Hi Lisa,

Good luck with the Market! I'm sure you will learn a lot this summer, have a good time, and be even more ready next year!

I've gone to several small markets last year, and finally made it into a bigger city market this year. I thought I'd jump in with a couple of suggestions. A lot of the very knowledgeable people on this forum are incredibly busy this time of year, so they probably won't have time to write complete, specific answers to your questions. By the way, have you read any good Market books? The Flower Farmer by Lynn Byczinski (sp?) is a great start--lots of suggestions for flowers, what to do and not to do--you can probably borrow it from a local or regional library for starters. There are a lot of other books out there, but I know that's the one that piqued my interest in the beginning.

As to your questions:

#1 Instead of focusing on what not to plant, look at what to plant. There is another new farmer on this forum who recently planted her "Newbie Flower list", and it is very extensive and a great place to start--plus everyone else's comments, etc. Do a search of this forum with those words, and I know you will find some good items. If you have specific questions about whether or not something you already have is a good cutflower, you could post those.
#2--We all have questions about pricing! and unfortunately there is no easy answer. I think we all encourage vendors not to sell so inexpensively that it harms other vendors--the ones trying to make a living from the market, versus individuals who just have a few extra flowers in their garden and want to make other people happy. Check other vendors, ask questions, and most importantly, educate yourself to sell a high quality product that the customer will come back for.
#3 Packaging is another good topic. One popular suggestion from Lizalily concerned using plastic cups with lids--kind of "flowers in a cup" motif that customers could easily take with them. If you are going green--how about recycling newspaper, with paper toweling around the bottom stems, and wrapping everything with neat newspaper, all taped together. There are also some flower wraps made of recycled plastic. For another cutting garden forum posting, search "Bouquet Sleeves and Wraps" from a few weeks back. Or you could just start scrolling backwards, and reading the topics that look of interest to you--so much to learn in this forum!

Good luck with your new venture!

Cathy