What did you do in the garden today?

[WthrLady]

My lettuce sprouts are up! I planted them thursday afternoon! Crazy.

 

[Wee Farmer Sarah]

Hi @ChocolateMouse, sorry about the plague sweeping through your household. I got the coop part of my cockerel's bachelor pad done. Will do the pen part tomorrow, I need hinges again. I did finish fixing the entry door to the main coop. Now it swings freely and leaves no gaps when it's closed. I did take the shower curtains down from the sides of the run. They got through this harsh winter surprisingly well. Now the chickens can see what's going on outside their world. I'm taking a little break before I clean my pellet stove so I'll have fresh ashes to put in the garden. Then I think it will be Happy Hour after that. Nothing like spending 4 hours in a chicken run trying to build a little roo house with 6 curious "helpers."

 

[RenoHuskerDu]

SNIP
Home Depot regularly sources live plants treated with neonicotinoid pesticides which are bee killers. This isn't such a big deal for the grape vine I bought since it's a baby vine, but their flowers are often treated with it too. Nothing like inviting pollinators into your garden only to kill them when they have their snack.
SNIP

We swore off Home Despot some years ago, for other reasons I'm not going to mention. The founder was a good man, but since....not so good. Any big company, in my book, should be avoided if you can patronize a smaller local firm, maybe even shake the owner's hand. You may pay a little more, but their service is way better. And if the small nurseries all fold up we'd be in a bad way. Imagine relying on HD or WalMart workers for expert advice.

 

[jerryse]

We swore off Home Despot some years ago, for other reasons I'm not going to mention. The founder was a good man, but since....not so good. Any big company, in my book, should be avoided if you can patronize a smaller local firm, maybe even shake the owner's hand. You may pay a little more, but their service is way better. And if the small nurseries all fold up we'd be in a bad way. Imagine relying on HD or WalMart workers for expert advice.

You are so right . I once ask a employee in the garden area where the garden fertilizer was . He had no idea what I wanted .

 

[ChocolateMouse]

I mean, yeah, they're a mega corporation with ties to all sort of other businesses and unethical business practices and I'm kind of inherently against that in a big way, but...

The only local garden center focuses 95% on unique landscaping plants. Their indoor sales of basic equipment like seed starting trays is almost non existent, their seed selection is smaller and almost everything is more expensive by a substantial amount. If you want a neat plant for landscaping I'd go there every time, and they sell compost mulch and topsoil by the cubic yard unlike HD, but man they suck for back to basics and general gardening supplies... Probably in no small part because of stores like home depot. But even in a city as big as this one the options are limited. So it's like I could avoid home depot.... By going to Lowes? Or TSC? That doesn't seem much better. So I take what's closest.

There is a Petittis near by which are smaller, but they're also tiny and mostly houseplant focused instead of smaller and landscape focused. Maybe I can go and check it out a little more closely sometime, maybe they have better seed starting equipment than the other one, but I've been disappointed so far.

I wish there were more/better options. This is why I choose my seed sources carefully. I'm always glad I can actually order from somewhere more ethical for those things.

But plastic or peat seed trays which are mostly manufactured out of the country by huge corporations? Harder to find an ethical source for inherently.

 

[Wee Farmer Sarah]

I mean, yeah, they're a mega corporation with ties to all sort of other businesses and unethical business practices and I'm kind of inherently against that in a big way, but...

The only local garden center focuses 95% on unique landscaping plants. Their indoor sales of basic equipment like seed starting trays is almost non existent, their seed selection is smaller and almost everything is more expensive by a substantial amount. If you want a neat plant for landscaping I'd go there every time, and they sell compost mulch and topsoil by the cubic yard unlike HD, but man they suck for back to basics and general gardening supplies... Probably in no small part because of stores like home depot. But even in a city as big as this one the options are limited. So it's like I could avoid home depot.... By going to Lowes? Or TSC? That doesn't seem much better. So I take what's closest.

There is a Petittis near by which are smaller, but they're also tiny and mostly houseplant focused instead of smaller and landscape focused. Maybe I can go and check it out a little more closely sometime, maybe they have better seed starting equipment than the other one, but I've been disappointed so far.

I wish there were more/better options. This is why I choose my seed sources carefully. I'm always glad I can actually order from somewhere more ethical for those things.

But plastic or peat seed trays which are mostly manufactured out of the country by huge corporations? Harder to find an ethical source for inherently.

All of the big box stores are not equal. The Lowes in one town is different the Lowes in another. The HD near me is pretty decent. They hire a lot of students from local colleges. Many of them are farm kids trying to pay their way through community college. They have a good work ethic and are well mannered. You just need to figure out where is the best place to buy what. And read the labels! If I need a good garden tool, I'll go to a big box store. For garden soil or mulch, the local garden center has the best quality and price. So, that said. I made it to the garden finally. I cleaned the pellet stove and put the ashes on three of my beds. I noticed deer tracks in one of the beds. After I'm finished in the chicken coop, I will be finishing installing the fence around the garden. The good news is my rotating compost bin thawed out and it is even a little warm. Woo Hoo! Spring has sprung and it is soooo Happy Hour now. Cheers!

 

[pennyJo1960]

We did Sunbird's for most locally owned spent 40 on seeds no Cherry tree for BF eating cherries like Rainier .. Went to Walmart nothing Home depot 50 dollar tree two almost dead brussle sprout starts free gave them water from a bottle in the truck perked up
looked at Ace hardware great folks no trees but veggie starts will post photos later

 

[cluckmecoop7]

I planted a pea seed in a flower pot about two weeks ago. It is now growing good! I will post a picture as soon as possible. It is still too cold to plant outside yet so I did this one inside. I can't wait for peas! Yummy, yummy!

 

[RenoHuskerDu]

SNIP
. But even in a city as big as this one the options are limited. So it's like I could avoid home depot.... By going to Lowes? Or TSC? That doesn't seem much better. So I take what's closest.
SNIP.

Could the problem be Cleveland, OH? I just ran Goolag Streetview on it a little bit. Can't you move to the country? Some of us can't and have good reasons why. But if you could, life would improve so much. Outside of big cities, folks are friendlier and employees more knowledgeable. Even our TSC staff are about 40% good out here. You get further into the country and they get better.

 

[pennyJo1960]

the Cherry we bought is a Sweet Cherry Black Tartarian