I bought my seed potatoes and onions this afternoon. I'm so lucky to have a local source, as the prices are very affordable. I purchased 2.25 lb. Kennebec (late) seed potatoes, and 2.5 lb. Red Norland (early) seed potatoes for 75-cents a pound, and two bunches (100 plants total) of Walla Walla sweet onions for $1.39 per bunch. Don't tell anyone, but I just had to get myself 10 pkts. of garden seeds that were on sale at 5/$1. Most of them are flowers, but I did buy some Calabrese broccoli to replace my 2008 leftover seed.
Kennebec and Red Norland seed potatoes, and Walla Walla sweet onions.My mini greenhouse is almost ready to be used. I still have to buy a power strip, as I'm going to use a remote to turn the lights off and on from inside the house, so they all have to be plugged into one source. I think I'd also better add a brace at the front of the middle shelf, it looks like it sags a bit.
The mini has two 2'x4' shelves, with four double light fixtures. The bottom shelf will hold two heat mats for the tender seeds (tomatoes, peppers, eggplant) and the others will go on the middle shelf, where they will get some residual heat as it rises. I have a 2' double light fixture to mount at the right of the mini, over the plastic containers, and will be growing the cold hardy plants there.I have my potting mix, and will be making soil blocks and seed mats this week. I have several strips of toilet tissue marked for carrot and lettuce seeds, so I need to get to gluing them. Tomorrow the onions have to be planted, and I don't have the load of compost that will top off the beds. I'll have to "borrow" soil from a neighboring bed, and enrich it with the small amount of home made compost that's left from last year. The onions will be planted rather closely, as I want to pull some for green onions and let the rest of them bulb.
Our weather has turned cold again, but the forecast calls for temperatures in the sixties beginning Sunday. Grandson, Kevin, might be here to help clear the garden next weekend. I hope so, I have two pea patches that need to be readied for planting!
Our weather has turned cold again, but the forecast calls for temperatures in the sixties beginning Sunday. Grandson, Kevin, might be here to help clear the garden next weekend. I hope so, I have two pea patches that need to be readied for planting!
Looks GREAT.
ReplyDeleteWow if I could get onions plants for that price, I'd never grow my own again. I've not found anywhere local that sells them, only sets.
ReplyDeleteWow Gran, you got a great deal on those potatoes and onion starts! I think I will purchase onion starts next year as well. What kills me is the shipping cost whenever you purchase anything online. I wish we lived in an area with more gardening resouces. I hate having to depend on Home Depot.
ReplyDeleteI am planting Kennebec and Red Norland potatoes this year too. It will be my first try at growing potatoes. Those onion starts look very robust and healthy. Should get them off to a great start.
ReplyDeleteI wouldn't be able to resist the seeds either :) It must be a sickness. You must be so excited to get starting planting seeds. I am looking forward to following their progress and watch them grow!
Hey Granny! Glad to see you're all settled in 'back home'. Those look like some great seed potatoes and onions. And more seeds!!! We might need to start a support group for people who buy too many seeds and plant too many tomatoes. We can both be charter members! :-D
ReplyDeleteNice looking propagation set up AG! I purchased another smaller stand alone light set up (should arrive tomorrow in fact) because I have been putting off expanding my set up for too long and the need has just become too great. I have been waiting to start the basil and peppers as a result.
ReplyDeleteIsn't it fun to meet up with online friends in real life? I have had the good fortune to do that many many times and have really been amazed at how dear several people have become to me that I never would have met had it not been for crossing paths on the internet. Looking forward to catching up with you in real life some time this summer.
You really hit the garden running when you got home! I bet you are excited to have Kevin back around all the time, he seemed like quite the helper, cook, and taster! Both you & Thomas reminded me this morning that I need to "get gluing" with those carrots!
ReplyDeleteThose onion bunches look great! Wish I could find them around here. The only thing I have seen is wimpy looking starts like I grow.
ReplyDeleteThanks, Stefaneener. I'm anxious to put the mini to the test this year. I played with the remote lights last night, now I need an indoor/outdoor thermometer to keep check on the temps ;-)
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Daphne, I never have great luck with the sets. The onions are good, they just never get very large. Walla Walla sweets are sooooo good! They don't keep well though, that's why I use a lot of them as spring onions.
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Thomas, I compared what I paid to what it would have cost to buy them from Irish Eyes, and I was shocked. SHOCKED! Shipping costs are horrid for most companies. I'll buy off the rack before I'll pay over $3 for shipping.
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Rachel, I end up stealing new potatoes from the plants, before they have a chance to mature. I'm hoping the Norlands will satisfy that urge, and maybe I can have some Kennebecs to store for winter. I do wish I had more space to plant them.
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Caffienated Mom, I need that 12-step intervention :-O
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Kitsap, I have to drill mounting holes in my new 2' light before it can be used. Somewhere I have an 18' light, and I can't find it!
Online friends CAN be fun, like DaBeardedOne, but they can be bad like the one from Canada, who brought her husband along on a trip to Vegas, but decided a week in our motor home, in our driveway, eating meals that I cooked, would be more to their advantage. Our friendship ended when I said "sorry, have fun in Vegas".
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Erin, I haven't had Kevin over yet. I was hoping he could help last weekend, but he had some kind of tournament in which he was competing. I have requested him for the entire upcoming weekend, as I MUST do yard/garden cleanup and haul in a pickup load of compost!
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Dan, I panicked when I went there Monday, and they were all sold out of the onions! Luckily they had another shipment come in yesterday. They usually have a good variety of seed potatoes, but they were running very low. They are supposed to get more in tomorrow, but I decided I didn't want to take a chance of missing out this year, so took what was available.
I think it's great that you had a visit from a local blogger. If I lived close by, you can bet i'd be there, too.
ReplyDeleteGreat garden score, I can't get over those prices!
ReplyDeleteKelly, that feed store always has good prices. I didn't score so well on my potting mix that went on sale the day after i bought it. I could have saved $3 on two bags.
ReplyDeleteEverything is looking good AG!
ReplyDeleteEG, if you lived close by I'd be workin' your butt off! Just think what kind of garden I'd have with both you and John to build stuff for me :-)
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Thanks, Sunny. It takes time, but eventually most of it gets done.
Many thanks.
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