We woke up yesterday to even MORE snow!! Can you believe it?
The HH spent another hour outside with the snowblower, shoveling the walkway and fine tuning Lucy’s racetrack.
It looks like the snow will be around for a while, and that’s fine by me. I love the stuff. 😉
Anyways, there SO MUCH to do inside it’s not even funny. I worked on patterns for a few hours and then switched gears to gardening.
Well, checking on my lavender seedlings and sorting my vegetable seed packets that is.
The germination rate on my 3 year old lavender seeds looks like it’s about 75%. Not too shabby if you ask me.
I’m hoping for 25-50 plants. We’ll see how things pan out.
If you buy Miracle-Gro seed starting mix you should know that at The Home Depot it runs $7.97 a bag for 8 quarts.
BUT if you order it online and have it delivered TO YOUR HOUSE {!!} it’s only $5.18 a bag {2 bags for $10.36}.
Someone explain that one to me.
I use this to start my seedlings every year so I ordered mine online. And with my savings I’ll be buying a few pastries next month. Thank you very much.
Whenever I see cheaper prices online than in stores it makes me think there is a grand plan. Like companies WANT people to stop shopping in person and just order everything online.
The robots are coming. Soon.
In other news, my new Vego raised garden beds arrived yesterday. YEE-HAW!!! We ordered them online from Costco.
I wanted to get them before they sold out.
I liked the height, the HH liked the color {green} and we both liked knowing that if there are any problems with them down the road we can bring them back to Costco for a refund or replacement.
Costco stands behind their stuff!!
I meant it when I said I wanted to grow a lot of vegetables this year. These should help. Plus I think they’ll look pretty cool too once they’re all set up.
Tomatoes I’ll Be Planting
14 varieties! I am super excited about this. I wonder if there’s a new favorite in there. Fingers crossed we have a nice warm summer and we are swimming in tomatoes.
Sunrise Bumble Bee
Purple Bumble Bee
Sun Gold
Tasmanian Chocolate
German Johnson
Mountain Magic
Principe Borghese
Martino’s Roma
Juliet
German Lunchbox
Tomato Seeds, Chocolate Pear
Glacier
Marmalade
Alice’s Dream
Beans I’ll Be Planting
I’m most excited about the Christmas Limas. Christmas Lima Pole Beans.
Maxibel
Blue Lake Bush 274
Bean Seeds, Calima
More Vegetables I’ll Be Planting
China Jade Burpless Cucumber
Black Beauty Zucchini
Detroit Dark Red Beets
Tokinashi Turnips
Easter Egg Radishes
French Breakfast Radishes
Jalapeño Craig’s Grande
Sweet Pepper Seeds, Aji Cachucha
Sweet Pepper Seeds, Jimmy Nardello Italian
Rhubarb, Onions, Flowers and Herbs
Victoria Rhubarb
Autumn Giant Leeks
Yellow Sweet Spanish Onions
Common Chives
Cilantro
Genovese Basil
Queen Lime Blush Zinnia
English Lavender
Mammoth Grey Striped Sunflowers
My main focus this summer will be growing {and canning} boatloads of tomatoes. Hopefully enough for at least a few dozen jars of our favorite salsa plus all our other favorites.
Hopefully I have picked out enough seeds to make all my canning dreams come true. 🙂
A girl can dream, right?
What are YOU most looking forward to growing this year? Curious minds want to know.
~Mavis
Sam says
I ordered two raised beds for last summer but ended up just doing a few container pots. I really want to do better and have at least tomatoes and peppers and cucumbers.
Peg says
I agree 100% about retailers wanting us to shop online. In our town, several good grocery deals are only available if you place a pickup order or delivery. Plus, Walmart and Kroger have implemented dynamic pricing, which can change the price of an item after putting it in your physical cart and before you get to the checkout. Ugh.
suzanne says
“Dynamic pricing. ” Is that their answer to the disconnect between advertised and scanned differences that people have complained about I wonder. I follow a gentleman that weighed his 5lb roast at a Walmart and the roast actually weighed just under 4 lbs. Buyer beware.
Susan says
I’m looking forward to my husband getting involved in the gardening. After 3 years of watching me garden with poor success, he said he’s stepping in this year to assist.
It wasn’t intentional that the garden sucked the last several years, but I am glad he will be helping. I hope that with what he brings to the table, we’ll be able to bring more to the table!!
suzanne says
I love Jimmy Nardello peppers thanks to your suggestion years ago. That and jalapeños for cowboy candy are the only peppers I grow any more. I used the last of the frozen green beans in beef stew last night as I was out of peas. Highly recommend. The autumn giant leeks are very productive for me. I have a salsa recipe that calls for a small amount of instant coffee. Will never make it without again. Lastly I can’t wait to see your beds installed. I agree with the HH the green is going to look fantastic.
Mavis Butterfield says
I love Jimmy Nardello peppers too. Super easy to grow and they taste great.
Mouse says
Have you looked at the following from Baker Creek? They are full of vitamins and minerals – a spinach type substitute.
Chijimisai, Tatsoi & Komatsuna
I planted the Chijimisai in the August heat in Oklahoma. I have been eating from them since mid-late Sept. I harvested a lot right before covering them ahead of the Arctic blast. I have not uncovered them to see how they made it through 102 hours below freezing. And they were planted in a raised bed. Also, the chickens and rabbits love them.
The other 2 (Tatsoi & Komatsuna) will be planted soon. Looking forward to seeing how they do in OK.
Enjoy your raised beds!
Mavis Butterfield says
I’ve grown baby bok choy from Baker Creek before and it did really well. Maybe I’ll try to grow it in the fall once the roma type tomatoes are done.
kathy brown says
Stores can only carry so much inventory, and the cost of retail floor space + employees, etc, is sky high. A retailer like Home Depot can have an offsite warehouse in an industrial vs commercial real estate location, and pay far less per square ft for ‘storing’ that same merchandise.
sandy says
My Home depot charges a $75 delivery fee
Mavis Butterfield says
WOW! I’ve never had that problem. When I order from the website all I need to do is place an order for $45 or more and I get free shipping.
Vy says
I have a lot of fun with my salsa garden, and I now make lots of potato, leek, and poblano soups, thanks to the volunteer potatoes that have spread alllll around my compost area. So excited! I found some aji cachua seeds a friend gave me … 9 years ago? I set them up in the seed starting just to see and DANG if they didn’t come up! Also trying winter sowing for a lot of pollinator flowers with milk cartons, I just went out to check and they’re sprouting too. So ready!
Catherine says
I’ve got 9 Vego raised beds and have had them for several years. They have held up wonderfully.
Mavis Butterfield says
That’s great to hear Catherine!!!
Alecia Loveless says
Our local grocery store is so expensive I’ve resorted to ordering a lot of our supplies online.
And at least every 2 weeks we drive an hour to a Market Basket where we usually get 2X the groceries about $100 less than we pay locally. So even with $20 in gas we make out great!
Jen says
I can’t wait to see your raised beds! I’ve been considering getting those same ones from Costco.
This will be my first garden. What are some easy things to grow in Western Washington that I should try first?
Katherine says
Etsy seller SeedCult has lots of giant Zinnia seeds in gorgeous colors 50% off. I’ve been happy with all of my purchases from this seller.
Carole says
I have 13 Vego beds, various sizes and shapes. I plan on 2 more this year. I have had them 4 years no problems at all. I did the hugulkultur method for filling them and I never had such a beautiful, healthy garden before. Each year I just top off with homemade compost and fresh raised bed potting soil. So much easier than the old tilling method and weed pulling. Each bed is connected on my drip system mainly because in south TX we don’t get rain and it gets really hot. I ordered mine directly from Vego in Houston, super fast delivery with free shipping and usually coupons. You won’t be sorry you got them.
Cathy says
You will love the Viggo beds! I set up two last year and they were amazing. I got a tad overzealous with my planting last year so I will do better this summer. I recommend using a battery screwdriver – your arms will thank you! Enjoy!