A Colorful Market Table

[BigVanVader]

Originally Posted by Fred Hempel

I always delude myself into thinking "maybe this year Martha Stewart will rave about GWR tomatoes and everything will change"

Maybe we should all email, Facebook and Twitter message her to do just that. Somebody make a meme with a GWR never being picked and crying about it. I can imagine lots of catchy slogans doing with the green movement. Be green eat green....tomatoes, green tomatoes are carbon neutral

[imp]

I've got quite a few planted/scheduled to be planted in my CG. People were not taking any of those from the plants, LOL, so will try to tempt them with the taste later at our harvest dinner if not before.

I've never eaten them myself, so it's a learning curve for me, too.

[Cole_Robbie]

I planted way too many Jade Beauty as plants. Now I'm not sure if I want to plant them in the garden or not. I probably will.

[bower]

And there is the beauty of the CSA. You grow green tomatoes.. they get green tomatoes.

[imp]

Originally Posted by bower

And there is the beauty of the CSA. You grow green tomatoes.. they get green tomatoes.

LOL! But then they whine.

Should be interesting later this year, both for myself and others, since I've never eaten a GWR one either.panic:

[BigVanVader]

TBH I think the main turn off is that it is harder to tell when it is ripe. People are to lazy to check and squeeze, they want it to turn fire engine red and scream PICK ME!

[imp]

I think a lot is conditioning- people have had manyyears to see the round and red tomatoes, look at how it took just about a huge media push to get people to try black tomatoes.

Now, I haven't sold at a market for tomatoes, but I do know a wee bit about selling at times. Visual impact is important- or I should say POSITIVE visual impact. It's got to grab the eye first.

PR is a lot of it- geez, people eat those green smoothie things that are often just nasty, not for taste, but because they think they are improving their health. We all know it takes more than smoothies to change your life, but that is the PR.

Hopefully, the ones I have/am planting will be as good as many have said, because the next step is the taste. It's got to get in their mouths some how.

So, to sell a gwr, what are the positive selling points?

Taste? Texture? What makes you want to eat that tomato?

You have to know how you want to sell this tomato* before you need to sell it.

* tomato shoe carpet car......

edit-

Sorry, don't mean to sound preachy.

[bower]

BVV is right I think, that knowing when it's ripe can be an issue... especially here where we're starved for something fresh, when those first red yellow black ones start to blush it's hard enough to WAIT for it to be really ripe... the anxiety around ripe fruit is just X10 for a GWR.
As for selling points, even if you can't give a sample I say slice one up so they can see how pretty it is inside, how meaty juicy etc etc.
Some of the GWR's are really an emerald colour inside and not like an ordinary unripe tomato.
Tricolours bicolours and blacks are also really appealing when sliced - which is how it's going to look on your plate more than likely.
Maybe eat some yourself, just to prove it is ready.

[imp]

I wonder, if not giving samples, but as Bower said- slice some and wrap it tightly/neatly with like a saran type wrap, so it can be seen? And Bower is right- maybe do one of each sort like that, as a selling tool?

Give away a free GWR tomato to someone who is buying something else- a freebie thing?

I do love the idea of cherries being able to be sampled.

[Cole_Robbie]

It was an unexpectedly chilly, gray morning. We had a very light market crowd. I still ended up having my best day ever. I could see the frustration on some of the other vendors faces about the light crowd. Some of them packed up and left early. I think I did more business than any vendor at my end of the market; some of them are family operations, and I'm a one-man show.

Here are a couple of pics from this morning:
http://i.imgur.com/OKqVs41.jpg
http://i.imgur.com/cqXvii3.jpg

One guy looked at those dwarfs in the gallon pot and told me I must have zapped them with radiation to make the stem that thick

[bower]

Your plants look fantastic. They didn't mind the cold grey morning, either, eh.

[Cole_Robbie]

Thanks. Packing them all into the back of the truck was an adventure. I drive so slow on the way to market that I'm sure other drivers are thinking, "I wish this old man would hurry up!"

[PhilaGardener]

Fabulous looking plants!

You do have the bumper sticker "I brake for tomatoes", don't you?

[Cole_Robbie]

I had the thought on the the way there that if a deer ran out in front of me, then it was going to be a bad day for that deer, because I was not going to slam on the brakes and throw my plants everywhere. So in that case, I would be not braking, but still for tomatoes.

[coronabarb]

That exact scenario happened to me one early morning. Old Chevy van (with bench seats removed) all loaded up with gear and produce/products. Driving slowly around a right turn and there was a doe tangled in barbed wire fence top. I was only going about 30 and couldn't hit the brakes. I was thinking "don't do it, don't do it" but I KNEW if she got free, she was gonna turn and run across the road instead of jumping that fence. And she did. I had taken my foot off the gas and lightly braked but did hit her rear. Don't know what happened to her as she continued running and I didn't see her later. But it really bothered me all day. :'( And my poor van's grill, being so old just crumbled.

Btw, our market does not allow vendors to leave early. Part of that is we can't park next to our booth space (we unload and park elsewhere) and they don't want empty spaces. Even if you sell out, you have to stay. Also, it isn't safe to have vehicles driving in the sales areas. And your plants look fabulous...so much better than the sad overgrown tomatoes being sold here that have been in a greenhouse, not hardened off and still too early to plant anyway.