report on my local plant sale

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habitat-gardener
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Location: central california, Sunset zone 14

report on my local plant sale

#1

Post: # 43860Unread post habitat-gardener
Mon Mar 29, 2021 12:27 am

So a few months ago, someone on a local fb group wondered if anyone else was interested in selling plant starts. I always have extras, so I signed on early. At one point, 10 people had signed on, and the originally scheduled date was moved to 2 weeks later because it's been cold ("California cold"). But it happened today, and 5 of us showed up with plants. I had the most -- something like 30 eggplants, 40 peppers, 180 tomato plants (including dwarf and micro varieties). One person had a farm so had beautiful greenhouse-grown tomato plants, another person had lots of unusual greens (did a lot of swaps with her!), another had mostly herbs and a totally different collection of tomatoes. A florist brought small vases with flowers.

It was 3 hours on a Sunday afternoon. My partner made a website, where I posted descriptions and links to photos. I posted the website link to the event page a week or two before the sale, because I thought anyone interested in unusual varieties might want to research them beforehand. I also had a printout at the sale. I started with the following number of varieties
indeterminate 12
determinate, dwarf, and compact indet. 20
micro 12
hanging basket 2
peppers 15
eggplant 11
basil 1
celery 1
Lots of variety! One person bought one of every pepper, but that was unusual.

There was not much interest in the micros, I think only one sold. Both hanging basket tomatoes sold (I only had one of each). Green tomatoes did not sell, though my partner reminded me that one person specifically asked for a green. People asked for what they're familiar with -- Early Girl, Juliet, red beefsteaks, red cherries, etc., which I didn't have. Not a lot of interest in dwarf varieties, but I sold a few to people wanting container varieties.
I ended up selling about a quarter of what I brought...so now I have to figure out if I want to try to sell the rest, or just put them out next to the community garden to give away!

One thing that was unexpected was people wanting to pay with Venmo. I did cash only; a couple others did Venmo.

On the whole it was a very successful event. I enjoyed talking with fellow gardeners. It was largely a suburban neighborhood event, with lots of people coming on bicycles.

mama_lor
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Re: report on my local plant sale

#2

Post: # 43868Unread post mama_lor
Mon Mar 29, 2021 3:05 am

Sounds like a great time. How well did eggplants sell?

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habitat-gardener
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Re: report on my local plant sale

#3

Post: # 43902Unread post habitat-gardener
Mon Mar 29, 2021 1:12 pm

mama_lor wrote: Mon Mar 29, 2021 3:05 am Sounds like a great time. How well did eggplants sell?
About as well as the tomatoes; people were looking for familiar varieties, mostly, and less willing to take a chance on unusual ones.

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