Crops for roadside sale?

Sinenian · #1 03/25/06, 07:24 PM

I am new to homesteading, and only a teen.
My family has always had a small vegtable garden for ourselves to save on grocery bill and such.

This year I am 'practising' - rasing rabbits to sell as pets and taking 2/3 of our garden and raising the crops for our own use.

Next year though, I will be taking a large lot and be raising crops to sell on a roadside stand. I have already OKed this with my parents. (I will also be switching from selling pet rabbits to selling meat rabbits).

My question is - what type of vegtables do you think will do best on a roadside stand?

These are the vegtables I think I will raise:

-Sweetcorn
-Tomatoes
-Cucumbers
-Peppers

^Those are the crops that do the best in my area and I have figured will bring in a better profit than others.

Do these sound good? Any suggestions of other vegtables? (Potatoes, Yams, etc do not grow good in my yard).

Thanks!

BillyGoat · #2 03/25/06, 07:28 PM

I don't know what area you are in, but tomatoes sale good eveywhere and corn pretty good too.

I am impressed with your plans at your young age, and good learning experience for you too!!

MaineFarmMom · #3 03/25/06, 08:01 PM

http://thymeforewe.com/garden.html Just about everything I grow for sale is listed on that page. My best sellers are peas, beet greens, tomatoes and corn.

Maura · #4 03/25/06, 09:37 PM

If you plant lettuce with tomatoes, the lettuce will keep the tomatoes from becoming too acidic, even if left on the vine to ripen. By the way, once the tomatoes have begun to change color, they are finished with the vine. You can pick them and bring them inside to safety. Carrots are also a good companion plant with tomatoes. I would encircle the tomatoe bed with carrots (intensive gardening).

Sunflowers seem to be good sellers, and would give you a tall plant to companion with plants that need a little shade. There are also dwarf sunflowers that I see being sold. Zinnias are really good cut flowers. I know you are interested in vegetables, but there will be people who will stop for tomatoes and pick up a few flowers. Also, there will be people who stop for the flowers. If you plant your zinnias, and perhaps other good cut flowers, near the road in big lovely gardens, you will be creating a wonderful marketing/advertising tool. In fact, in order to get people thinking about you before the vegetables are ready, you could sell small potted plants (flowers or patio tomatoes, for instance). This gives you the opportunity to let your customers know that you will have vegetables soon. You may not make a lot of money on the plants, but you will get people coming into your store, so to speak.

Glad to see you being so pro-active.

Salmonberry · #5 03/25/06, 11:28 PM

I am always attracted to green beans and hot peppers of different kinds (even though I don't eat them). The peppers, especially, seemed to be very popular where I used to live.

Salmonberry

Firefly · #6 03/26/06, 04:08 AM

Melons!!

mpillow · #7 03/26/06, 07:43 AM

Pumpkins if you have the space!!!

And green beans....they'll grow almost anywhere...

Randy Rooster · #8 03/26/06, 07:55 AM

Dont forget the summer squashes- zuchinni and yellow

MELOC · #9 03/26/06, 08:20 AM

i would consider the green beans, no so much that they are high profit but because they are such a great producer. i can get at least two crops per year and probably three if i pushed it.

celina · #10 03/26/06, 08:21 AM

i'd presonally love a place like you near buy and if you could start the plants for me to buy at your stand, like tomatoes you'd do well..here green beens and yellow beans are a good seller too...

the pumpkins would rock since all your summer customers would keep coming in the fall.....

good luck

insanity · #11 03/26/06, 08:23 AM

I think anything fresh will sell like crazy.But your profit will not be as high on some things as others.Thats why you see so much corn,tomatoes ,and melons for sell.

I think when I'm ready to try it ill be planting a little of every thing.Hoping the variety will make customers stop by again.
I didn't see squash listed they produce lots of fruit per vine and should sell well.The hot peppers mentioned might also be a good idea.But i wouldn't plant to much of things that cause lots of people heart burn like cucumbers and bell peppers.I'm sure you will sell some (so id grow a few) but the older folks will steer clear..

Now sweat onions on the other hand.Well my stomach doesn't like them, but my mouth runs things around here.

sue currin · #12 03/26/06, 10:28 AM

To get the people to stop at your stand you need eye-catching things, like cut flowers, they also help with good bugs to eat bad bugs, plant Chard and grow large lettuces to stop the people in there trackes. Red onions will look nice, grow a varitey of things to pull them in.

Bluebird · #13 03/26/06, 11:52 AM

Our 4-H group began selling pumpkins on our land as a fundraiser for a trip that we all took. Great fun and they sold alot of pumpkins. The kids choose to do something else the next year and we decided that the pumpkins sold so well, as a family we continued selling them for the next 10 years. Those pumkins paid a lot of college bills. We also added pie pumpkins, mini pumpkins, squash, gourds, and mums to the stand. Howden pumpkins, Conn. Field pumpkins, and a variety of pie pumpkins will give you a nice assortment. Although many people are looking for big pumpkins, little kids like the pie pumpkins because they can pick them up by themselves. Mums from Minnesota, in Faribault, MN sell mum plugs at around 28cents each and they really decorate your stand. Hopefully you are on a busy road. Cucumber beatles may be around but if you have spent time on preparing your soil and added a lot of fertillity, it will be ok, you needn't worry too much about them. Good Luck!!

midkiffsjoy · #14 03/26/06, 08:43 PM

My Papa ALWAYS grew WATERMELONS. I dont know if it's HOT where you are in Summer, but its killer here and theres NOTHING like a cold watermelon. I'm growing watermelons and pumpkins this year and expect to have a hard time keeping up with both!!! GOOD LUCK!!!

Sinenian · #15 03/28/06, 04:26 PM

Wow - just came back to check on this and didn't expect all these replies!
Just wanted to thank you all for the tips!

Sinenian · #16 03/28/06, 04:50 PM

[QUOTE]I don't know what area you are in, but tomatoes sale good eveywhere and corn pretty good too.

I am impressed with your plans at your young age, and good learning experience for you too!! [QUOTE]
Yes - those were actually the 2 suggested to me fromy my 4-H leader.

Thanks, I am saving my profits in a saving account. My parents and I have agreed that 25% of the money will go towords college.
My parents suggested cucumbers, because they seriously grow great in our yard. They are always huge and grow fast.

Quote:

http://thymeforewe.com/garden.html Just about everything I grow for sale is listed on that page. My best sellers are peas, beet greens, tomatoes and corn.

I enjoyed your link. Unfortunatly, peas and beet greens don't grow too well in our yard either.

Quote:

If you plant lettuce with tomatoes, the lettuce will keep the tomatoes from becoming too acidic, even if left on the vine to ripen. By the way, once the tomatoes have begun to change color, they are finished with the vine. You can pick them and bring them inside to safety. Carrots are also a good companion plant with tomatoes. I would encircle the tomatoe bed with carrots (intensive gardening).

Sunflowers seem to be good sellers, and would give you a tall plant to companion with plants that need a little shade. There are also dwarf sunflowers that I see being sold. Zinnias are really good cut flowers. I know you are interested in vegetables, but there will be people who will stop for tomatoes and pick up a few flowers. Also, there will be people who stop for the flowers. If you plant your zinnias, and perhaps other good cut flowers, near the road in big lovely gardens, you will be creating a wonderful marketing/advertising tool. In fact, in order to get people thinking about you before the vegetables are ready, you could sell small potted plants (flowers or patio tomatoes, for instance). This gives you the opportunity to let your customers know that you will have vegetables soon. You may not make a lot of money on the plants, but you will get people coming into your store, so to speak.

Glad to see you being so pro-active.

Wow - thanks for the tips on growing tomatoes. I will test both of those ways this year!

As for the flower idea - I may just try that.
My mom is a huge flower gardner (never enjoyed it myself, I more enjoy helping with the vegtable garden), she'd be happy to help.

Thanks for the kind words - Like I said, I will be using 25% of the money for college. I plan to do this all through highschool (currently in 8th grade, will be starting the stand in highschool).

Quote:

I am always attracted to green beans and hot peppers of different kinds (even though I don't eat them). The peppers, especially, seemed to be very popular where I used to live.

Ahh, peppers. That's what I like to see - we had many, many peppers last year!

Quote:

I think anything fresh will sell like crazy.But your profit will not be as high on some things as others.Thats why you see so much corn,tomatoes ,and melons for sell.

I agree. Anything fresh is great! For some reason my parents don't want me to raise melons?

Quote:

Our 4-H group began selling pumpkins on our land as a fundraiser for a trip that we all took. Great fun and they sold alot of pumpkins. The kids choose to do something else the next year and we decided that the pumpkins sold so well, as a family we continued selling them for the next 10 years. Those pumkins paid a lot of college bills. We also added pie pumpkins, mini pumpkins, squash, gourds, and mums to the stand. Howden pumpkins, Conn. Field pumpkins, and a variety of pie pumpkins will give you a nice assortment. Although many people are looking for big pumpkins, little kids like the pie pumpkins because they can pick them up by themselves. Mums from Minnesota, in Faribault, MN sell mum plugs at around 28cents each and they really decorate your stand. Hopefully you are on a busy road. Cucumber beatles may be around but if you have spent time on preparing your soil and added a lot of fertillity, it will be ok, you needn't worry too much about them. Good Luck!!

Thanks, my parents also said no pumpkins. That's because they take up so much room.

Hank - Narita · #17 03/28/06, 10:04 PM

We had good luck with cukes too. Also my neighbor orders chicks from the Ideal and sells them at the farmers market. Don't know if eggs sell in your area but you can mark them up if you live near a big city. We also sell goat's milk (for pet use only).

Maura · #18 03/28/06, 10:28 PM

You can grow melons and pumpkins upward. If you have a sturdy fence for them to climb, they will. I've only seen this in magazines.

JAS · #19 03/29/06, 09:19 PM

We tried the farmers market for the first time last year. Sweet corn, cuccumbers, tomatoes, melons, pumpkins were all good sellers. I was the only one to have herbs and though the market wasn't that good they were easy to grow (basil, dill, and parsley) and I started to have a lot of repeat business. Summer squash was a good seller and if I had any left overs they went to the chickens, plus they don't take up very much space for the amount of fruit you get (bush plants). I saw a lot of carrots and radishes walking by my booth and I heard lettuce was a good seller (I started later in the year).

I will be trying to grow things that go together for multiple sales, like tomatoes and basil, dill and cuccumbers, and peppers and pearl onions.

I friend of mine says his main money maker is green beans.

stanb999 · #20 04/01/06, 06:21 AM

I'd suggest growing what grows well the first year. But as you said it's not this season that you plan to sell the produce. I'd try many of the different plants that some have noted. You said beets don't do well in your yard? Are you planting them early in spring so they get to grow before it gets real hot? The other thing you could do to drastically increase sales is using plastic sheeting or a hoop house to get the season going earlier. This can pay well as you'd be the only one with fresh veggies for several weeks. It can be alot of fun and rewarding selling your produce so keep it fun.