Need some creative ways to grow flowers for sale

[TupperMom7]

My dd11 has come up with an idea to make some money so she can help pay for her summer camp this year. She wants to plant some flower seeds in containers and sell them this Spring/Summer.

We need creative ideas on what to plant them in. Most of these will be plants that people can take home and plant in their garden, but some could be plants to give as gifts for mother's day. What are some inexpensive containers to use and how can they be decorated. I have all kinds of acrylic paints, but I'm not sure if that would be good for something that will have a plant in it? Do you think the paint will stay on outside? I don't want to spend a lot of money on supplies, other than potting soil and seeds.

Do you think this is a marketable idea? Even if she only makes $20 or so, she'll be happy.

 

[okeydokey]

Where is she planning on selling them?

 

[TupperMom7]

Where is she planning on selling them?

She's just going to set up a stand, like a lemondade stand, only it will be plants.

 

[luvsmickeymouse]

My friend thought of a theme to use one summer. In the spring she planted baskets with a tomato plant and lettuce plants around the edges of the basket and called them BLT's- basket, lettuce, and tomato! They all sold! I bought one and loved it. Got lots of tomatoes from it.

She could paint those small clay pots herself.

I worked at a florist which had a garden shop, we made all kinds of things to sell. I always made mine to look tropical. LOL!

http://www.allfreecrafts.com/nature/decoupage-pots.shtml This site shows pots decorated with printed paper napkins and glue. Really cute.

 

[StephMK]

Depending on what size you need, how about being "green" and planting them in recycled plastic containers? They could go in little yogurt cups, butter tubs, etc.? If you want to pretty them up, wrap them in wallpaper or border scraps, wide ribbon or decoupage tissue paper on them, etc.

If they are gift flowers, then the craft stores have terra cotta pots really cheap & they look cute painted.

Cute idea!

 

[MarthaJr.]

The 1st thing that popped into my head was just planting them in the cheapy 3" black or green pots like the garden centers do. When ready to sell you could put the pots into the containers that look like chinese take out food containers. You can get them with designs or plain and decorate yourself. Maybe tie a cute ribbon on them. This would be nice for Mother's Day or Easter! Good luck to the budding entrepreneur!

 

[dislal]

I go to a little local flea market and sell in the summer, and last year an older man did that and he used everthing imaginable to plant in. He used two liter bottles, 20 oz. bottles(cut in half) small plastic cups like the solo or dixie cups, milk cartons and gallon size . He had the whole back of his truck filled with tomato plants and he sold them all in one morning.

I bet if your DD would just use things you are throwing away and decorate it and you could find a local flea market in your area ( ours is $5 for a spot) she would sell them all.

Thanks for the reminder I might plant some too and let my kids decorate them and try to sell them.

Good luck and have fun.

 

[Linda in sunny SC]

I re-use empty pudding cups to grow my seedlings in. Poke a hole in the bottom for drainage. I usually just grow a few tomatoes and such for my own garden since I don't have a lot of window space.

 

[Evi]

Maybe you could make seed bombs instead. They would be easier and you wouldn't have to wait for them to grow.

 

[kelly1218]

I re-use empty pudding cups to grow my seedlings in. Poke a hole in the bottom for drainage. I usually just grow a few tomatoes and such for my own garden since I don't have a lot of window space.

That's a great suggestion!

OP~ I think your daughter has a great idea. I hope she has a lot of fun doing this

 

[powellrj]

Can I make a suggestion. What about herbs? I know we go to the farmers market every Saturday in the summer and the people that sell herb plants always sell out while I never really see the flower plants selling as well since they are easy to buy.

 

[flowerpower]

This may sound crazy, but I remember reading once using old shoes. This could be cute especially if they were kids' shoes

(no, I never tried it......)

 

[dawson5]

we just started our tomatoes, basil and sage a few weeks ago. We found the little containers that degrade when you plant them.

As for something to plant, this will sound odd but what about pie pumpkins? My mother in law was searching back home for pumpkin and couldn't find it. She came for a visit and we went to three stores, finally found some pumpkin but she turned her nose up at it because it wasn't Libby's. If there is still a pumpkin shortage, people might be happy for something like that.

 

[MickeyP]

This sounds like a great project for kids to take on. Are Farmer's Markets really around 5.00/spot?

 

[Gigi22]

You can grow a small seedling in an empty eggshell. You have to make sure there is a drainage hole at the bottom. You can store the eggs in the open egg crate. When the seedling is ready to go you can just plant it in the eggshell. Biodegradable packaging--you would have to experiment on how to package them once sold--a cut up egg crate?

 

[Colleen27]

I start all my seeds in newspaper cups rather than buying pots for all my starts. Once the seeds germinate, they can be moved to something more sturdy for sale. And for the plants I'm keeping, they can be planted cup and all; the paper breaks down very quickly.

The dollar store usually has some neat containers; don't just look for flower pots, but also at housewares and various other areas. We've used sundae dishes, candle holders, and all sorts of other things for potted plants. I also save spice jars to use for herb plants for a neat presentation with a built-in label.

 

[luvsmickeymouse]

Can I make a suggestion. What about herbs? I know we go to the farmers market every Saturday in the summer and the people that sell herb plants always sell out while I never really see the flower plants selling as well since they are easy to buy.

This is a great idea!

 

[hrh_disney_queen]

This may sound crazy, but I remember reading once using old shoes. This could be cute especially if they were kids' shoes

(no, I never tried it......)

My DS11's Kindergarten teacher did this for Mother's day gifts. She had each kid bring in an old shoe of theirs, spray painted them gold, and planted a petunia in it. Very unusual and cute for Mom to receive her own kid's shoe, but I don't think I would like receiving it in another person's shoe. JMO!

I also used the plastic Chinese take out containers from the $ Tree for a container for teacher's gifts. I put a Rosemary plant in it-just put in with the green container it came in. They looked terrific-and cost me about $3 total.

 

[kelly1218]

This sounds like a great project for kids to take on. Are Farmer's Markets really around 5.00/spot?

I think it depends on your area. They are $15-$35 here (depends on the day and location of the spot..and if you pay weekly or monthly)

 

[TupperMom7]

Thanks for all the great suggestions!!! Now we just have to put them into action and figure out how much to charge for the plants. I suppose we could just go to the garden shop and see how much they are charging. I don't think they have any farmers markets around here, except ones you have to be a member of to set up. But we could do a craft fair rather cheaply, so I'll have to look into that. I love Spring! Can't wait to get those seeds in the soil.

I like the idea of the herbs too.