Yesterday I spent some time in the garden repotting some of my herb seedlings into larger containers and planting my onion and leek starts into the raised beds of the kitchen garden.
Later in the day there was a quick rain shower, which was perfect because I had just planted, and it also watered the seaweed as well.
This is why I LOVE using seaweed in the garden! It retains moisture and heat AND it helps cut down on the weeds. Plus, as an added bonus, everytime I walk out my door it smells like I’m walking along the seashore. 😉
A win win if you ask me.
Proper Way for Transplanting Onions And Peas
I’m hoping to collect enough seaweed today to mulch around the garlic.
Current view of the kitchen garden. It’s not much I know, but it will come to life here pretty soon.
I also transplanted all the little chive plants I started last fall.
I’ll sell these at The Duck Lady’s stand once they get a little bigger.
Onion seedlings. I think I started these in early February.
This is just round one {for the kitchen garden}. I planted another batch that I’ll set out in the religious sized family plot once the HH gets the area tilled {mid to late may} and I figure out where I’m going to plant everything.
Growing onions from seed is a sloooooow process. But I think it’s really nice to be able to walk out to the garden in the late summer and harvest them. Usually I have pretty good luck having the onions and tomatoes ready at the same time.
The peas are in too! I planted them along the back fence near the asparagus. I still need to get the netting out and set up but with a little luck, we should be shelling peas in early July.
Have you been to your local garden center lately? Holy cats I was surprised that a little pack of seedlings are now going for $3.99!
I don’t know if I’m getting old or what, but it seems like the prices on everything have pretty much doubled {if not more} than when I started gardening in earnest back in 2008.
French lavender is now going for $4.99 for a 3 inch pot!
Luckily I started 2 flats of lavender this year for about the same price and if everything goes well, I should have all the lavender I could possibly want and then some.
Fruit trees are $79.99 this year at the nursery {we’re talking the good looking ones, not the ones you find at the big box stores}.
I don’t remember how much we paid for ours last year, maybe $69.99? But the ones we bought from the nursery all survived the winter and are looking good. Pears and plums, that’s what we planted last year.
I’m still on the hunt for a few Rhode Island greening apple trees as they make the BEST canned pie filling on the planet earth.
Spring … It’s finally here, and I’m loving all the colors and the warmer temps.
How about YOU? Have you visited your local nursery yet this season? Have you been tempted to buy anything? Curious minds want to know.
Have a great day everyone,
~Mavis
Mel says
Are you trying to find the apple trees locally, or would this work?
https://www.treesofantiquity.com/products/rhode-island-greening
Mavis Butterfield says
Are you kidding me!? I had no idea I could order them online. Thanks Mel. I am going to order them.
Mel says
I’ve never ordered from that site, but it came up in a search and looked promising! I just know you try to support local places, so I wasn’t sure if you had a source and were just waiting for them to restock or something.
Brianna says
I ordered my plants online and they arrived two weeks early. I wanted perennials, not hybrids, but more natives and could not find the varieties I wanted at any of our nurseries. It was just easier in February to order online. We just bought our house in November and the previous owner planted a lot of things without looking at the final size or utility locations or how invasive it is so I am replanting and removing a lot of stuff. It has been a lot of work, but my goal is to get the 43 gallon perennials in the garage in the ground by the end of the weekend. Did I mention they put at least 10” or more of pine bark mulch on everything and there is mold, fungus, snakes, and mice all living in it. The plants/bushes/trees are all root bound because below the mulch is just hard claylike soil.
Laura says
I had no idea pine bark mulch was bad. I think that’s what we usually buy and use in our flower beds. I guess I need to read on this. Thanks for sharing.
Jamie says
We had a week of very warm temps & I’m so ready to start. Have some cold hardy plants started under hoops but sadly freezing temps still in this coming weekend so have to wait on everything else. Your starts look amazing!
Diane says
I’ve a family trip this year, so my garden will be going in late this year. I just couldn’t see getting started and then leaving the garden at an intensive time of care. I’ll be ready to go full tilt as soon as I return.
This post sure got me itching to start! Qustion: Do you always using netting/string for peas to climb up? I have one extra metal trellis. Could that work? I’ve always usEd string in the past.
Mavis Butterfield says
I usualy don’t, but I am planting them next to the asparagus so I didn’t want the pea trendils to latch on to the asparagus once it starts coming up. I am using my metal trellises at the end of the garden for peas.
Angie says
I have also visited my local nursery and found prices to be quite high. Seedlings are going for $6-$8 instead of the usual $3-$4 and that is for the small pots about 3 inches in size. Six packs of smaller seedlings that I usually find for $2-$3 are $6 if you can find them at all. I am planting lots of seeds this year to curb costs and I stocked up when the State University Co-op had their Spring plant sale. Most of the seedlings from my garden came from there. They grow quality plants and I save over 50% – I call that a win. I also lucked up with some perennials that I had been looking for. I am planting my zinnias, marigolds, daisies, black-eyed susans and sunflowers this week too! Can’t wait to see all the green shoots popping up everywhere. So glad it is finally Spring!
Melonie K. says
I haven’t been to an actual nursery yet as the closest ones are in the city (1-2 hours away) – I peruse the garden centers of the big box hardware stores and regional feed store. I did pick up some asparagus & rhubarb crowns that way and most of them are up. The rest of my perennials, I had to order online this week so I can get them established before the heat kicks up. (We’re zone 8b.)
I saw that Native Seeds/SEARCH has a plant sale scheduled in the city next month, so I’ll do the haul and go to that event – I would love to support them more than the couple of books and seed packets I’ve gotten so far. Hoping they will have some good options for edible/medicinals native to our area. I tried at the Master Gardeners sale for our area last fall, but their focus was more on ornamentals, and my mantra is: I won’t water what we can’t eat or use for herbal preparations. 😉
Looking forward to see what everyone else has going in the garden this year!
Lana says
LIdl had 4/$5 six packs but nothing I wanted. BOO 🙁 I look at Walmart every year because they get their plants from Metrolina Greenhouses in Charlotte, NC. They are the best plants and less expensive than the horrible Bonnie plants that are so prevalent here.
Tamara says
Metrolina is actually located in Huntersville (just outside of Charlotte). Family owned, they began very small and are now gigantic but maintain high standards, superb quality and are all around conscientious of environmental concerns and have a great employee environment/benefits. Just a classy operation (and you can see their greenhouses from space!).
Linda Practical Parsimony says
I found a Meyer lemon three for $39 at Lowe’s Garden Center. It was about two feet high, maybe smaller. Three years ago, the Meyer lemon trees were about $22 and about 5 feet high. The Ag Center will have a plant sale where I can get blueberry bushes and other vegetable/fruit trees and plants. I am very excited.
Nancy says
We had a cold winter here in 7B zone. Temps got down to 1 degree and killed quite a few plants. Now people are trying to see if their plants will come back or replace them.
Nurseries lost plants too. We are still experiencing unexpected cold temps for our area again this weekend down to 40 degrees. We have not had our usual temps of 70’s daytime and mid 50’s at night .
Master Gardener’s Spring Fling in March had vendors plants which had reasonable prices. Then April hit and Botanic Gardens, big box stores, and nurseries all reflected increase in their prices for plants. Some of them stated problems with suppliers and labor cost increase.
Jamie says
Maybe a silly question, but is the seaweed salty? Do you wash/rinse it before you use it as mulch?
I started 100+ plants from seed and I am only buying what I can’t easily grow myself from a local garden group to save money. I bought a witchhazel (bare root, $28), a new jersey tea bush (bare root, $25), and a bunch of clearance coral bells (10″ pots for $4 a piece, usually $27) from there last week.