Annuals (Wow expensive) who will grow there own?

[injunjoe]

I was at the store a bit ago and I always browse the plants for deals.

When I passed the Annuals I had to step back and scratch my head.
$ 0.95 each! oh and tax 7% here. That's $1.02 each.

If you wanted to do a 10' by 5' bed of flowers, not to large, and plant the flowers 12 inches apart it would cost $51.00 just for plants.

One packet of seeds for $1.25 and a little sterile seed starter and you saved, well I will let you do the math!

So who is buying next Spring and who is starting seed a few weeks before last frost?

Joe

 

[wifezilla]

I used to buy bedding plants, but now that I have the light issue worked out, I can start inside.

I now know plants need about 2000 lumens to keep from getting leggy and that typical grow lights DO NOT put out enough light. This Spring I got some lamps at the thrift store and put CFLs in them (highest I could get were 100W equivalent) and my starter plants did awesome.

 

[obsessed]

Well the buying verse starting thing depends on the person. I have been gardening for about 3 years and still fail at starting seeds and the other logistics of gardening. Where as other people like have better success and seed starting is easy for them.

Like in another post a member commented that all she did was spread the seeds on the ground and they grew. But I lost or failed at every type of flower this year. I can generally do only those big seeds. So If I want violas in my front bed anytime soon. I need to buy. And I may start tomaotes/peppers/eggplants every year. I ALWAYS have to buy something......

 

[digitS']

50 plants for $51 ?

I feel like I'm walking into a trap . . . .

Okay, but you can't all show up and borrow greenhouse space:

My memory didn't serve me but I checked back a year or so ago. I bought 3 packets of Rocket & Madam Butterfly snapdragon seed for under $10 (3.50 + 1.95 + 3.10 = 8.50). They were not the tiny packets from the garden center, however.

From those packets of seed, I grew 7 flats of about 500 plants. The seed cost for each snapdragon plant was less than 2 cents.

Heating, starting mix, container costs (use and reuse) and inflation what it is . . . . Joe, I'd still say that I could populate that annual bed for you for well under $10.

Steve

 

[Rosalind]

Used to have a supervisor who ran a nursery business on the side. She grew annual bedding plants for her hubby to sell at the local farmer's market for $2 each. Between that and cut-your-own Xmas trees for $20-25, she and hubby did OK for themselves. She said they made more money on selling bedding plants and the Xmas trees than on selling grown landscaping trees and bushes to professional landscapers, and eventually quit growing the landscaping trees altogether.

 

[journey11]

I'm too cheap to pay for annuals!!! And most perennials. And I'll do my best to get/save free seed too! And if you're determined enough, you can even make your own sterile starter, but I usually don't go that far... And I save, sterilize and reuse the plastic flats and packs. And I save plastic butter and cottage cheese containers and drill holes in them and use them for planters. I don't have to heat my sunroom where I start them (although it takes some vigilance to keep it at a good temp). A little supplemental light...and there you go...definitely under $10. :coolsun

 

[injunjoe]

50 plants for $51 ?

I feel like I'm walking into a trap . . . .

Okay, but you can't all show up and borrow greenhouse space:

My memory didn't serve me but I checked back a year or so ago. I bought 3 packets of Rocket & Madam Butterfly snapdragon seed for under $10 (3.50 + 1.95 + 3.10 = 8.50). They were not the tiny packets from the garden center, however.

From those packets of seed, I grew 7 flats of about 500 plants. The seed cost for each snapdragon plant was less than 2 cents.

Heating, starting mix, container costs (use and reuse) and inflation what it is . . . . Joe, I'd still say that I could populate that annual bed for you for well under $10.

Steve

I love this math!

So for the same $51.00 I would expect to get about 250 square foot of bedding plants.

This is good math to me!
Even if I lost half of what I tried to start I would be way ahead of the game!
But in the end I feel much better also! "I took the seed and made this flower" type feeling you just can't get from a flat from Wall-World!

Joe

 

[digitS']

You can see some of the snaps and zinnias I grow each year in my cutting garden by clicking my "Personal Page," Joe. Also, there are a few varieties and several hundred square feet of China asters in that garden.

Elsewhere, I've got statice . . . and, of course, the veggie annuals: tomatoes, peppers, and eggplant.

Steve

 

[injunjoe]

Wow that is a nice garden Steve.
I was reading somewhere here you worked a huge greenhouse for some years. I am happy to make your acquaintance.

You are a wealth of info from experience, that alone I respect!

Joe

 

[digitS']

I don't know if I "worked" the greenhouse or it worked me . . . The greenhouse owners worked me, that's for sure.

I hired on an assistant grower - back in the salad years of my 20's.

As some greenhouses go, it was just a posy patch. And, my sights have been lowered considerably from there.

Steve