News from a market stall in South Africa

huntsman · December 7, 2011

This is my third year of selling tomato and pepper plants at a small food market in Johannesburg, and the first where I have actively grown plants specially for the market, using info gleaned from previous years.

We meet on a Saturday morning at 08h30 and pack up at 13h30 and although I won't be getting rich any time soon, it's really great selling something that you have nurtured from seed!

This started by my planting more seeds than I actually needed (who knew?!) and my refusal to dump the spares. As my friends and neighbours are about as 'green' as a ripe Stupice, I had to come up with something else, and tried the market, where I sold three peppers and a tomato plant the first week.

In general, South Africans have traditionally been too lazy / uninterested / uneducated to grow their own veg - even 'maters! - but I find that this is definitely changing. Provided my plants are in really good to great condition, with colourful, attractive signage, the passers-by are very interested. I'm charging U$ 12 - 20 for the 'maters and an average of U$ 13 for the peppers, and I have also started bottling fertiliser that I buy in bulk which is of a good quality.

The market is very small, with maybe 100 visitors per day, and I'm selling around 13 plants on average, and this weekend we sold more maters than peppers for the first time ever! YAY!

Selling for me are:

Stupice
Heinz
Cowlicks
JD's Special C-Tex
Yellow Pear
Black Cherry
Black from Tula
Cherokee Green
Gogosha
Ponderosa Pink

Most plants have fruit on them, are around 25" tall, and I always spend a few minutes with each customer detailing watering suggestions, etc, so it's a good deal all round.

So nice to supplement a poor income with something so wonderful to do...

Now it's your turn to take that step..

December 7, 2011	#1
huntsman Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Jul 2009 Location: Johannesburg, South Africa - GrowZone 9 Posts: 595	News from a market stall in South Africa This is my third year of selling tomato and pepper plants at a small food market in Johannesburg, and the first where I have actively grown plants specially for the market, using info gleaned from previous years. We meet on a Saturday morning at 08h30 and pack up at 13h30 and although I won't be getting rich any time soon, it's really great selling something that you have nurtured from seed! This started by my planting more seeds than I actually needed (who knew?!) and my refusal to dump the spares. As my friends and neighbours are about as 'green' as a ripe Stupice, I had to come up with something else, and tried the market, where I sold three peppers and a tomato plant the first week. In general, South Africans have traditionally been too lazy / uninterested / uneducated to grow their own veg - even 'maters! - but I find that this is definitely changing. Provided my plants are in really good to great condition, with colourful, attractive signage, the passers-by are very interested. I'm charging U$ 12 - 20 for the 'maters and an average of U$ 13 for the peppers, and I have also started bottling fertiliser that I buy in bulk which is of a good quality. The market is very small, with maybe 100 visitors per day, and I'm selling around 13 plants on average, and this weekend we sold more maters than peppers for the first time ever! YAY! Selling for me are: Stupice Heinz Cowlicks JD's Special C-Tex Yellow Pear Black Cherry Black from Tula Cherokee Green Gogosha Ponderosa Pink Most plants have fruit on them, are around 25" tall, and I always spend a few minutes with each customer detailing watering suggestions, etc, so it's a good deal all round. So nice to supplement a poor income with something so wonderful to do... Now it's your turn to take that step.. Last edited by huntsman; December 7, 2011 at 05:39 AM.