farmers markets – gardenerscardiff.co.uk

Your Questions About Gardening

GardenersCardiff — Sun, 28 Sep 2014 14:05:03 +0000

Ruth asks…

how can i grow my own food?

my mom and dad wont let me grow my own food, i want to start eating healthy but no one will listen. i cant even go the shop because its so far away, basically i want to start eating my own foods because i dont trust anything in cans/ boxes . what can i do?

GardenersCardiff answers:

You answered your own question:
“my mom and dad wont let me grow my own food…”
Their house, their rules. Wait until you get older and get your own place, you’ll have all the freedom (and responsibilities) that you can handle.

David asks…

growing food for profit?

i feel confident i could grow food that would meet the standards required, but how easy would it be to find some type of store that would buy locally grown food? how would i go about finding someone to buy it? i can see farmer’s markets as a possible option but i big reason for doing all of this is to be able to work from home, not to stand outside everyday waiting for like 2 people to walk by and buy my stuff. some choices i have in mind are anything from shiitake mushrooms to blueberrys, anything that could be grown indoors really.

GardenersCardiff answers:

Growing for profit means long hours and low pay, few farmers get rich doing this. You may feel confident that you can grow food for market but have you ever grown on at least 1/2 acre (and really 3 acres is the minimum i would suggest in order to grow enough to make money) and are you familiar with succession planting so you have crop to sell for more than say 2 to 3 weeks.

If you want to sell from home know that you will have to do a lot of marketing in order to let people know that you are there. Just because you grow stuff and set up a table does not mean anyone will stop and buy your stuff. Also know that when you are selling direct to the public marketing ought to take up around 60% of your time and growing about 40%.

Farmers markets can be lucrative after you have built up a customer base which takes 1 to 4 years to do. A nice thing about farmers market is they do the advertising for you and pull in hundreds or thousands of people so you have a ready market and they can be a lot of fun.

Selling from home often does mean you will wait around all day for 1 or 2 people to show up and maybe buy something, unless you are spending quite a bit of money advertising your farm stand. You also need to check and see if it is legal to sell from your house, many places will not allow commercial activity such as selling food.

To find a store to sell your stuff first you will need liability coverage. Most places require at least $1,000,000 in coverage before they will buy your stuff. Than it is as simple as going around to stores and talking to produce managers and asking if they will buy your stuff. Do know if you go this rout you will gross about 1/2 what you will gross selling direct as no grocery store is going to pay you full price for your food. What i mean is at a FM you can usually get around $2 for a pound of tomatoes but if you sell to a grocery store they will pay at most $1 for your tomatoes but they will also buy a lot at once.

Locally owned high end restaurants are another possibility for selling produce.

But do know it will take you at least 3 years before you can net more than $5K a year unless you go into this in a gig way but in order to do that you would have to go into debt for say $250K and would have to be netting at least $25K just to not go bankrupt.

Susan asks…

Do you grow you’re own food?

Me and my mum grow vegetables in our vegetable field. Potatoes, beetroot, spinach, lettuce, carrots etc

I think it’s aboslutely sound.

do you?

( apart from some people who lives in cities )
Thanks Hawkeye85!

Also, thanks everyone else for taking an interest in this. I had fried potatoes for breakfast last week, ( yes it was our own one’s, hehe )

I reckon that if you want to, you can in the end, I hope all three of you ( so far ) can achieve that

GardenersCardiff answers:

I think it is sound and weel done you, keep it up.

I want to get a croft where one day I will be able to provide good produce and teach people where things come from and maybe how to cook it and grow but that will be way in the future and I am only 23 lol

Fresh is best and you can’t get better than home grown. I hope you continue when you get a place and teach your children in the future. People have no clue about things and it is shameful, they take things for granted.

Your Questions About Gardening

GardenersCardiff — Sun, 15 Dec 2013 13:05:02 +0000

Joseph asks…

Where can I sell my home grown produce?

I have been growing my own vegetables and herbs for a bit now, and am starting to grow some surplus. The farmers markets around here all require registration, and I don’t think that I can produce enough to make it a regular thing. What can I do to peddle my surplus produce? It’s all organic, and I don’t think you can get more local than my backyard.

GardenersCardiff answers:

Start with your neighbors..they soon let their other friends know and soon enough people will be looking to you for their veggies

Carol asks…

Are roast potatoes grown in the same way as mashed potatoes?

I’d like to start growing my own vegetables, and much prefer roast potatoes. Is there any special technique to the growing process in order to achieve the different textures?

GardenersCardiff answers:

You don’t grow roasted potatoes, You cook (roast) them.

Donald asks…

What edible plants can be cultivated using hydroponics?

I want to grow my own vegetables at home using hydroponics…does anyone have experience with this?

GardenersCardiff answers:

Tomatoes ,Cucumbers and Peppers work very well

Your Questions About Gardening

GardenersCardiff — Mon, 20 Aug 2012 12:05:02 +0000

Richard asks…

Should growing your own food be mandatory?

GardenersCardiff answers:

Not in a country that values individual freedom. But if you are living in a communist country or some type of dictatorship, then I could see the government forcing its citizens to grow their own food.

Still, it might be rather expensive for many people and it would raise their use of energy. Many people live in apartments so they would have to pay higher electric bills from using grow lights. It could also increase the chances of fires in these apartments. It would also decrease the variety of foods that people eat since not all foods can be grown in all areas. There would be a massive shift in population of that dictatorship. People would need to move from colder regions to warmer regions to comply with the law. Overpopulation of areas with warmer climates would be the results. But if the dictator wants to do that, it’s up to him.

I live in a country that values individual freedom so this would never be an issue.

Linda asks…

Why is it good to grow your own food?

Why is it good to grow your own food?
and
Why are farmers markets good/bad?

And what does ‘the genetic modification of food‘ mean? What are your thoughts on it? (good and bad)

GardenersCardiff answers:

For the same reason it’s good for you to DO YOUR OWN HOMEWORK.

Go cheat somewhere else.

Jenny asks…

If you grow your own food and you want to sell it at a farm stand, do you have to pay the government anything?

I was just wondering, I am unfamiliar with tax laws in the US on this subject. Basically, if I grow my own food in let’s say Arizona, and I want to have a farm stand, do I need to pay the government anything?

GardenersCardiff answers:

If you make more than $400 I believe, then yes you need to pay taxes. If you take into consideration all the costs of growing, harvesting, and selling; and in the end only break even or lose money, you can call it a hobby and not a business.