Well, despite our soil woes, our early season is coming along nicely. It’s been good to see these pepper seeds pop up, most of ours are up for the season and appear to be quite happy. We’re still waiting for a few varieties to show their heads, soon enough!
We do want to talk a little bit about buying local. And not just like in your town, but specifically, supporting your local nurseries. Sure, those big box stores have tons of modern convenience and let you pick up a variety of things in one trip. But, your local nurseries (and sometimes local hardware stores) are incredibly important to the growing community and it’s really important for us to support them.
Let’s be clear. Stores like Home Depot and Lowes don’t give one flipping iota whether you’re successful with your garden or not. We see it every year, with them shipping up things like rhododendron, blueberry plants and countless other perennials that literally just come here by the hundreds to die. Unsuspecting gardeners get all excited, thinking these things will work up here, only to find out that some warehouse manager that rarely even sees snow doesn’t know the first thing about growing in the subarctic.
Your local nursery, though, is a different story. They are tailored entirely to the environment we live in, their success depends on guiding their customers in the right direction. They’re going to order seeds that work well in our climate. Their perennials are going to survive here and they’ve possibly been caring for them over multiple seasons! The annuals they sell are varieties that are known to perform in our exceptional climate. Their employees usually have some depth of knowledge, as opposed to someone that likley hasn’t ever grown a plant in their life. In some cases, the person who checks you out is the very person that owns the place.
If those places go out of business, who are we going to turn to? The truth is, there is no one else!
So, if you need some stuff this growing season, please consider stopping in at your local nursery this season. Whether it’s soil, amendments, supplies or even plants, it’s quite likely you’ll find what you’re looking for. We try to visit more than one each season and buy something, just to keep tabs on what each one has for supplies. Sure, it might cost a little more. But your money stays in your community and directly benefits your immediate neighbors. As opposed to a multi-billion dollar earnings report for a company that doesn’t care one bit if your plants live or don’t.
