Showing posts with label nurseries. Show all posts
Showing posts with label nurseries. Show all posts

10 April 2009

A-wooga-la!

foto, greens

I've experimented with various cold weather greens and had the most success with arugula. Reliable and versatile, it tastes good too!

foto, greens

My seed choice is "Garden Rocket Italian Wild Arugula" from Nichols Garden Nursery. In the Spring, I stagger planting in three stages, while in the Fall I plant all the seeds in the spent, bare herb bed.

The difference is that in Spring I'm trying to keep the greens cool (so they don't bolt, ie flower and become inedible) and the best spot, which happens to be by the kitchen door (bonus!), requires pots. I stagger as another way to deal with possible bolting, but also so I have a steady supply.

In the Fall, the herb bed is cooling anyway and gets more light, which is needed then. And I don't worry about the supply so much because the greens grow more slowly. Any leftovers that somehow survive winter are either munched early the next Spring (with a slightly woody flavor) or tilled into the soil.

The first foto above is the pot that was planted March 3. It needs thinning soon. Harvest in maybe another 3 weeks? Depends on the weather. No problem, there's still some in the herb bed from last Fall. Yum.

28 February 2009

Red tag moola

How did I populate an entire 6x2 bed for $15? Using a few strategies, one of which is Red Tag Sales.

Near the end of the garden season, roughly October, nurseries mark down leftover plants 35-50% off. Good time to save if you can get them in the ground fast and the weather holds. I've done it, but I prefer to comb through the February leftover leftover plants. These red tag sales are usually 75% off, and the weather is improving instead of marching towards possible snowpocalypse.



Granted, most of the time I'm buying what looks like a tub of dirt because the plant hasn't woken up yet. I trust the plastic descriptive tag. Sometimes I am betrayed. But, hey, I can always move it, give it away, or compost it. I only paid $2 for it.

p.s. Ok, ok, sometimes the sale tags are orange. Pedants go home!

27 February 2009

Free cake!

Garden Fever -- my favorite small, neighborhood nursery -- is having a birthday party Saturday & Sunday. Celebrate with cake and great garden deals.

3433 NE 24th Ave