This will be my final posting for this year on this thread. I sold well this past weekend and since it is getting so hot and the market is slowing down I have decided to quit selling and focus on setting up better propagation areas and growing areas at home (and work in the home gardens!) This past weekend was a three day holiday weekend which normally is not a good selling weekend around here. Most people are off to the beach but with gas prices so high it appears many people stayed home. So I sold better than this time last year. I moved a lot of brugmansias (one guy bought 4!), a few castor beans and whole lot of zinnias (mostly those two tone ones - whirlygig or whatever it is called). I think that with better planning I could continue to sell through June but because I was out of town for most of April I got behind in my planting and sowing. Next year I am going to focus on herbs and unusual patio plants and possibly buy some ads in the smaller local papers to let people know that I am there and selling stuff the local garden centers don't carry. I am also toying with the idea of setting up small herb displays at some of the ethnic markets in this area. Another idea I have is to grow seasonal crops directly in plastic bulb crates and haul the whole thing to the market and let people pick their own. Kind of a garden on wheels. The novelty of letting them build their own salad mix or herbal medley might improve sales - plus you can't dispute the freshness when you're picking it yourself. This also saves me the time and hassle of picking/washing/packaging. Now if I can train the customers to pay more for pick your own (with them doing all the work) I will have hit the jackpot. I'm looking at salad blends for the winter/early spring, strawberries for spring and basil/herbs for summer. Things I have observed this spring: I really made the bulk of my money from regular customers. Regulars spent on average $20 per visit to my booth. I just didn't have enough regulars but I had more this year than I had last year. Customers requesting something unusuall really did show up at future dates when I told them I would have it ("I'll have some ready in 2 weeks" kinda thing), and they often spent more money when I finally had that special plant they were looking for. They often would buy all of it when I finally got it there. Some people are determined to get a better deal and will ask for a price break no matter what. I only consider discounts if the customer is spending more than $10 and even then it is rare. Even when I explain my policy, they will ask and ask again and again. Even when they are shopping with their elderly mother who just bought a lot of my stuff without asking for a price break, they will ask for a discount on their one item and they'll ask again after I tell them no. Some people..... It really doesn't matter what the other guys are selling their plants for. If you have what they are looking for and it looks healthy and worth the amount you're asking they will buy it. Price things the amount you think they will move and make sure you're making money. In other words, if your product looks like a $10 product you'll probably be able to sell it from $8 to $12. But if your product looks like a 50 cent product you will have trouble moving it even for a dollar. People don't go to open air markets to find a car load of cheap plants. Most often they are just there to look at everything. They are seeking inspiration. Inspire them with a good display of healthy or interesting plants and in the future when they really need a plant they will remember you and seek you out. I still have no clue over what will sell and what won't. Just when I think that "no one will buy THAT!" it sells. There are as many reasons that someone will want something as there cultivars of plants worth growing. Good luck

Hey, Alison, nothing to do with the garden show but don't you love the name of the road? Bells Line of Road??? huh?? I work for company that sub-contracts to Optus (amongst others) for their messaging service and directories and I remember the first time someone told me that road, I thought for sure they had it wrong. weird, huh?

hi jared my brugmansias have just finished flowering, if they set seed I can send you some. I have white, pink and orange varieties. I will swap for anything unusual and edible - or postage cost is fine. Email your details. Cheers

I'm over run with possums, the Northern Brushtail. They get into my shed, fight amongst themselves and make a real mess. They seem to do more physical damage rather than eating things. I have a lot of mangos and so many things that are eating them it's hard to pinpoint what is actually done by the possums. They don't seem to touch any of the Alpinia, Cordyline, Heliconia, Zingiber species, although the wallabies do with the latter two. Strangest I have seen were lemons still on the tree with the rinds eaten off by possums. First time I saw it I thought the lemons had some sort of mould growing on them. Getting rid of possums isn't easy. Firstly, where do you move them to? And even if you do more usually come in to take their place. If you plant things for them to eat rather than your important plants then you just encourage a bigger possum population in your back yard which will strip everything. You can put metal guards around tree trunks to stop them climbing up, but they can jump from nearby fences or other trees. There's no real easy fix. One of the offenders on one of my mangos, cute aren't they?