Hello and welcome (back) to Planet Forward’s blog The Sustainable Scribe and to another entry of my virtual organic gardening journal on a rather stormy Friday here in Southern Ontario. This week’s ramble is all about picking out your plants at nurseries.

Last year I was less than thrilled with my local garden centres selection and the fact that they didn’t properly label their plants. Now this year, I decided to expand the geographical search for the best garden centre/nursery. I also decided to go to big box and grocery store garden centres along with nurseries to compare selection, quality and price. My expanded search was most fruitful as I found a host of strong, tall, strapping plants- the kind I’ve only dreamed about in recent years. I think now I’ve learned my planting lesson and realize that you just can’t go to your closest source and buy whatever plants they have. Shopping for convenience is good for everything else for your garden other than the plants. You need to look at each plant type individually and if you don’t like their tomatoes but like their basil then you don’t buy their tomatoes and just buy their basil. It sounds like simple straightforward advice but I think we’ve all made the decision to just take what was there at some point – myself included. I realize now that the same amount of time and work goes into a good crop as opposed to a bad one so I might as well get the best start I can. You reap what you sow in this instance means weak looking seedlings are more likely to become weak looking plants that may not yield much.

Nursery image of Bonnie Plants courtesy of thecasualgardener.blogspot.com

I will use my parsley plants as an example. I had a very kind offer for some parsley plants from someone who had “over-bought” which I gratefully accepted as I had not purchased my parsley plants as yet. Unfortunately, the parsley plants I received were droopy and rather sad looking. I was told they were fine and thought I’d give them a try even though I had a feeling they would not thrive and I was right – I have since had to go out and buy more parsley. The parsley plants were bought because that’s where they were buying everything else so quality took a back seat to convenience. I bought my plants at four different nurseries and garden centres this year and I planted them in batches as they were acquired even though plants can live in their pots/containers for at least a week (if you keep them well watered). Fingers crossed my theory proves correct.

The other thing I have learned this year about plants is that there is a reason why they are so expensive. This year I attempted to start my garden from seed and as I wrote here, that didn’t exactly pan out. When I factored in all the expense I had incurred and the fact I only yielded seven zucchini plants out of the endeavor- it gave me a renewed appreciation for those gifted farmers – local and otherwise. If you weigh the cost and work that goes into actually achieving viable plants from seeds then you would know that $1.99 for five basil plants (or whatever the crop type) is not out of line. I know I will try again on the seedlings project; however, I think that the pre-grown option is much more financially viable for newbie gardeners.

Gardening is a work in progress that starts in Spring and goes into autumn even here in cold Ontario. I will be planting well into September when my rapini plants go in and again in October when it is garlic time and I couldn’t be happier.

Happy Gardening and if you don’t grow your own produce (or even if you do), support your local farmer so they can continue to do it for you.

This song isn’t about gardening but Neil supports farmers and the lyrics are beautiful

Neil Young – Harvest Moon