selling herbs / 1000 questions

[mountaindweller]

I want to occasionally sell some herbs and edible plants either on fairs/markets or in form of a garage sale. I want to go for the rare (thus more expensive) herbs, first as I find it far more interesting, second our car is a little Japanese one and I can't get that much of the cheap stuff in which would make it worthwhile selling the cheaper stuff.
1.) In the beginning I won't have sufficient herbs to make a stall interesting and I thought of pumping a bit up with seedlings (like a milk carton with lettuce varieties, basil varieties, different silverbeets etc.). The thing is that I still buy my seeds the outlay is pretty high. To offer only four different silverbeets in a milk box tray I must pay 4 packets of seeds $3.20 each = $12.80. I would need, say 5 of these variety boxes to look interesting which would be more than $60. On the top of it comes the work, I usually direct seed all these things for me and stuff I don't direct seed I make magazine paper pots which I pop directly in the garden, but that is a lot of work). The question is, do I go for a quick start or simply patiently wait until I have a sufficient variety to sell?
2.) What is a sufficient variety? Is it 30,50,100 different herbs? How many of each do you bring to the market? Do you include very common things, even annuals like parsley or fennel?
3.) I would have to grow annuals in a different way, because I usually direct seed them, often in the flower border, because parsley looks nice.
Do you sow herbs for sale directly in whatever pots or trays you have or do you grow them in a row and then pot it up? Or is it better using styrofoam boxes you get for free from the greengrocer (I use these for putting my pots of cuttings in)?
4.) What should I do to get the best and healthiest plants? Are some propagation methods better than others for that? (especially do you include cuttings rooted in water?)

In Australia things are often more difficult. If I want certain herbs I must grow them from seed, when I'm allowed to imprt them at all. Until I have a stock in my garden, can make cuttings or have the seedlings in a saleable size it might take two years. I have got some pots of leftover sea buckthorn. They are all seedlings so I don't know the sex, that means I cannot sell them until my own plants show their sex and I can take cutting there. Or until a plant has a decent size that it can be used it might take years and then only I can try it (and for the edible plants tell that it tastes extremely yucky).

[littleminnie]

Just so you know, I bring cut herbs to market every week and almost every week sell 0. I sell a little basil in summer otherwise the only thing people want is dill for pickling. I continue to bring them because they don't cost me anything. When I get home I dry them and make seasoning mixes which do sell well. I make various mixes like: steak rub, chicken seasoning, Mexican mix, dill dip mix etc. I sell those for $3. Herb bunches I sell for $1. I sometimes make up baskets for salsa, salad or stirfry and add an herb in there. I know herbs are expensive at the store but that is for people looking for them. I have a hard time finding people looking for them!
Once in the summer I have an annual herb day at market. I make lavender lemonade for samples and give an herb free with $5 purchase. It is a lot of work to prepare for! I always make more money that week but I do not sell more herbs after that.

I also sell herb plants and it is ok. I plan to make some mixed herb pots this summer but when I have done that before they didn't sell at all. I am going smaller this time and something for indoors for winter. I sell small herbs in square plastic or peat pots in spring with the other plants. They do ok. People prefer when plants are in proper pots rather than recycled garbage, I find.
HOpe this helps.

[Joseph Lofthouse]

I likewise bring some herbs to market most every week. I sell approximately zero herbs: Once in a while some mint will sell, or some chives. Parsley and Cilantro would sell if I could grow them reliably. The rare herbs are rare because people do not want them, and do not know how to use them.

I likewise take the herbs home after market and dehydrate them (for my own use).

My recommendation if you are interested in selling herbs, is to dehydrate them and sell them that way: You greatly expand your possible market, even for rare herbs. And you avoid the problems associated with offering a highly perishable product. Start small. Let the common herbs pay for the rarer herbs to be added later.

When I sell herbs in pots, I prefer to chop off a clump of winter dormant roots from the mother plant and grow that out. Anything that is chopped out of the ground as an actively growing plant, and put in a pot will look very poor for market. Second best would be to grow out seedlings.

Silverbeet sells sporadicly here. I normally cut off individual leaves from plants growing in the garden, and bundle them with a rubber band. They will produce all season long that way.

Horseradish plants sell fine as slips growing in water...

[12540dumont]

I cut herbs as well.

I never sell them in pots, because once people have them in pots, they no longer need to buy them from you.

Throughout a season my customers get mint, oregano, thyme, parsley, dill, sage, rosemary, basil, epazote, lemon balm and more basil, lavender, cilantro and catmint (lots of folks have cats and catmint and catgrass sold very well for me when I went to the farmer's market). It's a whole lot easier to plant clumps here and there in your garden of herbs, especially of perennial ones and then cut them as they are at their peak. Annuals you have to invest in every year, or save the seeds.

Don't overlook the possibilities of making tinctures of herbs, and even simple things like herb sachets. There's a lotta info out there these days on how to distill herbs and make a zillion cool things besides plain old dried herbs.


A clever display one woman brought to the market was a clothesline (the umbrella type), each herb was picked fresh in bundles and clothespinned upside down with a little label. She sold them fresh and dried. She also brought jars of dried herbs. Note, she found someone using baby food in a jar and recycled all of those. She did not buy jars. She made these sachets that you could put in the bath tub. (little sewed bags with dried herbs in them) and called them clever things like RELAX. (I bought one just to check it out, it was a combination of lavender flowers and epsom salts).

She put hops in little bags and called them sleep pillows. These were all made out of muslin, and the writing was done with a fancy felt pen.

Long term on the farm I plan to increase our herbs to about 1/4 of an acre. Last year I made horehound drops from my CSA. It was Easy Peasy and folks loved them.

[mountaindweller]

Sorry, I really got it wrong I want to sell herb plants in pots as plants!
Joseph, you think divided plants look awful - that means intead of dividing you always start with a bit of root? I have started some comfrey (which is not very unusual) like this, the only thing is that I am very supersticoius about the original plant I have bought - I think they sold me a c.officiale but in reality it is the russian form, now I have to try to tell this apart. I divided some lemon balm and some catnip by division and yes, it is true you see the old stalks even I cut them back. But I did some oenante javanica (hope I got this right) and you don't see anything (but I am not especially keen on this plant in my salad) I am about to write an information sheet for each plant.
I thought the easiest way might be offering a good range of perennial salad greens (to be honest I prefer eating these mixed with standard lettuce on their own they taste a bit harsh).
Actually drying herbs is a good idea. Because I often cut herbs back I don't use I could bring them in the coop here, but in the end I mostly throw them out. But they sell dry herbs in the coop too.
Minnie, yes the packaging is important. I have cut down milk bottles and it looks dreadful. But a lady sold sickly looking tiny seedlings at the school fair and did very well. She used this wooden pot maker were you use old newspaper and put several of these pots in half cut tetrapack milk cartons. It looks good and is very handy to take with you. You only must manage to cut these cartons straight. I personally find the pots with this tool far too small, but something recycled can look good.

[rowan]

Please don't be offended but I sell at markets and have done for many years so I might have some good advice for you.

1, You say you want to sell more expensive plants to make more of a profit, but then you want to sell them in milk cartons etc!!! Sorry, but if you want to make a good name for yourself you have to look professional. You will not find many people who want to buy a plant offered like that for more than a dollar.

2, I started with no money so I know where you are coming from. I know it can be a bit pricey to start with but do your sums. Each packet has dozens of seeds in it. So you don't waste them, sow them into a tray or icecream container first then prick them into your individual pots. There will be some waste, with plants there always is, but the least the better.

3, You can order pots in small quantities from places like www.danbar.com.au I get a lot of my pots and tubes from them as their factory is close to me. Also, their pots are made from recycled plastic.

4, Divided plants can look good but you have to let them settle and start growing in their pots for a while first, you can't sell them just divided.

5, Make a name for yourself as a good producer of herbs and you will do well. My herbs sell well when I bother to take them to market (It is not my main business) but then I don't have any competition.

6, VERY IMPORTANT. If you sell good plants price them accordingly. Don't try to be the lowest to compete and sell more. It doesn't work in the long run. My prices are not the cheapest at my market but I sell out before the others every time because I sell quality and it looks good and professional.

[raymondo]

I agree with rowan. I am always more tempted by the good looking plant in a nice little pot rather than the plant in a cut down milk carton! As for selling the rare and unusual, I don't know about herbs but for vegetables people buy what they are familiar with. I sell vegetables from time to time and what sells is the bog standard stuff - red tomatoes, green silverbeet etc.

[littleminnie]

I tried to sell lavender and epsom salt bath products and sold none. But that was my first year. Also have tried to sell catnip and catgrass and sell almost none. At least there isn't much overhead there. That is a place (catgrass) that you can use cheap containers.

[mountaindweller]

Thanks rowan for the input! I actually have a lot of pots thanks to council cleanups, but as soon as you start planting stuff in pots you see how quickly good sizes dissapear. I hate for examlple these narrow long tubes as it is really difficult getting a plant out without disturbing the roots (sure enough I have plenty of those). At the moment I simply try to get a good variety in my garden and propagate whenever I get to a bed, but it is very limited as we're having winter. I must make a plan of how the stall should look like (and still fit in our little car). I think you are right on the milk boxes and it is too much work as well and you can't stack this stuff either. I am sticking information sheets together and might laminate them too to be used on the stall and read by customers. I am lucky enough to not having to rush into this and can take my time, but when I read the news then I think that it is a good idea to have a second income source for our family.

[rowan]

I hope it all works out for you. Selling plants can be a good second income and going into it slowly lets you work things out without large financial losses. I wish you well.

Message me if you need any advice.

[James]

I have not had much success selling herbs at market either. The one exception is fresh dill. Can't seem to have enough of that.

Our market rules state that you can sell whole plants, but not cut leaves. Cut leaves are perishable and grow bacteria too readily. So that leaves the options to either sell the whole fresh plant, plants in pots or dried herbs in bags. Of course you need to check your market rules.

[Deleted]

I'm sorry if I come across as negative, but hope my trials might save you some trouble.

It's possible to have carnival barker types hawk it for you. Entrepreneurial, Mexican acquaintances reported short term windfalls from those notorious bouquets, oranges and occasional boxes of produce, but you have to cut them in. It is considered under-the-table employment and a minor disturbance at intersections, Operations get dismissed with a wagging finger (so long as no ordnances are posted), and they are soon to pop up elsewhere. Being that it is such thankless work, you have to keep strict inventory, make it seem jovial but not phony. Kids make cute attractions, don't ask for much, but they are suggestible and easy to rip off.

Tags and labels can give you future references, but it is not always preferable to have many strange visitors to private property. One farmer had a frail, elderly woman fall into the now-filled outhouse. It was a very small hole. Another broke a leg where a field had been disked. They let themselves in, when there is a fair, and may file liens if there is a lawsuit.

Several small farmers around town use an honor system. It's put out, unsupervised. There is a lock box with a slot on top. I find this inadequate. Nurseries must irrigate planters too small to retain water. This does not happen on a roadside. And, you get vandals. They are not thieves, who value your work. They do not take it home, and care for it. You find it, some place down the road.

One possible strategy is to produce bulk amounts of plantlets at wholesale to bigger businesses or more popular venues. I liked business to business deals, best, in that they absorbed the liability of holding stock and dealing with the general public.

On the smaller scale, I no longer propagate anything which I won't personally want.

I treat it as a light, social interaction in the case of a bazaar -- lemonade stand stuff -- which is just fine, so long as you know that's what you're in for.