Archive for the ‘nurseries’ Tag
I’m suffering from a total lack of interest today. It rained through the night just a little and I’m not really in the mood to be playing in the garden mud this morning. I rolled out of bed a little later than usual and had an unappetizing breakfast of healthy cereal which tasted a lot like cardboard. I knew it was going to be one of those day when I left a kitchen cabinet door open and then proceeded to walk into it a few minutes later putting a small notch in my head. That’s what I mean when I say "One of those days."
The next thing was the damn alarm system. It’s nice to have technology in my life but when I have to put up with a smart ass alarm system telling me how stupid I am, it’s kind of embarrassing. After screwing around for ten minutes I finally set the alarm, got in the car, and left the garage. Five seconds after the garage door closed I realized I’d forgotten my camera and telephone. Back to the house, turn off the alarm, get my stuff, and then back to try and set the alarm once again. If the burglars have as much trouble getting in as I had getting out we should be completely safe.
I then headed to the first of six nurseries trying to find cayenne pepper seedlings. For some reason unknown to me or the nurserymen, there seems to be a shortage of cayenne peppers this spring. I normally can buy a six pack of the plants for a couple of dollars but not this year. My last stop was at a nursery well known for it’s impossibly high prices for just about everything. They had only three cayenne pepper plants, each planted in separate container, with a cost of $3.99 a plant.
BS I tell you!
As I was leaving empty handed I had an uninterested employee ask me in that awful politically correct tone, “Have you found everything you were looking for sir?”. I nicely told her no. I was looking for a few decent prices but couldn’t find even one.
Double BS!!
I’ve also been looking for a new garden bench for the last few weeks with no success. I stopped at Home Depot today after checking out their website which listed close to twenty different types. I searched for twenty minutes through that huge building and was beginning to get a little frustrated. Depot has never been known for it’s customer service and that hasn’t changed a bit. After tracking down a store employee who did his best to avoid me, I asked about the benches. He explained to me, the pain-in-the-ass customer, that they have no benches in inventory. He gave me one of those smarmy smiles and told me they were an online purchase only.
Triple BS!!!
Screw them, I left in a huff after wasting most of my morning. I revisited my reliable local nursery and purchased a few additional Ghost pepper plants and a six pack of orange bell peppers. Total cost, $5.20. I never did find a effing bench but I’ll sit my butt on the ground before paying $199.99 for one.
This day has sucked soooo bad. I guess it’s time for me and the cat to kick back and relax on the deck. I can sip a drink and relive the last few hours of this stupid day and try to smile. The cat could care less either way. He just lays there like he always does thinking about what cats think about. He’s not smiling either.
I’m happy to announce that a peace treaty has been reached in my eight year struggle with the squirrels. Every place I’ve lived and gardened over the years I’ve been forced to deal with those little delinquents who insist on driving me insane. I’ve tried just about everything but I’ve never gotten the upper hand.
Seven years ago we were inundated with a population surge of red squirrels. They’re much more aggressive than the grays and caused a great deal of damage to my deck and feeders. I spent some money for ammunition and was able to thin the herd a little. After tons of research and the expenditure of more money than I care to think about, I found feeders the little bastards couldn’t get into. They continued to visit my deck and tried over and over again to piss me off without much success.
One side of our property faces a wooded area where gray squirrels dominate and on the other side of the property the trees are filled with reds. I was beginning to feel overrun like the last guy at the Alamo. I hated shooting them so I continued looking for a way to make peace.
Earlier this year I decided to try misdirection on them by installing a squirrel feeder behind the house. It’s easily in reach by both factions but it also keeps all of them away from my house and deck. Now they can battle amongst themselves for the food I supply and I get to sit back and watch the fun.
Finally I have a little piece of mind. I had to buy the feeder and the corn to put in it but I can live with that. As you can see from these photos these little guys have no fear of humans, especially this human. I walked around taking these photo’s and he never blinked an eye.
His new routine begins every morning around 7:30 am. He shows up for his breakfast and then climbs back into the trees. I’ve made peace with the reds but the grays have yet to attempt a visit to the new feeder. The war will continue between them but for a change I won’t be stuck in the middle. It’s worth every penny.
“Spring Has Definitely Arrived”
Yesterday was one of those days I look forward to every year. My better-half and I both love this time of the year regardless of the work involved. It was a day spent traveling around southern Maine visiting nurseries and buying the plants needed to complete this year’s garden. We like making a day of it and we visit as many nurseries as necessary to find the plants we’ve decided to grow.
For many years now we’ve shopped at a small nursery or what once was a small nursery along the border of Maine and New Hampshire. In the intervening years that nurseries reputation has spread and it’s no longer considered little. Healthy plants should be the goal of any nurseryman or woman and these people are the best. We tend to find their plants healthier and produce better than those purchased elsewhere. We spent at least an hour roaming through their greenhouses and making our selections. We picked up a few jalapeño and cayenne pepper plants and a selection of herbs to replace many of the ones that didn’t survive the winter.
We found some beautiful cherry tomato plants that should keep us in salad tomatoes until Fall. Those kind of tomatoes are also added to our vegetable mixes and canned. There’s nothing like having a selection of tasty garden veggies in the middle of a cold and snow covered February.
“The Rhubarb is Up”
We purchased a number of pickling cucumber plants that should deliver many dozens of cukes for making our Bread & Butter and Dill pickles as well as sweet and hot relishes. If this year’s production is as good as last year we’ll be very busy come September.
One of the items my better-half desired was a licorice herb. It’s leaves have a heavy licorice scent when heated. I personally like fennel or star anise for that flavor but I’m keeping an open mind for now. It would be a nice surprise if this new plant were easier to grow than the others and tasted better. We found the plant at our fourth nursery we visited and were very pleased. That plant can be difficult to find but certain nurseries are known for carrying the more unusual plants and we know them all.
“The Sprinkler’s are Installed”
It made for a really pleasant day and we returned home tired but happy to have found everything we were looking for. We should also have an excellent selection of herbs to harvest and dry this year to fill our requirements for the winter. Another week should get us past the danger of frost for this year and all of the new plants will be planted and left on their own to flourish for a month or two.
Our last purchase next week will be a large number of really fragrant marigold plants. We’ve learned over the years to plant them in and around the gardens to keep the critters away. Apparently small animals and even deer have a real aversion to those flower and their strong odor. If that doesn’t work then I may be forced to go the high-tech route. I have a neighbor who installed a system last year that has a motion activated sprinkler. If visited in the middle of the night by deer or other animals the sensors detect the animal and shoot a blast of water at the trespassers to scare them off. It sounds too good to be true but I’ll keep an open mind. We’ll just have to wait and see.
This morning is rainy and gray but the plants need the water and I need some time to loaf. We’ll be back at it soon enough. A few hours on the X-Box today should clear my head nicely.
Our fear of snow and frost has finally past and I can get on with our Spring and Summer plans. I’ve been sun burned once already and now I’m taking extra steps to be a little more careful. With the remodel in the house completed I can now center all of my attention to the yard and garden.
I visited a friend yesterday who lives nearby and owns a small nursery. He is a supplier of plants to many of the local and larger nurseries in southern Maine. He’s been very helpful over the years in educating me on growing plants in this State. I decided to shop around a little because every year he offers plants for sale that many others in the area do not.
I started looking through his new greenhouses and I couldn’t stop myself from loading up on plants. I have a fairly large cold frame at home and I purchased enough plants to completely fill it and then some. I filled my car with hot peppers, pickling cucumbers, squash, zucchini, and mustard plants. It was an excellent start for the season. I also purchased seedlings of three types of lettuce, spinach, and a couple cherry tomato plants. I’ll be planting the cold resistant plants today but waiting another week before starting anything else. The weather here can be weird at times with unannounced frost occurring well into May. I’ve been burned before so I won’t let it happen again.
Every garden has issues and mine is no different. I’ve been trying for years to grow big, fat, and red tomatoes with absolutely no luck. We instead plant the cherry tomatoes which always thrive in the same damn soil. I had the soil tested and added whatever was needed to get it balanced properly and still no success. I love making my homemade pasta sauces and salsas but it’s always much better when made with freshly grown tomatoes.
I finished construction of a new type of trellis for my beans. I’m planting both red and yellow climbing beans which should completely fill this trellis in no time. We always do well with them and eat those beans all winter long. There is nothing better to eat on a cold February night.
I’ll be looking for some kale seedlings in the next few day as well. Our harvest of kale last summer made our winter soups pretty damn tasty. I just wash it, blanch it and the freeze it. I like it almost as well as frozen spinach and I’m hoping I’ll have the same success as in the past.
My better-half is obsessed with sun flowers and required me to set aside an area in the garden for them. She usually plants a large variety of sizes and colors including the mammoth plants that can get 10 to 12 feet tall. At the end of the season we allow the heads to dry and they feed hundreds of birds for a few weeks.
Well, the plants have been transferred into the cold frame to await a warmer week. I installed my simple but effective sprinkler system which should keep all of the plants well watered and healthy. Now all I have to worry about are Mother Natures little helpers. Deer, rabbits, squirrels, horn worms, and all of natures other little inconveniences that make gardening such a challenge.
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