What price for veg plants at a village fayre?

[reddyreddy]

I'm thinking of having a stall at our local village fayre this Spring to sell some veg plants ready for planting out, but I'm not sure what to charge and if it will be worthwhile after the stall rental. I'm planning on growing things in my greenhouse which are not so easy to buy in the garden centre alongside some trusted favourites. Here is what I'm thinking of selling what price per plant do you think and any other suggestions?:

Purple french beans
Yellow french beans
Red Sprouts
Purple Cauliflower
Purple sprouting broccoli
Yellow tomatoes
White beetroot
Stripey beetroot
Yellow courgette
Ball courgettes
Runner beans

I live in Surrey if that helps the price point decision!  :-*

[reddyreddy]

[manicscousers]

don't know if it helps, we sell our surplus toms, cucs, courgettes etc at 50p per plant, beans 6 for 50p, the brassicas usually go in lots of 10 to 12  but we are in wigan and they aren't posh plants ;D

[emmy1978]

Did a school fair once-priced most things 50p-then peppers and chillies I think we had at a quid as they were fairly well along and had peppers on! The thing is at 50p they get snatched up and you don't have any left at the end!!!  ;D It is fun too.  ;D

[Squash64]

I agree with the prices on the previous two posts.

I made some display labels by laminating the seed packets of the peppers and tomatoes and putting them on 12" wooden barbecue sticks. If you don't want to use seed packets, you could cut out pictures from seed catalogues and laminate them. 

Good luck!

[cleo]

Horses for courses-never sell at a loss unless for a charity.

After that it`s up to you ,be fair  charge enough to cover your costs and a few shilings extra.

[saddad]

Our infamous plant sale is 50p for specifics like Toms and such.. £1 for bigger plants like Pumpkins (larger pots and more compost) and generic veg in trays @10-12p per plant...
(and I make bulk purchase discounts..)  ;D

[chriscross1966]

I used to do a car boot each spring (generally around the start of May. I'd grow all the seeds in teh pack for all the tender veg I had and sell off the spares, most thigns were 50p in a 3" polypot (the plastic-bag ones if you remember them). There'd generally be a few bigger things that I'd stick out for a quid or really exotics (like the then new all -female cukes) might be a quid-fifty. Generally made enough in one morning to cover all the seed/compost/feed costs for the year, the paraffin for heating the GH over winter and take the folks out for lunch, so I'm guessing a couple of hundred quid .... price it right and you only have to do it once..... I might start doing it again if I get a decent sized GH at my next place. One thing I found sold well was Basil.... sow in modules, transplant to 3" sell two-three weeks later or put it in a 5" and sell four-five weeks later for a quid.... it just leapt off the table and you get a lot of seeds in a pack..... ditto courgettes..... seeds of italy will give you enough Striato seeds to feed a small city once they've grown so the seeds cost zilch, if you're potting them on in freecycled topsoil then the compost cost is low, all you're looking at is keeping the propagators runnign a while longer than you might have otherwise....

chrisc

[GodfreyRob]

I'm thinking of having a stall at our local village fayre this Spring to sell some veg plants ready for planting out, but I'm not sure what to charge and if it will be worthwhile after the stall rental. I'm planning on growing things in my greenhouse which are not so easy to buy in the garden centre alongside some trusted favourites. Here is what I'm thinking of selling what price per plant do you think and any other suggestions?:

Purple french beans
Yellow french beans
Red Sprouts
Purple Cauliflower
Purple sprouting broccoli
Yellow tomatoes
White beetroot
Stripey beetroot
Yellow courgette
Ball courgettes
Runner beans

I live in Surrey if that helps the price point decision!  :-*

There are lots of things to consider if you really want to make some money out of this. Its dead easy to make an overall loss if you don't factor in all the costs:

Are you using heat to get seeds going or keeping a greenhosue warm?
Compost - buying it in?
What are you going to sell them in? Every pot will have some cost.
Some seeds are quite expensive each - like 20 Courgettes seeds to a £2 packet etc.
Anything to add on top for your labour?
Cost of petrol/diesel to get there?
Cost of stall?

If the plants are healthy then people will pay at least £1 for a single Tomato, Pepper, Courgette, Aubergine, Tomatillo, Asparagus, Globe Artichoke etc.

I would not bother with beans/beetroot as most people want a lot and won't be willing to pay much per plant - and seed trays use more seeds/compost and cost more to you.

We ran a stall at a farmers market last year and learned quickly!  Don't work for nothing! Unless of course its charity work.

[emmy1978]

Sorry reddyreddy - I thought it was as a charity thing-like a school fair-not as venture for you! I'd still say 50p for toms, small chillies etc. Basil does go down well-as does mint. Have fun and pics please!!

[Digeroo]

I would suggest that you stick to fairly standard things.  People are very wary of yellow courgettes and yellow and purple beans.   

[Chrispy]

I would suggest that you stick to fairly standard things.  People are very wary of yellow courgettes and yellow and purple beans.   

I would say the complete opposite, the more unusual the better.

[Squash64]

Have you thought of growing some globe artichokes from seed?  They are very easy and if you sowed them now they would be a decent size by the spring.

[chriscross1966]

I would suggest that you stick to fairly standard things.  People are very wary of yellow courgettes and yellow and purple beans.   

Depends on your market really.... The one in Cowley (near two big estates, fairly working-class by the standards of Oxford) you'd be right, the  only unusual thing you could sell there was chilli plants... back when Habanero was the hottest you could ge tin this country I shifted fifty of them in a morning by advertising them as "The Hottest Chilli you could get".... the little one in a village nearby (much more middle-class) wanted the yellow and ball courgettes, anything with an italian or french name (hint, call your courgettes "zucchini" if this is your audience) and hardly bought a chilli except the cayennes...

This was a few years ago before GYO was all the rage....

chrisc