I have some pics to share(ca 10000 plants :P)

[gardenstartup]

You can find my pics from my blog: http://myowngreenhouse.blogspot.com/
I'm currently potting tomatoes o I haven't had time to write two days, but if you scroll down you can see what I mean.

[Deborah]

That's a very nice blog. Great pictures ! One thousand??? !!! Wow !

[Redbaron]

Impressive!

[gardenstartup]

Actually more
over 3000 tomatoes
400-500 paprikas( 'Californian wonder')
200 peppers('Westlandia')
few chillis
200 cucumbers( for greenhouse 'Landora')
+ 1000 coming for open field(Mirabelle)
only 300 cabbages
all kind of herbs 500 - 1500? can't count them
150 pumpkins
100 aubergines
150 zuchinis

and a lot of flowers

[tlintx]

And that's what you call a "small" business?

Wishing you a great season! And lots of easy-going (and growing) plants.

[gardenstartup]

Actually it is. Because our sellin prices are low, I can't hire anybody. Only me and my wife, my boy fills pots with peat. And we need to do everything, including selling.
Low price example
tomato in pot 0.80$
annual flower in pot 0.50$
perennial 1.50$
cucumber from tray 0.40$
A new greenhouse 300m2 costs about 25 000$ if you buy
If you build it yourself - ca 10000$

[tlintx]

Around here, a tomato seedling goes for about $2 to $4. $8 for a grafted, but not many scion types available.

Do you have farmers' markets there? The small scale, fresh food direct to consumer
type, I mean? Or do you sell to CSAs or groceries?


Tl

[gardenstartup]

yes we have. You can sell tomatoes 0.80$ kg or cherry type 2.50$ kg
If you try to ask more, people will go to supermarkets (about 1.50 and 3.00).
If you try to sell to grocieries then you need to sell your crop to wholesale traders.
And an example.
You can get from chillis 1.20$ kg
and you can see it later on supermarket shelf priced like 10$ kg
or potatoes - they will pay you ca 0.08 kg.
AND our gardening businesses can't get government support like in other EU countries.
Politics.

[Cole_Robbie]

Do you have an automated watering system?

[gardenstartup]

Just cheap timer and some sprinklers+for tomatoes selfmade irrigation system

If i need to add fertilizers then it is a time consuming process.

[Cole_Robbie]

I really wanted to set up an irrigation system for my tomatoes that floods and then drains the table the pot are on. But my peat mix likes to float when it dries out, so unless I hold the pot down by hand, it floats up and tips over. Do you use overhead sprinklers on your tomatoes? Or something different?

I have found the Hozon brass injector to be the cheapest and easiest for fertilizer injection. It looks like this: . I have another injector called an "easy flow" that was 4x the price, but I like it a lot less.

[Worth1]

Originally Posted by Cole_Robbie

I really wanted to set up an irrigation system for my tomatoes that floods and then drains the table the pot are on. But my peat mix likes to float when it dries out, so unless I hold the pot down by hand, it floats up and tips over. Do you use overhead sprinklers on your tomatoes? Or something different?

I have found the Hozon brass injector to be the cheapest and easiest for fertilizer injection. It looks like this: . I have another injector called an "easy flow" that was 4x the price, but I like it a lot less.

Where did you get the brass injector?
I dont need one with a built in back flow preventer though.

I looked into the easy flow and read poor reviews and it was not what I was looking for at all.

Worth

[Worth1]

Nice setup you have.
I liked the picture with all of the plants blooming.

Worth

[gardenstartup]

You can use overhead sprinkles when your plants are young and healthy, but later leaves must be dry or diseases will spread quickly.
I'm using simple solution for potted tomatoes and paprikas.
For watering I take a large square bowl,2 inches water(liquid fertilizers if necessary),
plastic transport crates(perforated) and lay pots side by side into it.
After pots are wet I lift them up( entire crate) into another bowl for draining.
It's cheap solution.
You can use a large plastic or table same way. it must be water tight with a draining tap.

If you are using peat, mix it with sand (fraction is not important) . 1 part of sand , 4 or 5 parts peat. And some fertilizers. so your pots will not float easily and sand helps to keep some moisture.

[Cole_Robbie]

Thanks. I am doing about the same thing in regard to dunking trays of plants. I am using a mortar mixing pan.

I actually found that Hozon in my grandparent's box of irrigation supplies that they used to use. Neither one of them recognized it or remembered using it.