gardening, in the hope that Spring will come

[redbird]

I just transplanted five strawberry seedlings, from the little containers the nursery shipped them in. Only five out of a flat of twenty-five so far, because I ran out of potting soil. The planting bags arrived before the plants, but the sack of soil is still en route. I just texted my neighbor and asked if she can get me more compost. Four plants went into a planting bag filled mostly with compost, leaving four empty pockets while I wait for more soil. The fifth is in a small terra cotta pot, with soil I'm reusing from the attempt to grow herbs.

It made sense to buy a flat of 25 plants instead of paying almost as much for six, but now I am second-guessing myself.

I have texted the neighbor we got the compost from, asking whether she can get me more; I will probably offer her a few strawberry seedlings, whatever the answer to that question.

That's planting for next year: for this year, there are flowers on the cucumber plants I got a few weeks ago, and my lettuce seeds are sprouting.

Comments

[sabotabby]

Oooh goood luck! I hope you get many strawberries.

[tarasacon]

I’ve been wanting to get strawberry seedlings, but seen mixed reviews for the few places I have looked. Did you use a local nursery or a national company?

[redbird]

A national company, GrowJoy.com, but they may be out of strawberries (or they may have restocked).

One of the effects of the pandemic is that I haven't been to a nursery this year, so it's all mail order. I got my cucumbers from GrowJoy, the tomatoes from Burpee, and the lettuce seeds are an heirloom variety from Baker Creek.

And everyone has had the same idea, so the mail-order supplies kept running out of things. I have marked my calendar for November, when GrowJoy will be taking pre-orders, including of tomato plants, for next spring.

I haven't grown strawberries before, ever, but I was basically happy with the cucumber plants I got from them back in the spring.

[tarasacon]

Thank you! I will check them out!

And yeah, between the pandemic and my car being unhappy, I am lacking potting soil for expanding my indoor plants, or for building a balcony garden. It’s very frustrating. (If the car were happy I would risk curbside pickup from Home Despot or the equivalent, but it’s not, so I haven’t.)