Spring is the season for fetes and now is the time to get into the garden if you want to propagate some great pot plants in time to sell at the local school, church or hospital fete. Plants are always great favourites at fetes and if you follow a few of Don’s tips your efforts will be well rewarded.
Pots
The simplest solution for pots is to use old black plastic pots that you or a neighbour may have in the garden shed. Alternatively ask your local nursery for left over plastic pots which they may happily donate. For good presentation keep the same plants in the same sized pots. It’s important to label all your plants. Use an old ice-cream container and cut it into label sizes and write with a waterproof marker the name of the plant. Cut a V on one end to make insertion into the pot easier.
Potting plants
When potting up plants use a good potting mix instead of soil. Soil never works well in pots and, if you use it, it will spread weeds and disease. Buy a good quality potting mix with added fertilisers. The average cost will work out at about 10 cents per 10cm (4″) pot to 20 cents per 15cm (6″) pot.
There are a number of different plants to choose from to pot up to sell at fetes. First look around the garden for plants that can be easily dug up and divided. Alternatively nurseries sell punnets of plants that can then be potted up into individual pots. Once the plants have been divided, plant them in the potting mix and put them in a shaded position outside. Water them well and fertilise them with osmocote or nutricote sprinkled around the pot as well as a liquid feed such as a mixture of nitrosol and seasol. After about six to eight weeks with proper care the plants will have grown and filled the pot enough to sell at the school fete.
Choice of plants
Herbs – Choose culinary herbs such as parsley, basil, rocket, mint and thyme which are easily grown from seed or propagated from existing bushes in the garden. Alternatively buy them in punnets from the nursery and divide them up. Each cell of the herb punnet would cost about 20 cents after dividing. Lemon verbena and rosemary are also popular herbs that grow easily from cuttings but they may take a little longer than the six to eight weeks to fill out.
Cottage perennials – Winter is the time to divide perennials in your garden and they multiply readily so are ideal to use for the fete. Some examples in your garden may include:
- Easter daisy (Aster novi-belgii)
- Perennial Phlox (Phlox paniculata)
- Penstemon (Penstemon sp.)
- Achillea or Yarrow (Achillea sp.)
- Agapanthus (Agapanthus sp.)
- Seaside daisy (Erigeron karvinskianus)
- Sweet violet (Viola odorata)
As well as the above perennials there are some other foolproof examples that nurseries sell in punnets of ground covering perennials which can then be potted into a 13cm (5″) pot and will grow well:
- Brachycome (Brachycome multifida)
- Snow in summer (Cerastium tomentosum)
- Glory vine (Convolvulus sabatius)
- White Butterfly bush (Gaura lindheimeri)
- Marguerite daisy (Argyranthemum spp.)
- Spanish shawl (Heterocentron elegans)
Other plants which sell well at fetes and may be easily grown from cuttings or by division include:
Succulents, especially given that there is a resurgence of interest in them, such as,
- Echeverias
- Scented geraniums
- Double impatiens and New Guinea impatiens
- Begonias – some of the old fashioned varieties found in gardens are not easy to buy from nurseries so may sell well at a fete.
- Mondo grass (Ophiopogon japonicus) or acorus (Acorus gramineus) which grows well in swampy areas and both divide easily.
- Australian native violets (Viola hederacea)
- Ferns, in particular maidenhair ferns (Adiantum spp.)
- Baby’s tears (Soleirola soleirolii)
Costs
If plants are well priced they will always sell at a fete. Be generous with any plants divided from your own garden. Even the punnets from nurseries with the cost of the potting mix will work out at no more than about 80 cents per plant. The 12-15cm (5-6″) pots would sell for about $3-$5 at a fete, so you could raise quite a bit of money if you’ve got a fete coming up which is at least six to eight weeks away.