink.com/mf/0/48795

Have fun!
Sylvia


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## jackie c

Great! More ideas!  Keep 'em coming.

I have a good supply of perennial flowers that need divinding, and will sell off all the extras as perennial starts. I also have literally thousands of everygreen seedlings throughout my property, never thought of them as income! Maybe start some saskatoon seedlings. Herbal oils to go along with the vinegars...


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## HilltopDaisy

How about homemade dog cookies? I bake them in cute shapes (use cookie cutters), put in a ziplock bag with a stick-on label, including an ingrediant listing. And I love this idea.....Make homemade pancake mix and corn muffin mix, maybe even bread machine mix, put in plastic bags. Sew muslin bags, 4" x8", and slip in your baking mix. Make ingrediant list on business card, punch hole in corner and secure with thin ribbon. I've seen mixes like this sell for $5-6 for a 1 lb. bag.


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## ajaxlucy

If you can knit, crochet or sew, you might make some "market bags" that people can use to do their shopping.


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## 3girls

I have a simple dishcloth "recipe". I used multicolored cotton thread (Sugar n'Spice from Wall Mart, Fred Meyer, Mary Maxim) and knit these every time I had the TV on. I packaged them up two per pkg., and I think I sold them for $3-5 per pkg. Many people bought them for gifts. 

I loved using these things, but the multiple gifts I made for family weren't so successful. I would use one per day and throw them in the wash. They preferred nasty old sponges. 

Size 9 needle. Cast on 4 st.
Row 1: K, across
 Row 2: K2, yo, K to end of row
Repeat Row 2 until there are 43 st. on the needle.
Start Decrease row: K1, K2 tog, yo, K2 tog, K to end.
Continue working dec. row until 4 st remain. Cast off.


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## Randy Rooster

turnips, different types of mustard


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## lonelyfarmgirl

ok, how about this. Its great to grow a hundred starts of what ever to sell, but what do you sell them in? Paper cups? Suggestions?


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## PonderosaQ

Lonelyfarmgirl, plastic cups with a hole in them for drainage would be a little more durable than paper cups. Then keep your eye open for any chance to get small plastic pots used and cheap. I used to get mine from a small store that potted things up into planters.

PQ


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## SuperMom

Not sure if you ever do any canning, but if you do some people really enjoy eating home made canned foods. Some of the favorites of my friends and family are marmalade, jelly, jam, preserves, apple butter, apple sauce, and stewed tomatoes. Could you--or would you want to-- put something like that out on your other tables, to sell.


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## annie.oaktree

Edible flowers in a salad mix are always a hit at the farmers market!


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## bluemule31

Kale is gaining rapidly in popularity down here in the southern usa..........used to be that turnip greens were the top seller with collards and mustard coming in behind and most of the buyers were "old country folk". But Kale has gained some press about being the most nutritious of the greens, even more so than spinach and more people seem to be asking for it..........maybe that's a possibility if you haven't already thought about it. Also, I am going to plant several long rows of super sugar snap peas for us to eat raw and stir fry.....maybe they would grow up there in the land of the blue nose?


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## acde

If you can, then maybe a display of some goods and a sign up sheet for a lesson.


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## willow_girl

lonelyfarmgirl said:


> ok, how about this. Its great to grow a hundred starts of what ever to sell, but what do you sell them in? Paper cups? Suggestions?


8 oz. styrofoam cups ... about $12 for 1,000 at Sam's Club. These work great for smaller plants like pepper and herb seedlings.

I use the 20 oz. ones for my tomato plants.


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## idigbeets

1000 count case of 3 or 4 inch plastic pots for greenhouse can be found under $100. IMO looks better than styrofoam cups on a table.. easier to fit into boxes/trays etc.


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## Jan in CO

If all else fails, you could print out some ways to use herbs and have the sheets fill in those empty spots. Put something on top to keep them from blowing away. Salad dressing recipe using herbs, etc. If you crocheted the shopping bags from recycled grocery store bags, even better.


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## Graceless

lonelyfarmgirl said:


> ok, how about this. Its great to grow a hundred starts of what ever to sell, but what do you sell them in? Paper cups? Suggestions?


Raid the recycling drop offs for water bottles cut the tops off...
Also if you cut the soda bottles from the side it makes a great planter for chives and small herbs like that...
I also found some FUN toy cars made from recycled detergent bottles and caps with paint!! Too funny!

Hm.. you could sell shopping bags...made from feed sacks or Tshirts...
Lots of ideas really just need to sort them out on paper at some point...


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## Bob NH

I started about 350 tomatoes + 72 peppers + 30 eggplant + 30 broccoli for a community garden in 2012 and tried a couple of things after my supplier ran out of 3" peat pots. I was transplanting seedlings into the pots.

One that seemed to work well was to use the flimsy sandwich bags (not ziplock) that come in large quantities for little money. I also had access to used aluminum pans, about 10 x 20 inches, such as used by caterers. I filled the bags with peat-based potting material (peat, perlite, and vermiculite with a little lime and fertilizer). Wet the stuff so it packs well, fill the bag, punch a few holes in the bottom of each bag with a paring knife, and put 18 of them in each of the pans (3x6). The pans can also be punched for drainage.

Because they are supporting each other they don't tip over. 

The units are easily separated and bags easily stripped off without damaging the roots. They could be shared or sold individually.

I also tried using paper towels (the half size) formed as a liner of a small 4" pot, filled with peat mixture, and immersed in a bucket of water to firm them up. They also fitted 18 to a pan. The roots grew through them which tended to cause them to grow together a bit, but not too badly. The paper was not removed at planting.

I am not going to use peat pots again because when I pulled the plants in the fall many of them had not decomposed well.


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## Bob Huntress

I made some wooden trays and they work well and I used a few coffee cans for my hot peppers this past spring and it also worked out well. In the end, my hot peppers were about 3/4 the size of those at Wal Mart, yet, very flavorfull, which means hot. Tubers don't seem to grow so well around here, however. I think the large clay amounts have something to do with this. My beets had great greens, yet no appreciable beet root, but that's for another thread.


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## Guilt Trip

Recipe Cards, Most of the Young People would like to buy fresh vegetables but they really don't have a clue as how to prepare them, So have about three recipe cards for each vegetable (make them nice) they are 50 cents each or free with the purchase of the type of vegetable. Make the cards for fast and easy recipes. 

Tomatoes, Salsa, 
(My Favorite, slice tomatoes, pour a little zesty Italian dressing over sprinkle with Gotta, Monzerlla or your choice of cheese throw in the refrigerate to cool down and that is Quick and good).

Believe me I saw A Fish Salesman work his product this way and WOOOW, Let us know how you do , Good Luck, GRADY


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## crabtree

Blueberry spouts,grape, blackberry & raspberry layered cuttings.
asparagus seedlings, garlic ready to plant in the garden in early spring, sweet potatoes slips & squash after fear of late frost.
Concrete stepping stones,gourd bird houses,seashells to mulch around container plants.

Wire baskets/ planters,Japanese tree lamp, Hand toaster,fish griller, tin can candle lantern.
Topiary frame,fruit bowls.
All from a book like WIRE MAGIC.., that you can make in the cold Winter by the fire place & sale in the Spring.
You can get the book from the county library for free, tax dollar at work for you.
Tons of garden woodworking.
Grape vine art.


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## Kasota

I sell herb jars like hotcakes at my craft fairs. 

I take a quart sized wide mouth canning jar (but you could use any clear glass jar) and toss some colored marbles or polished stones in the bottom that I get from the dollar store. On top of this I put a layer of Soil Moist. You can buy it online probably cheaper than local stores and a little goes a long way. I add the water and let it absorb the soil moist before putting it in the jars. The soil moist makes a layer that keeps the potting soil from filling up the space in the rocks or marbles. I put the ring from the canning jar on but not (obviously) the lid. The ring dresses up the jar a bit. Add soil and seeds. To get them ready for sale I tie some ribbon or raffia around the top and attach a tag that says what the herb is and on the back what you can use it for. 

Sometimes I use started herbs if I have not had time to plant seeds. I have a friend who has a commercial greenhouse who starts oodles of his own herbs and he lets me buy them for cheap or trade greenhouse labor for them. 

People get a kick out of them because you can see the roots growing in the dirt and often buy them for their children as a living lesson. The colored marbles or polished stones provide drainage - but they also make it very visually appealing to people.


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## lhspirited

Turnips &#8211; Hakurei This variety is absolutely delicious! Pick them at 2-3 inches in diameter for fabulous flavor. They are also quick to grow, so you can get both a spring and fall crop.
They were very popular sellers at our farmers market booth.


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## Paso

I'm new her can anyone help to get rid of gophers!


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## sapphira

Baskets. Thrift or goodwill stores sell extremely cheap. Also can hot glue liner in them.


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## MichaelZ

How about peas? When I grew them, they were one of the first I planted - they do well in colder weather and soil.

The edible pod variety might be a popular item.


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## sapphira

Aloe Plants rooted in a plastic cup. We sell quite a few here at our yard sales. People drive up the mountain to get some. Looking ahead towards sunburns in spring. We have very old aloe plants in our houses that are huge and have "babies" galore. they plant easy and thrive in plastic cups. We put fat cuttings in the summer in the refrigerator ready for booboos and sunburns, and dry skin.


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## crabtree

Garlic,mushrooms,Honey & Microgreens.
Asparagus & blueberries are great once they are mature, 2-5 years.
Urban Farmer Curtis Stone, has some good ideals.


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## lunalupis

sapphira said:


> Aloe Plants


When i "man the booth" at the local farmers market for our apiary, I always bring some baby aloes to sell as well... sell like hot cakes!


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## Arashisar

I grow different kinds of salads, spinach, cress salad, ruccola on my bed.


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## Northof49

If you have a access to a variety of hardwood trees and a wood chipper make up small bags of smoking chips. More people use a smoker than you would think and the bags are expensive in the stores.


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## fishhead

If you are looking for producing plants in pots to sell you might want to consider producing some pre-started sweet corn.

When I lived in AK people were selling sweet corn transplants 2 plants per pot and about 16" tall. I was able to grow some really good sweet corn that way. You could advertise them for people that want early locally produced corn.


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