I might open a tomato stand!

[Penn]

My tomatoes are just about finished for the season- the big ones I think are done- the cherry should go on a few more weeks- So- figure November at the earliest that I have to buy them at the store- it saved alot of money planting them! I think I spent under $15 on plants- which equaled 10-12 good sized plants- I had them coming out of my ears- and gave a ton of them away to neighbors are well. It was my best crop ever- and I sure will grow them again next year! It would be nice to expand and grow a 2nd item. I would rather have too many then not enough. So 5 months - of not having for buy tomatoes for $15- and enough for friends! YES_ I like this!

Being I live on a busy street- I wonder- maybe I will sell $2 worth- every pack $2. Easy- simple to understand. I am zoned r2- so- I am not talking a cash register and tent- just a table/cart- maybe I could be a legal farmer and get all kinds of farm aid too. Really- these tomotoes were enough I could have sold- $80 from what I gave away... on 12 plants.

Any ideas on how you would do this?

I also could have a farm contact drop off things to sell= maybe.

 

[Penn]

Or if I can sell bulk tomatoes to someone who already has a stand....

 

[oppie2005]

you could talk to the local mom and pop grocery stores and see if they want to buy them from you.

Ive been trying to grow several things this year. my plants have done really well, but haven't produced much food. My green beans did the best, but i only got about 1 meal out of them (about 8 plants). I planted everything too late in the season. I had about 6 squash plants, and only got 1 squash out of them lol.

On a positive note though, i have about 100 carrot plants, about half of those are getting close to the right size for digging up, the other half are seedlings.

Just planted my garlic a couple of days ago. i think i waited WAYYYYY too late to plant that, as tonight is our first frost.

I covered my raised bed in 4 mil plastic sheeting. hopefully this will be sufficient to protect my plants.

 

[ancona]

I can see it now, "Pennsylvania man jailed for unlicensed sale of tomatoes" "Pennsylvania man accused of selling staphylococcus tainted tomatoes to children, Prosecutor seeks 50 year sentence" "IRS seizes all assets of Pennsylvania man after he is found to have avoided taxes on cash sale of farm goods, Prosecutor seeks to make an example".

This won't end well I think.

<sarc off>

 

[Penn]

I know. And yet- how much of a crop could I possibly yield on a city lot? I would be willing to give up some of my lawn. Not trees tho- I wont cut down my blue spruces.

 

[ancona]

Cliff,
We have a 6,000 s.f. garden from which we collect enough fresh food to supply my family of three, Patties family of four, Mike's family of three and Bob's family of six. In the end, we still have enough produce to share with all of our neighbors and to can over 250 quarts for later use. This does not include the 400 square feet of sweet 'taters still in the ground [about 500 pounds] nor does it include the onions we have not harvested and braided or the garlic. It does not include the sunflowers which are still drying [about thirty five or forty pounds of seeds dry] or the benefits of our flock of chickens eating all those bugs. We also 'harvest' around five dozen eggs a week.

Don't think that a city lot of an eight an acre or a fifth an acre is not enough land, because it certainly is. Summer squash, spaghetti squash and mini pumpkin are bur a few of the vine crops you can plant and forget, yet they will yield waaay more than you could ever eat.

If you want some heirloom seeds, I can send you some for free, as will our friends 'Offgrid' or 'SkinnerVic' from the "other place". Just send me a PM

That said, We started with just a 20' X 30' garden and were amazed by how many pounds of produce we got. You are single and have some time to maintain a garden, so I would say go for more man. The hardest part of starting a garden is breaking soil for the first time. I suggest renting a nice tiller for a weekend to turn over the soil this fall. Place all of your leaves and grass clippings on it and let it be fallow all winter. Turn it again in the spring, fertilize it once and place all the plants you started indoors about a month before last frost in the ground. Use cardboard or mulch to keep weeds down and get ready to eat.

 

[Jay]

slight conflict of interest (I work for the towns only grocery store in produce) but we sell our tomatoes to the local Mexican restaurants.

 

[Penn]

Either way- I would like to grow a 2nd item.

 

[rblong2us]

Either way- I would like to grow a 2nd item.

weed is very popular and good for many ailments apparently

.

 

[ancona]

In your climate, I would try cabbage and broccoli. These are easy to grow and you don't have nearly as many predator bugs as we have here. I grow four and five pound red and green cabbage that are spectacular. Celery is another easy, albeit slow growing crop.

Try container gardening Cliff, since you can simply bring tomatoes inside when it starts to get cold and have them all winter. You will have to manually pollinate them with a Q-tip, but that's easy. When you start handing out yummy home-grown tomatoes in the dead of winter, you will become a local legend.

 

[oppie2005]

The cabbage comment reminded me that i have Kale planted at the moment also. about 10-15 plants or so. Living not all too far from you Penn, you could grow some Kale. I have a decent amount of Kale seeds that were passed down to me from my uncle. I could send you a hand full (they are tiny little seeds).

 

[Jay]

In your climate, I would try cabbage and broccoli. These are easy to grow and you don't have nearly as many predator bugs as we have here. I grow four and five pound red and green cabbage that are spectacular. Celery is another easy, albeit slow growing crop.

Try container gardening Cliff, since you can simply bring tomatoes inside when it starts to get cold and have them all winter. You will have to manually pollinate them with a Q-tip, but that's easy. When you start handing out yummy home-grown tomatoes in the dead of winter, you will become a local legend.

Ancona, do you have to cover your celery to keep it pale? I've never grown celery. (we had a torrential rain with hail last night, I have seven beds of various greens about an inch high and they got pummeled. Hopefully they will pull through).