how to make money with midget vegetables

Article Tools

Image Gallery

Print

E-mail

Comments

RSS

We took the hint, and though we hadn't planned on seeding Tiny Tims (cherry-size tomatoes on 12" plants) that season, we did so . . . and two months later the little plants were in pots, ready for pickup. As usual, we had more than we needed . . . and our friend asked if she could have the excess for friends who had been taken by her little appetizer tomatoes the previous summer.

Obviously there's a market here for anyone who can supply it. A midget tomato plant, already well-started in a flower pot, is going to be as welcome as a spring bouquet . . . and a good deal scarcer.

We have also potted Tiny Dill, a miniature cucumber from New Hampshire (its vines are only two feet long and it starts bearing plump little three-inch-long fruit in 55 days). We put neat curled-parsley plants and French basil in small plastic pots for epicurean cooks to grow right in their aromatic kitchens . . , and have had those cooks tell us of friends who've asked where they could possibly buy such plants for them selves. Every seed house carries curled parsley, but we'll admit French basil is something else again; we used to have to order it from Europe, although it's now carried in this country by Nichols.

Almost all seed houses handle some midgets. Those with especially good listings are: Burgess Seed & Plant Company, Galesburg, Michigan 49053; W. Atlee Burpee Company, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 19132, Clinton, Iowa 52732, and Riverside, California 92502; Farmer Seed & Nursery Company, Faribault, Minnesota 55021; Nichols Garden Nursery, 1190 North Pacific Highway, Albany, Oregon 97321; George W. Park Seed Company, Greenwood, South Carolina 29646. Catalogs are free for the asking in each case and the vegetables that come in midget sizes include beets, cabbage, cantaloupes, carrots, corn, cucumbers, eggplants, lettuce, okra, peas, peppers, pumpkins, squash, tomatoes, turnips and watermelons.

For anyone already raising a good-sized garden and supplying some markets—or running a roadside stand of his own—the midget vegetables are a natural for attracting attention, cash and talk. In fact, they're so new, your local newspaper or broadcasting station might just be interested in doing a little feature on them. Take the management a few samples, and see what happens. Free publicity is free publicity.

RSS | Comments | E-mail | Print