We are specializing in 'greens' such as mustard greens, amaranth and medium sized Swiss chard - it's stuff that no else really has at our market. They sold well for us last year.

I am also going to specialize in aquilegia - haven't tried them at market yet (first time this weekend) but I feel they will do well - bunches and plants.

I do day lilies in mid-summer but I haven't found a fall perennial to specialize in yet.

We have a guy who just does corn for 5 weeks or so and another who only does garlic.

Thanks for the feedback!

You've given me a few things to think about. I guess I was only thinking tomatoes because that's what 'popular', but I think I should consider some other choices.

Tomatoes are something most people have. I would definitly be open to growing something no one has.

I think that having different varieties is what has helped me this far. Now just to find that 'one' thing :)

Andrea

I'm thinking of specializing in berries, since our market is only during the summer. Planted some strawberries this year so have a June crop but most years they aren't ripe June 1. Also planted 3 different types of raspberries and 1 thornless blackberry (our wild blackberries are the extra-thorny type), plus 3 different types (2 plants each) cultivated blueberries to complement our wild blueberries (which haven't produced much in the past 3 years but now look like a bumper crop this year!).

So, you have to think about your market season, and make sure you have something *every week*. I might be able to pad out the end of the season with jams and jellies, but beginning of the season the jars are almost a year old - unless I freeze fruit and make jam in May.

I am growing the typical high-season veggies to try to fill in while my berries get established, and b/c I never know how the wild berries are going to do each year. Plus I can a lot so if they don't sell, I can always use tomatoes, peppers and cukes. Going to go easy on the squash - everybody has it. I'm also trying to do a few different varieties of hot peppers (though last year no one wanted to buy anything hotter than a serrano so next year might just plant enough for us) and the heirloom tomatoes just to try to make my stuff stand out a bit more (plus we like them). Also planted some snow peas and edamame.

Trying potatoes and onions too this year - even if I don't get a harvest before market ends, I figure I can sell green onions and new potatoes, and let people know they can always come directly to me in October for the mature crop (plus I had ripe peppers still being harvested last Oct), that might also draw them in for the apples (trying to renovate the old orchard) and pumpkins, winter squash if I have room to plant any this year.

That sounds like a lot (and it is), but once I have enough berry plants ripening in different months to assure a continuous summer harvest for market, I may just plant enough high-season stuff for our own use (which is still a lot if I want to preserve it), and maybe some asparagus for early market (the chard, kale and peas are still puny - I planted late b/c of weather, but we'll see how they sell this year). I'd like to get all my cash crops in perennials if possible.

I don't think you can specialize in just *one* thing b/c the seasons are just too short.

It's the question of the shotgun approach or the sniper approach. With the shotgun you put out a lot of items, with the sniper you go with a couple if items you target. Both are valid and work. With the sniper approach you have to make sure that the targeted product is going to sell enough to justify it. You also take the risk of a crop failure - if you have a bad year on your one or two crops there is nothing to fall back to in reserve. You also can have problems with rotation of crops especially if your land is limited. However, you have the advantage of simpler logistics, being able to take advantage of being knowledgeable in depth about the crop you are growing and developing a customer base that looks for you because you are the booth with all the fill in the blank. We have several marketers at our markets that do this - sweetcorn and peaches come to mind - and that's all they do.

We are shotgunners. It can be a logistical nightmare if you let it, but with a little planning it goes fairly smoothly. You have to have a greater knowledge base covering you crops and thus do not have as much depth. However, if one crop fails we have others to fall back on (our apples this year are going to be a complete write off thanks to an early bloom and late freeze) so the financials tend to even out. We are able to set out a large and colorful display which catches people's attention.

In the end you have to look at your situation and figure what is going to best fit you and your market. I think a blended approach of some sort may give you the best of both worlds.

Tom

We do a sort of blended approach that Tom is referring to. Some of our key crops are leafy greens (spinach, chard) in spring and fall and mini-eggplants in summer. We intend to give out many free samples of the mini-eggplants this summer because I suspect customers don't realize how much flavor they pack. But we also do tomatoes (great for adding color but everyone does it), peas, beans, potatoes and beets to fill in the gaps between spring/summer and summer/fall.

I've been known for the quality and quantity of tomatoes that I normally have. If someone wanted to can, then they could come to me and get good quality and large quantity at a fair price. Even not being at my former 'main' market, I still had 2 customers find me for their tomatoes, I didn't advertise or put my cards out when I was marketing (should have).

Specializing in only 1-2 items definitely leaves you in a bad spot if those items don't do well for a year or so. If you can get by without an income for that long, great, but most people can't.

Marla

There was a vendor at our market that did that.

She had asparagus of the start for a few weeks, then changed to strawberries. Garlic, raspberries, glads I also recall.

I can't remember the order entirely and may have forgotten a thing or two but the point is she really only had a crop or two at one time. She did REALLY well.

But they had a family pick ur own, and her stall was satellite sales. Needless to say they had a ton of produce.

Good advice here so far. I think you just need to weigh specializing vs. what you can manage and what you think will sell which would vary wildly by customer base, I'd think.

Our market is very small, and the managers have done a good job of limiting the number of people who sell each type of thing due to limited market spaces available, so we have a very cooperative group of vendors and everyone seems to be developing a niche of their specialty plus extras after only one year. There is some overlap with produce but it seems to work. It pays to diversify in our market, but we have three distinct demographics attending (tourists, second homeowners, year round residents), all of whom want different things. My goal is to have something each group would want to buy from me every week--to me that means I need a variety of items.

That said, we are 'the' cut flower and herb vendors at our market. A few other vendors sell flowers, which is fine, but last year it was 75% of our table space. Flowers are good because within the class there is a lot of variety which adds up to crop insurance. We cut a wide variety of perennials and shrubs too, which adds up to less spring input each year. (Anything you plant once is a bonus in my book!)

That said, I am slowly adding to what we grow, growing more perennial plants for sale this year, and adding a little produce of types that sell no matter how much of it is at market (arrugula, berries, baby greens, cukes) and growing some oddballs that nobody else sells much of: radishes, romano beans, fancy potatoes, round zucchini, some onions. I am even doing a trial of artichokes and mushrooms this year to see if they may be viable to sell.

To me, the produce end is first about what my family will eat and preserve, extending our season so labor is spread out as much as possible, then about what we can sell excess of at market. It needs to cover both bases as I am Mom first, market gardener second.

There are so many variables to consider, really. But I think most models can work if you really think through the details. It may take a few years to figure out what you are best at as well.

That's how I started out, planted ONLY what I wanted to eat or preserve. Soon found out that I hadn't planted near enough. Each year was that way, until I was having to buy 1/3 of one farmers 28 acres of produce. By that time, I was marketing first and preserving the left overs, for my family and my 3 sons' families, along with some friends.