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I remember an old boss of mine saying we would be lucky if we got our seed money back. He basically was raised on a farm and that was an old saying from his farming days.
We certainly would like to get “our seed money back” from just about any endeavor we do whether it be in business or in a hobby and many times we truly cannot get our initial investment or “seed money” back.
However, I have found that in the event one is a serious gardener, whether large or small, one can have a little cash crop and one I have found to be lucrative enough to generate a small profit or at least to give me my “seed money” back was growing Chrysanthemums for profit.
I have found that Chrysanthemums or mums are an impulse buy at mostly any garden center or farmer’s market. I have also found that they are easy to grow even from seed and that even 4 inch pots sell well and the gallon pots that are starting to flower sell really, really well.
There are so many varieties of seed that grow well in zones 3 to 9 and it is easy to start them. Mums are extremely hardy and come in all shapes and sizes such as pompom mums which are globular shape or Anemone which has 1 or more rows of petals with a cushion-like center. Then there is the single or daisy mum which looks like its cousin the daisy and we have the regular incurve mum whose petals curve up and in forming a sphere. My favorite is the Spider mum or often referred to as the Football Mum which has long curled petals that droop down and give it a spider-like look.
You can start your seed in a flat of wet enriched sand and thin out once they are about 1 to 2 inches high taking the ones you thin out and plant in good rich, well-drained soil that is slightly on the alkaline side. I always put this right into the 4 inch pots which sit in plastic flats. I feed them with good organic food every 3 to 4 weeks until they are set with buds. I learned a long time ago that mums need at least 4 hours of sun for a good bloom and full sun is best, so you will need to water regularly.
When your plants are well established and healthy looking you can take them to your weekly Farmer’s market and sell them at the mum’s local market price. If you decide to transplant them to gallon containers you must trim them as they grow so they flower into nicely rounded, bushy mums with lots of buds. You will them be able to get a nice profit from them at the local farmer’s market.
In the event you find that you can make money in your area with Growing Chrysanthemums for profit then you expand your selling market place by giving local nurseries a chance to buy your locally grown mums.
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Author Bio Box: Arlene Wright Correll
 For more gardening or cooking information click http://www.learn-america.com/
To see Arlene’s Gardens and to read her gardening diaries and to take a walk through her pictorial garden or click on Arlene’s Books where you can download or buy her gardening & cook books, including her new book, “The ABC’s of Wine and Beer Making”. Remember to check out her artwork, especially of her fruits and vegetables. Arlene says, “All my royalties from the sale of my books go to the St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital and I thank you for visiting my site.”
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