Comments on: Seed Starting – Threat or Menace? (not really)

By: Leslie

Leslie — Sun, 25 Apr 2010 23:54:32 +0000

Hi Roger – Good question. Not ignoring you; was just planning to do a post in answer… Short version is farmers’ markets – and some local nurseries. Vegetable seedlings have always been a sideline for these growers, and as interest in vegetable gardening has picked up, so has the range and quantity offered for sale.

You won’t be able to dictate varieties, but you will know who grew the seedlings and can ask about growing methods etc. Small-scale folks start a lot (maybe most) of the plants from seed, but some buy small starts from large suppliers, so it doesn’t hurt to ask whether starts were involved.

By: Roger Willson

Roger Willson — Fri, 09 Apr 2010 13:03:25 +0000

I too would like to purchase some healthy tomatoes, peppers, etc. from a reliable grower but I don’t want to drive all the way to Warren Maine. Do you know of a good source in the lower Hudson valley? Something between Home Depot and White Flower Farm.

By: Bill Bakaitis

Bill Bakaitis — Sat, 27 Mar 2010 14:46:30 +0000

Hi Melinda,

Well your comment about the greenhouse has inspired me to do a post about it. Give me a few rainy days indoors and it should show up.

Thanks

By: Leslie

Leslie — Sun, 21 Mar 2010 01:38:59 +0000

Truth to tell, Melinda, lemon verbena is a shrub, though it can (supposedly) hit 10 feet in warm climates where it’s happy. The plant in the picture has been being pruned into submission for – I dunno, maybe a dozen years. It spends summers in Maine, in the ground, then gets cut back hard ( the plant in the picture was already pruned once) and hauled back to NY for its winter slumbers. Our part of the Hudson Valley teeters between zones 5 and 6, but then so do our gardens; the big vegetable vegetable patch is below the house, in zone 5, the protected front yard above is more like 6. The greenhouse isn’t formally heated but we do put a space heater in when outdoor temps go below 18 or so, just so the plants don’t freeze. I’ll pass your compliment on it along to Bill, who built it. How we have both gardens is a long story, some of it already on the blog – just keep browsing! – and more to come.

By: Melinda Parsons

Melinda Parsons — Sat, 20 Mar 2010 15:48:47 +0000

Holy cow, I can’t believe that’s lemon verbena! I had no idea it grew into a small tree. In what gardening zone is the Hudson Valley? If you only spend winters there, I don’t understand how you end up w/ such a fab garden (there). Assuming that’s where the greenhouse is, I wonder if it’s heated or just absorbs sunlight and the bricks give it back at night…. It’s really lovely.

By: Lorna Sass

Lorna Sass — Sun, 07 Mar 2010 01:59:02 +0000

Oh, it all sounds so exciting and that verbena plant is truly amazing. Hope to see you (and maybe your garden) before you take off for Maine. And where are the cats? Wasn’t it sunny enough for them in the greenhouse when you took the photo or is there really no longer any room for them in there? Happy seedlings!

By: Rochelle

Rochelle — Fri, 05 Mar 2010 12:50:07 +0000

I experimented last year with tomatoes…started some for myself, planted some from seed straight into the ground, and bought some starts from a local nursery. I was compelled to do this on the advice of a local farmer at the farmers market who point blank told me that from a farmer point of view, starting tomatoes simply wouldn’t be happening on her scale…seeds go into the ground and that is it.
My results — by late june all the plants were nearly the same size…and by late july most of my plants (except for a couple varieties that I planted from seed) had been plagued with blight. so it goes, but needless to say, I proved it to myself, I am not bothering with starting indoors – straight into the ground those tomatoes go…

By: Julia

Julia — Wed, 03 Mar 2010 18:49:32 +0000

I’ve come to terms with the fact that I’m just not one of those super planners and instead rely on my more organic approach to the garden. And that is to enjoy the dreamy part of it that requires no brain or leg work. Granted, my harvest is not quite as large but I get much less frustrated! And for me that accounts for something.