Carboot Sales ~ Something of an Untapped Source of Plants?

He's a cheeky so and so.

I would have sold him some Tomato plants after rubbing tobacco on them

 

A Car-Boot Sale is the ideal place for any new gardener to seek out some really good value tools. It is usually possible to get the 'basics' to start off (Spade, Fork, Rake, Hoe, Trowel & Watering Can) for no more than £20 the lot !


a-a

 

Please explain Do you get tomatoes tasting like an ash tray ?
I have not been to a car boot sale for 20 years . I suppose you need to know the good uns and the bad uns. Some impressive prices though in the posts above.

 

Tobacco leaf mosaic virus Harry.

 

100% correct there, that's where I got all my tools from I also got bargain if the century, an electric scarifier for 50p. I figured if it didn't even work I've only lost half the cost of my Sunday paper, it's still been going strong for a year + now


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

60% of my tools come from bootsales. Only two of my tools I bought brand new and the others I inherited. I reckoned I've saved about £50 ont he ones I bought at the bootsale as a result and they are all still going strong.

Pots too. I picked up 4 10" diameter pots for a quid each. They would probably cost a fiver each at the local garden centre.

I find plants are a bit samey at my local car boot. Everyone seems to be selling strawberry plants, aloe veras, spider plants, foxgloves etc. The real gems don't come round that often for me. Although I did buy a foot high Solomans Seal for £2.50 last week.

 

Really didn`t think when I thinned my toms out, I only wanted the strongest one of each, threw 100s away, as I sow them all thin to three then down to the finalist, my friend said after, if you had potted those up you could have sold them to a seller,,,,

 

How often do you need a pickaxe? I had a need to run a ten foot ditch through a concrete drive.So off to the car boot and got one for a fiver...job done,and knowing I probably would never need one again,and standing myself that week...I flogged it on..For a fiver

 

The trick with carboots is never go with the intention of buying a specific item,everytime I thought to myself ahh,there was one at the boot sale last week I will buy it this Sunday there was never another item the same to be seen!
The carboots havn't really started around here yet the fields are still in use or to wet.

 

Funnily enough, I was just thinking about this earlier today. There's no material thing more essential than food (except water and air of course). Nobody can deny that, yet its the one commodity that nobody is willing to actually pay for.

I was thinking of a conversation I once had with a seller of spices, where I'd asked if their cayenne pepper was organic. I was told that it can't be called organic because the farmer can't afford to pay for the inspection and accreditation to have his land and crops declared organic, but at the same time he can't afford the chemicals from the big names, so relies on animal poo from neighbouring farms for fertiliser. For years I never gave this much thought, then out of the blue, earlier tonight it popped into my head and I got to thinking, this isn't unusual, nor is it limited to poor countries. Here in the 'wealthy' UK, farmers couldn't make a living off our normal sustenance crops if it wasn't for subsidies.

Everyone needs a pickaxe. Its the single most useful tool there is. Its a spade for digging hard ground, its a hammer for knocking posts in, its a crowbar for prising up old flag stones or forcing off old fence panels. On one occasion it was something to fasten the winch to when pulling out gorse bushes (didn't really work that well for that purpose, but it was fun trying and that's what counts).

 

One of local carboot sales that's on every Sunday has many plant stalls selling the run of the mill bedding plants, tomato plants etc at this time of year but there are usually a couple of stalls that sell plenty of perennials; some rarer and unusual too. Another stall has also started selling a few exotics, Datura, Tree Ferns, Echiums, etc...and the prices are competitive, they're considerably cheaper than garden centres and although you could probably find some mail order companies with similar prices you'd have a hefty postage charge on top of them!!

As an example I've seen Echium Webbii offered at £12, a good sized plant in flower in approx a 5 to 7.5 litre pot. At our local florist I've seen exactly the same plant (label and pot - same supplier) for £24.99 and at our local garden centres it was £34.99 at one and £39.99 at another, again for exactly the same plant.

 

Where we live we have a gigantic one on every saturday. If you get there at 8 , you can guarantee you will still be there at 12!!. With very tired feet!!. Over the last few weeks we have got-
A hay rake for £2, A good fork for £2, osterpermums 50p each, 20 cauli plants for £1, 20 leek plants £1, conifers £1 each, hanging baskets filled 2 for £3, could of had 220 geraniums for £5 !!, I did think that was way too many !!!. There is no end of plants and if you take the time to wander you can get some real bargains. I love boot markets !

 

Back out to the carboot sale this morning and the stall I mentioned earlier that has started selling more exotic stuff had some Cannas for sale today, including Canna cleopatra for just £2, nice 2-3ft plants in 1lt pots. Unfortunately I lost my Cleopatra kindly given to me by Pete so I bought one but not before examining the rest of the cannas they had to see if there was any signs at all of virus, there wasn't so I bought it

 

Pleased to say that the one that Pete gave me is looking fantastic this Spring. Fingers-crossed + Knock-on-wood