Author Topic: car boot! (Read 2908 times)

littlegem · « **on:** May 06, 2008, 12:21:54 »

went to do a car boot on saturday afternon. and with our junk i decided to take the surplus of my toms, sweet peas, impatiens, couple of courgettes and rest of my onion sets. I saw that in our local cash & carry (cheapo place) they had 3 toms for £2. so i priced mine at this, which i thought was very reasonable. well, sales were very slow, there was loads of cars there, too much competition, then i found out that someone was selling 6 toms for £1 and someone else was selling them for 25p each! and courgettes for 25p each! you only get about 10 courgette seeds in a packet! there was no way i was putting all that time and effort of growing from seed to keep up with that competion! completely selling themselves short! i stuck to my prices, sold a few. but will keep at it!

anybody else reckon 25p is fair? i wouldn't bother using my diesel to only ask for that much!

Pumper · « **Reply #1 on:** May 06, 2008, 12:42:56 »

We GIVE all our surplus away.

Eristic · « **Reply #2 on:** May 06, 2008, 12:46:09 »

Welcome to the world of car boot sales.

The idea of 'FAIR PRICE' does not exist. Big dogs eat little dogs.

You may only get 10 seeds in a packet but there is several thousand in one marrow. If you have quality produce for sale you have to seek a quality market. Car boots are intended for unloading surplus quickly for some jingle in the pocket.

Old bird · « **Reply #3 on:** May 07, 2008, 14:34:15 »

Hiya LittleGem

I have a table outside my house and I have put surplus plants on that and I sell them for 50p each. Some of them are from more expensive seed and others are el-cheapos!

I have only had them out for a few days and I live in a quiet residential street, but I have sold quite a few already! Some car boot sales are dead cheap and you do get tat - but stick with it and try the next one! Hopefully you will do better!

Old Bird
;D

littlegem · « **Reply #4 on:** May 07, 2008, 16:13:43 »

good thinking Old Bird!

pumper, i DO give alot away to friends and family but i'm buggered if a perfect stranger is gonna benefit from all my hard work. pots and compost aren't always free you know

Eristic, i've not done it before but i reckon i'm gonna have a go at this seed saving lark, on easy things like the courgettes. if it saves me ten bob next year then i'm up for it! it's just gonna be hard sacrificing some lovely veg for the seeds ;-)

Old bird · « **Reply #5 on:** May 07, 2008, 16:38:09 »

Pumper - I give loads of plants away to my friends and work colleagues - but I sure as hell am not going to put them out for perfect strangers to take home and probably sell them at the next car boot.

I would, and do, buy plants from roadside stalls! Don't you? I am far happier giving some individual a couple of quid for some plants than go into B & Q and pay a lot more for a mass produced badly looked after selection of plants!

We can all take the high moral ground of course and I would love to afford to be charitable to my fellow human beings and GIVE stuff to them - but I need to pay my way and so I charge a small amount for good, well cultivated plants, that my neighbours and strangers are happy to pay for!!

Littlegem, I also don't save seed! I did try with some pumpkins but the gooey mess that you have to separate from the seed put me off a bit!! Also some plants cross pollinate so they don't always come "true" (as in some tomato plants etc).

Good luck with your sales anyway!

Old Bird

;D

saddad · « **Reply #6 on:** May 07, 2008, 16:39:10 »

Tomatoes come true, except F1's Courgettes rarely...
;D

littlegem · « **Reply #7 on:** May 07, 2008, 18:31:48 »

'courgettes rarely' really saddad? is that why you only get about 10 in a packet! that's pants! i went up to allotment the other day as i havent been since late summer last year (only got it late) due to pregnancy, but i managed to get some courgette plants in, which i left! doh! well, i found a dried 'marrow' there with loads of seeds in it, i was hoping to grow from them. shall i just give it a go, ready for next year?

Robert_Brenchley · « **Reply #8 on:** May 07, 2008, 21:26:02 »

No F1 ever comes true; they're designed not to, so that you have to keep buying expensive seed every year.

saddad · « **Reply #9 on:** May 08, 2008, 22:29:50 »

Sow them by all means... none of your customers will know what they are getting!
;D

Andy H · « **Reply #10 on:** May 11, 2008, 09:43:10 »

We did a car boot a few weeks back but was a total waste of time.

Sold all the peppers at 50p and some toms and books but after the £9 table fee and 20m r/trip 2 people up at 6 on a sunday morning!!! :o

Got more pleasure seeing various races enjoying them for free at allotment.

and we got the pots back but they only cost about 1.1p each.

ruud · « **Reply #11 on:** May 11, 2008, 15:49:19 »

We are swapping or giving all the surplus away to fellow gardeners,but i like to swap them.Today i swapped some toms for dahlias so there will be some flowers in my garden.

littlegem · « **Reply #12 on:** May 11, 2008, 16:45:20 »

oooh, i wouldn't mind swapping my veggies for some flowers, i'm rubbish at growing them! :P

well, i put a table out the front today, toms, peppers, courgettes, cucumbers etc 50p each with bags to post the money through the letter box, and so far i have made an astonishing........

wait for it! ..........

£1.50 :P ::)

oh well, i thought i'd do ok, seeing as i am on the great north road, a pretty busy thoroughfare, and the pub opposite was packed solid. i will try again tomorrow, then next sat & sun. what do i have to lose? i just need space now to actually grow the darn plants instead of having all these ready to transplant that are surplus! doh!

littlegem · « **Reply #13 on:** May 11, 2008, 19:32:53 »

i just done another £4.00! woohoo! :D :D :D

Anne Robertson · « **Reply #14 on:** May 11, 2008, 19:42:10 »

I took 100 strawberry plants to work and put up a notice 'help yourself' all disappeared very quickly, then I took 50 rhubarb sticks and put up a notice saying' donations welcomed'. nobody touched it! so i took the 'donations welcomed' off, and the lot went within an hour! I only wanted a bit of money to help towards next years seeds. Was I being unfair?

Andy H · « **Reply #15 on:** May 11, 2008, 20:18:54 »

people are so tight

wonder if the strawbs would have gone if you put 10p each???

Old bird · « **Reply #16 on:** May 12, 2008, 12:51:14 »

Yes I did that last year with Raspberries.

A couple of times I brought a load in and said help yourself and ____ Whoosh they were gone! Next time, when they knew that I supplied the Health Food shop so was not stuck for someone to give them to - I said £1 per punnet - nobody touched them!

I am seeing how they are with my eggs - as there is no way I am giving them for free - I did bring in a pack of 10 and said help yourself! But we will see.

Did well on my table outside over the weekend though - quite a lot of plants are shifting! Just as well as the greenhouse is still heaving with plants and I haven't yet got space to plant out my tomatoes!!

Old Bird

;D

manicscousers · « **Reply #17 on:** May 12, 2008, 16:00:57 »

we put all our spares on the sale table at the plant sale, if the plot holders wanted them, they were free, the rest were sold to the public at 50p, toms, squash, beans, 2 per fibre pot, peppers, cauli and cabbage in 6's..we did quite well, I was amazed how many wanted to grow their own at home ;D

Old bird · « **Reply #18 on:** May 12, 2008, 16:09:53 »

You are right Manics - but as you will see on another thread allotments and growing your own is the new "rock & Roll"!!

Thanks in part to the TV celebrity chefs Jamie Oliver and Hugh Fernley Whitingstall that have made home grown organic veg much more special and desirable and the healthy lifestyle gurus are also singing the praises of our way of life!

Old Bird

;D

manicscousers · « **Reply #19 on:** May 12, 2008, 16:38:08 »

at last, common sense wins ;D

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Author Topic: car boot! (Read 2908 times)