Topic: 400.00 + profit in one day

[manicscousers]

lorna
zzzzzzzz, and housework, well, washing, at least..we're running out of clean clothes   ;D

[emmy1978]

you should!!  i would. i really would. if i had the money to buy a plot of land and some tunnels and if this area wasnt already swamped with nurseries i would go for it. i could work with plants all day every day.

Me too Sarah!!

[manicscousers]

we opened on the off chance this week, we were there, anyway..
steve bought ANOTHER 10 BASKETS, I made him fill them..still, waremart by us is closing down, they were 75p each and 49p for the liner, also, b&m were selling wicker ones with liners for 2 for 2.00, we got 10, supposedly for next year
we made 80.00, that takes the grand total takings to 1100.00, costs 350.00..not bad  :)
so, if anyone wants to make money, sell baskets  ;D

[Marymary]

That sounds a really good idea MS.  How much do you sell the baskets for [if you don't mind me asking?  :)]

[manicscousers]

single colour, 8.00, 8" basket, double colour, 12.00, 10" basket, 14" basket..14.00, multi coloured..single has 3 plants, cost to us, 56p basket, 1.50 plants..possibly less but we round it up to 50p each..double 5 plants and a geranium in the middle, basket 1.00..large, 6 plants, 3 alyssum, 1 large one in the middle, e.g, fuschia..basket 1.00, liner 49p..hope this makes sense
of course, lots of the plants apart from bacopa and surfinia were grown from seed  :)

[Twospot Ladybird]

Sounds like you've been having fun, and working hard too  ;)

Were the Buzzie Lizzies grown from seed too? I've not had any luck with these or Lobelia from seed. Any tips?

[manicscousers]

lobelia, yes but the busy lizzies were plug plants, we got 400 of them, not getting as many next year..mind you, we have sold out now  ??? :)

next year, EVERYBODY is going to pot on and plant the baskets, we sold 55 last weekend, only 6 this weekend but we now have 9 left..we're going to do a 'fun day' on june 17th and sell stuff again..gluttons for punishment, us  ;D

[Twospot Ladybird]

So it's not just me that doesn't have luck with the buzzie lizzies. My Lobelias, first lot of 24, only 3 germinated, next lot, about 18 germinated but collapsed within a week. My fingers are obviously not as green as I thought nor as green as yours   ;D

[manicscousers]

we tried putting small pinches in each cell of moist compost, covering with plastic and watering only from the bottom once they'd germinated and keeping them dry-ish, maybe we were lucky, I usually drown stuff  ;D

[Twospot Ladybird]

I think I know where I went wrong now. I covered my second batch with plastic, this is the lot where about 18 germinated, then I watered them from above just like I do with all my seedlings and most collapsed. I do have a total of 5 plantlets from both sowings, these I started watering from below when I realised that the other way might be wrong. I wasn't going to try Lobelias again but now I might. Thankyou  :)

[manicscousers]

if it helps, eric grows his busy lizzies the same way, he always waters small seedlings from the bottom, sorry, that sounds wrong, put the pots in a container of water and lets it get wet..and never uses water from the butt, always tap water, he reckons it can cause 'damping off'..he's been gardening for 65 years so, as far as I'm concerned, I listen

anyway, good luck  :)

[Twospot Ladybird]

Thanks for the tips, I'll give them a go  :)

[Marymary]

Very enterprising MS & lots of hard work.  I was talking to the man who runs a local garden centre todasy & his baskets were about £9 - he said he started the plants for them last September - not sure how he keeps them going overwinter. 

I managed to grow loads of lobelia from seed by putting a pinch in the middle of a small pot - then following advice from here not trying too thin them - just let them grow in clumps & they are doing fine.  Busy lizzies were a total disaster with pathetic germination & those which did are still at the 2 or 4 leaf stage months later.