Saturday 4 July 2015

How To Be A Smallholding Millionaire. ( Making New Plants In A Wet Summer.)

 I made an hundred new perennial plants this week.  I sold another sixty last week.  I reckon I could be a millionaire if I made a million plants and sold them for a Euro a piece.  If I let them grow for a few months.  I would only need 500000 new plants at 2 Euros a piece.

But seriously folks.  I have been taking advantage of the mixed weather and made lots of new plants and cuttings.  We haven't had the heat wave here in Ireland.  So I thought I would make the best of the sun and rain.  The sixty Euros I got paid off my brother, paid for some beer tokens and the supper.

Dividing perennials and making cuttings is a great way of making yourself a few bob from the garden.  I might sell them on a car boot sale one week.


A raised nursery bed for Dogwood and Pyracantha cuttings I made last winter.  A Cranes bill Geranium seems to have seeded it self with them.

Anybody else make new plants and sell them?  I am always interested in different ways to diversify on the smallholding.

14 comments:

  1. We have plants swaps arranged by Knockvicar Organic gardens held at least twice sometimes three times throughout the year, a lot of my plants have come to me this way including wonderful Delphiniums and Agapanthus. They also organises seed swaps, a great way to build up your garden and share what you have lots of.

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    1. This is Cork farmer you are writing too, Anne they are hungry for money and beer :) :)

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    2. Sounds a brilliant idea Anne. New plants and new friends. Wish I lived near somewhere like Knockvicar Organic gardens. I like living on a smallholding but I miss the camaraderie we use to have when we rented allotments in England. Thanks!

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    3. I have gave plants away and let people camp on our fields for free in the past Heron. But if you can get a few beer tokens for some plants why not? Thanks!

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  2. This sort of enterprise tends to operate on Sods Law.

    Usual thing is to have a wonderful crop to sell when everybody else has so nobody wants them, or to have a failure when everybody else also had a failure and prices are sky-high.

    Bit like rearing beef?

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    1. It's good way of making yourself a few bob Cumbrian. Cattle rearing is another kettle of fish. You never get the price you want for them and you always pays too much to replace them. Farmers can always see a negative instead of a positive. Be it the weather or the mart prices. It's always swings and roundabouts. The Dalai Lama said at Glastonbury he would like to be a farmer or a tractor driver. Thanks!

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  3. I was told the best gardener is a thrifty one. Free plants are the best, well done

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    1. I love making new plants for free BG. Mother nature makes them grow and I just keep them watered and pot them on. Thanks!

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  4. I have about 40 hydrangea cuttings going in the kitchen and porch right now for my garden. All from a rather spindly bush that the tree surgeons flattened

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    1. Good on you Sol. Did you use rooting powder for your cuttings? Hydrangea and Fuschia strike roots really quickly. I have two jars of cuttings in water sitting on our kitchen window sill. Please show your cuttings on your blog some time. Thanks!

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  5. There is something about taking cuttings from other people's gardens, then growing them on to maturity.... and for free!

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  6. Hi Vera. You're right. I often look at plants in people's garden and think:

    "Should I knock on their door and ask them for a cutting of that plant."

    I sometimes buy plants and divide them into 2 and plant them in the garden. Propagation is great especially in the poly-tunnel or potting shed on a wet day. Thanks!

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  7. I've been doing the same but I've not sold any yet. I've got loads of chilean guavas which will hopefully take and I'll try to sell them on ebay - thats the plan anyway!

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    1. Just found your comment Kev. Good luck with the guavas sale. You could make a lot of hedge cuttings to sell next year. I am making cuttings every day at the moment and dividing plants. It's one way of making use of a wet summer. Thanks!

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