Saturday Night: My alarm clock on my mobile phone was set for six in the morning.
We loaded the little van the night before. I tried to choose any plants in flower and hoped that we would have a good day at the office or carboot even? I have never known a June evening so cold I thought, loading the van at nine at night.
Sunday Morning: We got up at six and drove for over an hour to a carboot sale in North Cork on a large dairy farm.
We queued for twenty minutes and paid a young lady in a transit van ten euros for our pitch.
I unloaded the van of shrubs and perennials and a few planters and unwanted gardening books.
We had no customers for over an hour and a lot of people walked past uninterested in my self propagated plants.
We didn't have a good selling morning to be truthful. We got our pitch fee back and made 19 Euros.
The old van needed "motion lotion" on the way back and a tenner got us home. I also spent 8 Euros on carboot sale treasure. Which I will show you in another post on here.
Here's some pics of our day for your perusal:
Carboot punters and sellers.
Plants for sale. I have already shown you this photo. I must pay attention.
A Eastern European sounding man asked me how much it was for one of my sedums. I said: "2.50." He said: "Too much" and walked off. The same kind of plants are double if not more at a garden centre.
Me and Bronte went for a walk and we noticed a field of main crop spudatoes emerging. They looked like a tractor and ridger had earthed them up. I didn't see any weeds either. Do you think they hand weed their crops like we do? They look like they had been sprayed with weedkiller and pesticides before setting the seed potatoes.
We weren't very successful carbooting and in fairness the weather has been very dry. Hopefully when the monsoon season returns on Thursday to the Irish Riviera we will be able to go selling plants again and people will buy them? Ireland doesn't seem to be a nation of gardeners (and shopkeepers) like Napoleon once said about the English.
It took me half an hour to empty the van when we got back home to West Cork on the Irish Riviera. . I am sure we brought home more than we took? Perhaps next time I will only half fill the vehicle and take other stuff than just plants? Nineteen Euros is not very good for our efforts and we got up at six on a Sunday morning.
Carbooting is like fishing. Sometimes you catch and other times you don't!
Oh dear. Still, you had a day out in the fresh air!
ReplyDeleteHopefully that Arctic wind will change course soon and bring some warmer temperatures... along with the rain.
I think you need some guidance with your sales techniques. May I suggest some Val Doonican music blasting out + Jean should wear a sparkly bikini and fishnet tights + you should wear a shirt and collar and have your hair slicked back with "Brylcreem". Pitches may involve: "Make your own Garden of Eden here in Ireland with plants lovingly nurtured by me - green-fingered Old Dave from The Sheep's Head Peninsula! Roll up! Roll up!"
ReplyDeleteHi JayCee. Where we live in the countryside next to the sea. It goes dark early in the evenings from August onwards. So we make the most of early rising in the summer time. It's great to get up early and go somewhere at the weekend. I think disposable income is not present at the moment. The rain comes back on Thursday. Our plants and gardens need it.
ReplyDeleteFunnily enough YP. I walked into a giant Anderson type shelter indoor carboot sale section on Sunday. Someone was playing Country and Irish music. So I quickly made a fast retreat. I don't mind trad diddly dee but not that Irish putting on a Country and Western kind of music. I need to master my Basil Rathbone voice or maybe be like a lot of prosperous English northerners and move "darn sarf." It was a good day out. Shame the purse strings weren't heavier.
ReplyDeleteBetter to have tried that never to have tried at all. Is that saying to do with rugby?
DeleteProbably when Poetry was part of the Olympic games YP. It really was. Then along came tiddly wwinks, bar room billiards and pin a tail on the donkey. That would be a good way to get people voting Tory.
DeleteHey, Dave? Do you have a facebook market place there? I just bought 3 lupines for a woman who makes a business selling her plants from home. You really ought to give it a go.
ReplyDeleteNo I have never been on Facebook Debby. I don't like it. Thanks for the advice though.
ReplyDeleteOh dear, a long day for not a lot of income, but plenty of fresh air!
ReplyDeleteI briefly thought of hanging onto the bits and bobs I no longer need until I've enough for doing a car boot myself but there are so many people selling this year, and people aren't buying unless they really need to so I'll just keep moving things out to charity shops instead.
We have tons of car boot stuff Sue, especially perennials. I have hundreds of them in pots and I am always making new plants. I don't think herbaceous perennials are in vogue these days and people don't seem to want the maintenance. Clothes seem to sell well at carboot sales along with tools. After the covid lockdown it's good to get outside and meet people on a Sunday morning. Thanks.
ReplyDeleteI was going to suggest a song and dance routine to draw in the punters but see it has already been suggested. The site they had you on looks a bit uninviting with all that gravel - your plants against the background of a lush greensward of freshly mown grass might do better.
ReplyDeletePerhaps should start busking Tigger's Mum when I try to sell my plants? In hindsight it's been very hot and dry and not really planting weather. There was a man next to me selling lawnmowers and tools and seemed to be doing very well. Perhaps I should try selling my petrol mower? I have covered my lawn with plastic and made a plant nursery and my strimmer and my rabbits keep the big lawn down.
ReplyDeleteThat was a long day for little in return. Perhaps you'll have better luck next time.
ReplyDeleteThanks Jules. You win you lose some. I bet some shops get no customers some days?
DeleteA pity you didn't make a good profit. Not planting weather I see. It's not planting weather here either. 37c.
ReplyDeleteI once experienced 36 degrees in Krakow Linda. 37 c sounds like Scorchio. Time for cold beer and Sangria me thinks.
ReplyDelete