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16-03-2007, 11:18 AM
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 Selling plants? Mr OWG and I had a small brainwave yesterday... I've sown way too many plants for what we'll need originally, and still need to plant more later in the year. I've got enough plants to give some to family/friends who would like them, but will still have plenty. My sister has just bought a pet shop locally (in Kirkham) and is due to officially start running it next week. Our idea is this: We sell various veg plants and herbs for around 50p-£1 each (tomatoes, peppers, lettuce, lavender, rosemary, mint etc) in her shop. We provide signs, a stand for the plants etc and a little float (the money will be kept seperate to her takings obviously) We'd even thought about using a shop in our local village also. We're not after making huge amounts, but we reckon that selling a few plants will pay for the seeds and compost and pots that we've bought this year and give us a tiny bit extra. What do you think? 
__________________ "Its not who you are underneath, it's what you do that defines you" - Bruce Wayne Last edited by OverWyreGrower; 16-03-2007 at 12:49 PM.      |
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16-03-2007, 11:27 AM
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| can't see any problems. Have you priced up the actual cost of compost, seeds, labels, pots, etc? Make sure you are not making a loss. |
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16-03-2007, 11:50 AM
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| We got all our original seeds, compost, pots etc for "free" this year as I used some garden centre vouchers that I'd been given as a present. We've since bought a few more bits and pieces, but not huge quantities of stuff.
__________________ "Its not who you are underneath, it's what you do that defines you" - Bruce Wayne |
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16-03-2007, 12:14 PM
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| yeh sure but if this is successful then you want to make sure it makes money, even if you are donating your profits to charity. |
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16-03-2007, 12:30 PM
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| Here is an example: 50 X 3 LITRE PLASTIC PLANT POTS on eBay = £10.00 inc delivery. That works out at 2p a pot I buy 75 litres of compost for £4.00 from our allotment shop. That's 18.75pence a litre. So 1 pot full of compost = 76p A Pack of tomato seeds 50p for 65 from Alan Roman = let's call it a penny a seed. 77p Plant labels 100 for £4.00 on ebay, that's 4p each So far it works out 81p per plant and that is using the cheapest prices I could find. If you sell each plant for £1.00 then you get 19p profit on each one. Not including your time, or water costs. So you can see how it works out. |
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16-03-2007, 12:46 PM
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| Hope you didn't REALLY mean £50 - £1 - No problem with making a profit there then! Otherwise, I agree your production has to be sustainable. If it's going to cost you 76p to produce and you make 50p you might as well compost the surplus. Having said that - they're spare at the moment and it might be a bit of fun. Wouldn't want to put you off that. Go for it. Flum
__________________ Earth laughs in flowers. Ralph Waldo Emerson www.vegheaven.blogspot.com Updated November 30th - Mr Stinky's Excellent Adventure (and a Christmas Cake) |
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16-03-2007, 12:48 PM
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| Hmmmm, I see... Hadn't thought about it quite like that... Will go back to Mr OWG and make sure he's not done any spurious accounting...
__________________ "Its not who you are underneath, it's what you do that defines you" - Bruce Wayne |
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16-03-2007, 12:49 PM
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| Quote:
Thanks!
__________________ "Its not who you are underneath, it's what you do that defines you" - Bruce Wayne |
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16-03-2007, 07:34 PM
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| Don't sell anything in a 3 litre pot !! Most veg you will buy from a GC will be in a 3" or 4" pot or in packs of 12. I know I'm a bit different now but I can produce a tomato plant for sale for 11p, not including labour. This is the cost of the pot, the compost, the seed and the photo-label. It might be worth buying some photo labels - have a look at floramedia or suchlike on the web. Kev, the owner of my local GC says the label sells the plants !
__________________ Rat British by birth Scottish by the Grace of God  Blog updated Wednesday November 13th Last edited by sewer rat; 16-03-2007 at 07:34 PM. |
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16-03-2007, 08:07 PM
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| SR my calculations were very quick and admittedly a bit lazy. Could you break down your working out? |
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16-03-2007, 08:08 PM
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| Also what size pot if not 3 or 4"? |
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16-03-2007, 08:11 PM
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 Most stuff you buy from the garden centre is in 9cm pots - thats not a lot of compost.
__________________ Manda. "Wouldn't it be nice For maybe an hour To not have a care." Last edited by smallblueplanet; 16-03-2007 at 08:12 PM. |
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16-03-2007, 08:52 PM
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| no not necessarily. There is an earnings threshold before you have to make any declaration. I doubt the scale that OWG is talking about would go anywhere near this. |
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16-03-2007, 09:58 PM
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| You say that you don't want to make much and just cover costs?? Well, my pennies are really tight and last year I planted too many veg seeds. I also love making herbs. I took them to a boot fair. £1.00 ea. or 3 for £2.50, I was really pleased to sell out and make £70. I covered my garden costs for the year and a bit of extra pocket money. I am going to do it again this year to help put towards my wedding and my garden. Good Luck |
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16-03-2007, 10:23 PM
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| Calcs for growing 3" pot veg for sale; 1. Cost of 3" pot (bought in bulk commercially) 2p 2. Cost of Compost (ditto) £2.74 per 75 litres for compost, filling 330 pots (allowance for wastage built in) works out at approx 1p per pot. 3. Cost of seed ( also bought commercially) - variable, from negligible to 32p per seed, say an average of 2p per seed. 3. Cost of photo labels - 3p per label 5. Cost of carry / shuttle trays - 3p (returnable from GC) This gives me a total cost of 11p per plant. But remember, 3p of that is for the shuttle/carry trays, which can be re-used. Seed Costs vary from negligible (lettuce, herbs etc) to 32p (cucumber). Wholesale, I will get between 40p and 80p per plant or tray of 12 cells, if I sell them myself at Farmers Markets etc, they will retail at £1 - £1.25 per pot or pack of 12.
__________________ Rat British by birth Scottish by the Grace of God Blog updated Wednesday November 13th |
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17-03-2007, 08:59 PM
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| Quote:
Arr but you now have to declere yourself self-employed.
__________________ My phone has more Processing power than the Computers NASA used to fake the Moon Landings |
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18-03-2007, 12:31 AM
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| Hello Wizer, I'm a bit defeated by the arithmetic here. I make the cost of your 3 litre pots 20p each (not 2p) but I can't think what to sell in pots that size - trees maybe. Most plants at the baby stage are fine in 3 or 4" pots - so a lot less compost required. I think Rat has the costing about right.
__________________ From each according to his ability, to each according to his needs. |
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18-03-2007, 07:21 AM
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| I apologise, as I said above I worked it out a little quickly. My intention was to get OWG thinking about the costs involved with selling plants to the public. It was not meant to discourage. The 3ltr pot was basically used as it was the first pot I found with an indication of the amount of soil it held. |
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18-03-2007, 10:01 AM
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If you're only using up 'left-overs' this year OWG its worth trying it to see how it goes? Who will do the plant watering/care?
__________________ Manda. "Wouldn't it be nice For maybe an hour To not have a care." |
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19-03-2007, 02:20 PM
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| The solution is to have a stall outside your sister's shop run by you. She can watch over it for you. I don't think you can sell in the same shop without declaring it. Plus, as stated above, you need to make sure your earnings don't exceed a certain amount, or you pay tax. |
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19-03-2007, 02:36 PM
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| Oh! This is all so complicated! We were only thinking of selling a few plants (since we've got 25 pepper seedlings growing away merrily)... Re plant care/water... since my sister is at the shop every day (has animals to feed etc) she'd water them for us.
__________________ "Its not who you are underneath, it's what you do that defines you" - Bruce Wayne |
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19-03-2007, 06:17 PM
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| Would you need to register if you sold at a car boot sale?
__________________ Earth laughs in flowers. Ralph Waldo Emerson www.vegheaven.blogspot.com Updated November 30th - |