There are a couple of Amish farm nurseries not too terribly far away and they have such nice plants and good prices that I sometimes think that I would do just as well waiting and going there for my plants. It's a beautiful drive and makes such a nice day trip. That is what I use to do. One year I added up all the $$ I spent on the co-ops and I actually spent more$$ and didn't really end up with more plants. Because they were such a good deal I would order extra for my parents and children's homes. Throw in the Co-op that had issues or the plants that were not in the best shape and didn't make it. Those plugs are costing me a little less than $100 there are approx 1,400 -1,800 plants so if I do well I will have a ton of plants to plant and give away. If I don't do well then I have put a huge dent in my plant budget with no flowers to show for it. On the bright side If I do well I will have a ton of plants for the spring swap ;}
Visions of flowers & veggies for 2010
Holly, A friend of mine told me that there is a place in Ephreta that sells all perennials for $2. Do you know it?
MaVie--
The way you described storing recipes is exactly what i do. I have sub-folders in My Documents. Like--"My Recipes"--"My Pictures"--etc.
Of course--under just ?My Documents there is a slew of stuff too.
Hundreds under each. Easy to get to. And--since most of the recipes are typed in under Word (having been copy/pasted there)--it is easy to click on one and print it out.
Gita
Neil--I save rendered fat too for later use or to flavor stuff. Like--Chicken fat, Bacon drippings and--GREAT! Render bone marrow from soup bones and use it to brown meats for a dish.
Any of these can be kept in the fridge or in the freezer--tightly covered.
G.
Gita, I think you posted that to the wrong thread.
Park's seeds arrived today, I'll be starting my petunias soon.
No Stormy I don't the Amish Farm we go to is north west of us not down in Lancaster. Buttoneer goes down to Lancaster. She hits up several different places down there and I think she might have mentioned Ephrata.
How do you do with Park's? I ordered from them once and they screwed up my order.
Geeeez! I sure did! Sorry!
Gonna c/p it in the right one--"Recipes"--Your favorite casseroles Post.
You all may want to go look....it has now digressed into all kinds of interesting topics....NICE Thread!
I will say the Parks seeds are good and cheap... plants on the other hand are hit & miss.. but I don't mind taking a chance with them because of the price.. and they are good with reimbursing bad plants.. when I ordered seeds they show up with in a few days... and haven't had a problem with them missing things
Jen, I only order seeds and seed starter cell packs from Parks. They do good with my order. I did order a Lily from them once and it was not true to what I ordered and took several years to even produce a decent flowering plant. It is pretty now, but not worth the aggravation. At the time I was trying to create a yellow/orange bed. Does this look yellow to anyone. LOL
If I wasn't partial to Pinetree, then Park would be my next choice. The seed prices and shipping seemed good.
ladyg-- I probbly have the lily for your orange bed--I bought some bloomed out ones in October that I imagine will be a fall color! It'll be fun to see what they give me this summer--assuming they Do
Sally, I gave up on the orange bed a long time ago. I did plant some African Queens in the bed last year. Now there is orange, yellow, blue, purple,pink, white, just a mixture. It keeps life on side of simple.
I understand--I have so far managed to restrain a WHite and Purple bed, to that, for two years. Mostly, I plant like I decorate--liking many different things and only sometimes able to keep like-things together and unified.
Sally, we are plant collectors. A landscaper would have given up on me a long time ago, and also an interior designer. LOL
Same here, but this year I plan to work on unifying the plants in the beds somewhat. There is a big difference between gardening and landscaping. We actually love growing plants and don't really consider our beds exterior decor primarily. Some people manage to incorporate both loves successfully, but it takes a long time, big bucks and they have to make many compromises.
Just got Oakes Daylilies catalog
I remember some one talking about not buying any plant that they didn't already have a spot for in their garden. They knew that they needed a silver plant or a tall plant for an area then they would research what plant met their needs and buy just that plant. If they walked by something pretty and eye catching they never brought it home unless they knew exactly where it would fit into their garden design. I can't even imagine me doing that. LOL I think some of my combos look great but that is pure luck. LOL
I saw Jen's beautiful hellebores and ran outside to see if mine were blooming. I put 5 in this summer and what I see now is one of the plants standing straight up with beautiful green leaves and the other 4 are all brown and lying flat. What are they supposed to look like during the cold winter?
I just received a package from Swallowtail. Unfortunately the order belongs to someone named Jim. I will be winter sowing more seeds than I should because I definitely do not have enough room on my lighted shelves to fit everything. With much fewer seeds in past years I couldn't find enough space to put them after they were all transplanted to larger pots. I usually use the lighted shelves and heat mats to germinate the seeds that I really want. This year it will be dragon's blood sedum, more ice plant, lots of annuals that I don't see in the nurseries and lots of vines that I want to climb up the bushes that do not have blossoms all summer. I had salvia patens last year. A beautiful blue that brought lots of hummingbirds in numbers that I had never seen before. They were planted near the deck so I had a great view of them. I didn't know that they produced tubers that could be lifted, so I just left them out there. My new seeds will get some room under the lights downstairs.
Do the seeds have a better chance of growing if they are just sprinkled on the ground after the last frost, or do the winter sow containers give them a better chance?
I will be away baby sitting for a week and this time I will not have access to a computer because their laptop goes on a business trip with them and their tower is not working.
I'll survive keeping up with the little guy, but I don't know about the withdrawal symptoms that come with having no computer.
Will miss you guys starting Sunday, but I think that I'll survive.
Teri
Teri the hellebores take awhile to become established, mine were all brown too the first winter after I planted them.
Have fun babysitting.
Just wanted to tell you all that my Wintersweet Shrub is starting to bloom......
I guess the name does it justice!
G.
RRR we will miss you durning your babysitting week. Have fun, take along some garden books with lots of pictures for your down time.
I know all about DG withdraw. LOL
Roses have a great time with the grandson. You maybe so so tired out that the end of the day that you won't even think about DG.
I have started collecting a few bottles for winter sowing, too. Maybe someone with a good picture could start a winter-sowing thread.
We should have a sowing underlights thread too. I tryed winter sowing last year and it just wasn't as much fun for me. Some seed germinated some did not.
I guess I like the day to day care that the underlight seeds need, and watching their progress.
yes my OCD likes to look at them several times a day.. LOL
OCD ? After you tell me I'll probably slap my forhead with my open palm. LOL
I check mine in the am before work and when I get home. If I'm home several times a day. And you know CO2 is good for plants so they need to be talked to often.
I like both WS and starting inside but it's so much more fun to see growth inside....
OCD = obsessive compulsive disorder
appreciated by your plants, less so by your starving/lonely DH during gardening season(s)!
LOL... OCD & CO2 go well together
:)
LOL.... Yep, I haven't used a fan on my seedlings I just say a Hellooooooooooo How are you doooooooooooooooing? Groooooooooooow big and stronggggggggggggggggg for meeeeeee.
Works every time. Got to fill your lungs up and talk while exhaling slowly.
too funny
*gasp!*
You mean the trick is to talk to them in Whale??
I didn't know you could speak Whale!
(and if you've never seen Finding Nemo, this will make no sense... and yes, you should rent it!)
LOL Jill, never thought of that LOL . Just call me Dory II
If you get to Disney World, don't miss the Crush show in the Living Seas at EPCOT. That where you get a crash course in Whale.
We haven't been back to Disney since the spring before we got engaged... I think we'll probably wait until Little Bit is 4 or 5... can't wait to see what they've done with Epcot!
Jill, you are wise to wait till Little Bit is older, mine was in kindergarden when we first went and it was just the Magic Kingdom then. I have seen to many families frustrated and tired due to Disney overload with the little ones. Heck, even I get Disney overload and need to retreat to the hotel room and down time.
The Tree of Life at Animal Kingdom
I was 12 when I first went, and my brother was 9... great timing, I think... but DH says he doesn't want to wait that long, he'd rather go more than once and not try to do everything in 1 go. Wise man -- and fun, too!
The second time we went there were 3 families and we each rented one of the trailers at Fort Wilderness. It was great! We would do the parks in the morning and when it got too hot in the afternoon we'd go back for a swim break before we went back in the evening.
I can't wait only a couple more months till Disney.
I just checked my email & found a limited time offer (through Thursday Feb 4 -- that's tomorrow!) from Hazzard's Seeds. $1 shipping on any size order. They've got a lot of great stuff -- I might have to try a new basil. LOL
edited to add link for special offer: http://campaign.constantcontact.com/render?v=001UGlpv9WiH3Whvwn_RiMbjHMVDVSaHFqus8Jdobn44RyeLEOjHgPCxWlmacWyxc9EHMkq7UcKPhQcvncfP7kEanTZmDp1J2DT7Qd-xfTsNFlOyyzv7ZejVw%3D%3D
and link for Hazzard's: http://www.hazzardsgreenhouse.com/Merchant2/merchant.mvc?Screen=SFNT&Store_Code=Hazwho
This message was edited Feb 3, 2010 6:05 PM
I am done ordering seeds, I will not even take a peek at the links. That's my story and I'm sticking to it !!!!
I'm starting my OSP and I will put a thread up with pic and instructions. Give me a couple of days.