Pumpkin sales, first day in our small patch
Our horticulture class has a ton of pumpkins. We decided to sell them to the public. We had kids wave down drivers and in an hour did sales of over $300. Hopefully we can move the rest of the pumpkins. In a patch approximately 90 feet by 25 feet we grew almost 700 snowball pumpkins. We had about 100 fireball pumpkins in a spot about half that size. I was hoping to sell a little more but I was happy with what we got. @FlanaganHomestead #pumpkin #pumpkinpatch
Hello Rob here from the Flanigan Homestead I'm standing out by the bench That I had selling pumpkins at our School pumpkin patch today uh this might Be a little bit of a clunky video I Don't have it as planned out as normal But we uh had a surplus of pumpkins and Our horiculture patch at the school and So we decided to do a sell so um here's A quick story on how many pumpkins we Had and how small a space cuz people are Like how many pumpkins can we grow in a Certain area of space and how we did on Sales here so anyway um we were open for A little over 1 hour I told parents they Could start coming at 3:00 uh class ends At 3:25 but my horiculture class uh is 7th period so we started selling at 3 Some parent started coming in I had kids Out on the street flagging them down Flagging people down as they picked them Up but we went from 3:00 to 4:00 and we Sold today actually as about were like 4:15 we were pretty busy but we sold Today uh I don't have the totals yet Because uh they were asked to put uh Scan this and pay with a credit card but I'm guessing we're at somewhere between 300 $300 and $400 worth of pumpkins sold Today so it's not bad for 1 hour's Effort we do have a lot of pumpkins left I'm going to show you something in the Garden but we estimated that we had 700 Uh snowball pumpkins I did not realize
We were going to get that many um but uh Some of the things worked obviously I Had the advantage cuz we let people know That help support the horiculture class So people were uh in a good mood there Or you know wanting to help the schools Out so that helped sales we're by the School but I don't know if you could see It we're behind the tennis court behind The shop and nobody drives down this way So we had kids out on the street I was I Had kids with signs uh you saw that on The thumbnail but kids with signs out on The street flagging people down and People are saying they're put putting a Lot of energy into it and I said you Know you really need to put energy into This we need to have the signs out there Kids cuz a lot of times people plan to Do something to support you but they're Creatures of habit they pick up their Kids and go home and they don't think About it and many people that came out And got pumpkins like Yeah I wanted to Buy a pumpkin I forgot about it and then I saw all the people out on the street Flagging us down so the flaggers and the Traffic area definitely helped uh like I Said about 1 hour of sales an hour and 15 minutes of sales we brought in Between $300 and $400 And uh yeah so let's talk more about how We grew the pumpkins okay we're done
With our 1hour sale I'm back out in the Patch uh we let kids you know people Come out here in the patch and pick up The pumpkins or we had a stack of them On that bench out there that you saw Earlier that they could just come and Pick up right there uh the PE the people That came out with kids tended to want To wander out in the patch and find them Out here uh the adults just swung by I Wanted to just pick them up uh and grab Some Off the Bench right there and Support the program that way but uh you Can see we still have plenty of snowball Pumpkins here uh after the ma after the Fact but uh I I wanted to show you just How I did this I'm not saying this is How you should do this but uh learn from My mistakes some of the things we did Right you could do this but uh one of The things is with my horiculture class Um I don't have help All Summer Long Actually we have a gardening club that Meets 1 hour Tuesday and Thursday I have Another Farm of my own to run I can't be In here weeding it and doing everything So we tried to we want to grow pumpkins Cuz there's something that we can Actually control the weeds a little bit I have I don't know if you can see it Here uh but it's I'm pulling up on a Black landscape fabric that's 6 ft wide And so what I did was I planted a row uh We planted pumpkin plants about every 3
Ft in a row we laid down landscape Fabric and that the 6 ft wide and then We did another row on the other side of That and then landscape fabric and so This area that's covered here uh there Was no weeds growing and which is a good Thing because we came through and tried To weed just where we planted the rose And you could see sitting right here Right behind me even with the landscape Fabric down and our efforts to weed we Had plenty of weeds uh in here but they Grew pretty well uh the other well the Pumpkins grew pretty well the other Thing that we did that I think that was Helpful we have a very well- draining Soil so I didn't worry about drowning The The Roots so we actually dug a basin About a foot and a half wide and a Couple inches deep and planted our Starts in there we didn't actually do Seeds we had starts that we started in The greenhous which is good in a way Because uh my friend down at the patch Had serious issues with mice eating the Seed out of the field but we didn't we Brought starts out into the field and Planted them there but we had the Basin And for the first first couple months we Came out and we just water filled the Basin with water and then moved on Filled the the next Basin with water Moved on so all this area that wasn't uh Where pumpkins were the wheat areas
Weren't getting watered and we were Conserving water and uh we could do the Entire patch that we had and the other Garden stuff the sunflowers and tomatoes We could hand water them in an hour and We could do that but uh once the vines Started to grow over the landscape Fabric and we didn't have the rose we Didn't want to be dragging a hose back And forth down there and we didn't want The kids walking back and forth and Ruining the vines so at that point in Time we plopped in overhead Sprinklers And watered it but to get sufficient Water once we put the sprinklers on it Took us almost 5 hours to do this entire Garden uh of sprinkling and then we'd Leave it off for several days and then 5 Hours to get enough moisture down in the Ground so um it was definitely better on Water conservation when we were just Hand watering individual plants but we Once we couldn't walk through the vines Uh anymore we we had to uh overhead Water and depending on how hot it was We'd do that twice a week or less or More depending on uh on the Weather so when we planted these the Intent was not necessarily to have a Sale but we had so many of them uh we Needed to do something with them and um Also uh our Levy failed on the school And the funds are a little bit less so We needed to raise some money so doing
The sale was pretty good I think we'll Probably do a sale again in the future But uh I having only two varieties of Pumpkins basically the snowball and the Fireball which are really popular and Years past when we had less of them we Just kind of gave them away to teachers Or people that needed them uh and and People in the community and it worked Out really well but uh if I want to do a Patch in the future which I think I will Do and and the reason it works well for School is you know you start selling These at the beginning of October the Kids come in the beginning of September We have about a month to get our class Organized get a plan work on things so It'll work well with my horiculture Class to go ahead and try to do this Again but we won't do just two varieties Of pumpkins we definitely need to have a Regular orange carving pumpkin a jackal Lantern pumpkin maybe a couple giant Ones I don't know and then other people Like fall Decor uh we'll probably grow Some corn uh decorative corn not corn to Eat but you know that has the different Colored kernels and just cut stocks People like to cut stocks and tie them Up on the posts on their front porch so That's something that we'll probably add But I I think you know we obviously we Had didn't sell all of this yet but We're going to I'm going to be putting a
Stand out in front of the school asking For donations and just letting people Pick it up and we'll try to move uh some Of these in other Ways so uh for a thrown together sale 1 Hours uh raising $300 to $400 was not Bad but uh like I said if we do this in The future uh we're going to have more Of a plan for marketing these and Getting these out to people and letting People know um and we're going to have To develop a plan I may let you know What we're doing with the rest of these Pumpkins because there are a lot of them Left okay so if you're uh planning to Start a small Pumpkin Patch and you're Wondering how many snowball pumpkins you Can get uh I had four rows that were About 90 ft long and and each of these They were 6 feet apart but going down The rows like we planted plants Approximately 3 ft apart uh we didn't Measure it out the kids just kind of Plopped it down about 3 ft apart so four Rows uh that are 6 ft apart plants every 3 ft and then there's a fifth row that's About half of that and then we have About 700 snowball Pumpkins so here it is this is our School pumpkin patch we've started Knocking down the vines and cutting the Stems you can see a bunch of the Snowball pumpkins Here there is a fair amount of
Weeds in our patch uh not terrible but Certainly not Good uh the interesting thing that Happened here is that we were right next To the tennis courts and the vines have Been growing Up In in through the fence you can see over Here there's a pumpkin that and the vine Grew through the fence and then it Bloomed and so we have pumpkins inside The tennis court probably shouldn't have Let that happen this pumpkin was growing Right on right on the fencing and is Stuck there so we'll be creating Walkways Today cutting down all these stems Trying to figure out how many pumpkins We got but I could tell you it's just in this small Area there's a lot of snowball Pumpkins and on the fireball pumpkins we Only had two rows of these planted Similar similarly uh 6 ft apart for the Rows 3 ft amongst between the plants and The rose and it was only 45 ft long so Much smaller section but we probably had About 70 uh 70 80 of the Fireball Pumpkins and uh these grew in thick as Well but you know they're a little bit Larger so didn't grow in quite as thick But we do have a fair number of Fireball In here one thing I'm a little Disappointed in it was a fairly warm dry
Summer and some of these pumpkins Haven't quite got their color yet you Can see this one still has green on it This one's not a darker yellow this is More the color got a shadow there this Is more the color that we're looking for In our Fireball pumpkins so uh if we Were to leave these on the vine for a Couple more Weeks they might get to where we want it But Uh people like a different variety of Pumpkins anyway so some people want Maybe a little bit more yellow and less Orange or in this case even a green Pumpkin all right I hope this video Wasn't too jumbled uh I wasn't even Planning to make a video today but I Thought you'd be interested in this and Uh As as I've been making this video I've Had more and more people coming up and And said hey I hear saw pumpkins and Wandering in so I stop what I'm doing I Don't even remember what I said on the Last clip but uh and helped them out a Little bit and then I come back here so I'm going to leave my slab here the the Slab of wood I cut this off my property Just a little display bench and the Pumpkins on here I'm just going to leave It out for the public I am going to Leave a little sign here that has the Barcode to make a paint payment and I'll
I'll just I'll use Facebook and Instagram just to let people know that There's still some pumpkins out there Help themselves please scan the barcode And make a payment if they do that'll be Awesome if they don't pay I'll Survive another side note as I'm Cleaning up uh how you take payments Makes a big difference um obviously I Showed you they scan that and they can Play with pay with a credit card I do Have a credit card reader for my phone Because of my Christmas tree farm I I Wish I would have taken the time with The district to set it up so that they Could just swipe a card because the People that came and scanned it and then It was pretty clunky system you had to Go you know select which school you're Supporting which club and then you had To go to buy and then back to cart and Then it unfortunately the company that Were're set up with asked them to put in All their home address and phone number And all this and uh several people Expressed frustration and how how long It took to run through that system so uh I know why the district wants us to they Don't want the handling of funds it's Just a security thing uh to people Taking money uh by hand that's the School district property uh doesn't Matter what club you run they don't they Prefer not to use cash so I completely
Understand wanting to use a card and Just going straight into the school Account there but uh before I do this Again I'm going to ask the district if There's a way to set it up so that I Could just put my card reader on my Phone And they swipe the card and it goes Directly uh to the gardening club the School district and then the gardening Club all right and as we speak we've got People out there shopping for tomatoes And pumpkins right now I'm going to Clean up and be out of here in just a Minute but thanks for joining me on the Flanigan Homestead where Christmas trees Are my business teaching including Horiculture is my job and outdoor Projects are my passion hope to see you Again soon be blessed Everyone
