January Adventure: A visit to a local Garden Center??
My resolutions this year, as you know if you've been reading the blogs, was to have more fun. I resolved to have one adventure per month---something I felt I could easily accomplish due to my physical limitations. However, this month has been a challenge for me personally for weeks! I've experienced a flare-up of my psoriatic arthritis, which causes severe exhaustion and limited pain. I've been flaring on and off since mid-December culminating in a big flare which I am in now. I had planned on visiting a garden center in person to cheer me of the winter blues and to use as my January adventure, but sadly that didn't seem to be in the plans. I am not one to give up though! There had to be a work around.
Indeed, there was. Why couldn't I make an afternoon of perusing my seed catalogs? With a hot cup of peppermint tea and honey, a warm fuzzy blanket around me and my warm slippers, I could immerse myself in the colorful catalogs with their descriptions of plants, their varieties and growing conditions needed. I've always been impressed with four. My favorite fallback is Gurney's, where I get the bulk of vegetable plants and seeds I need. Nichols Garden Nursery and Richters come in second, for varieties of herbs you can't find elsewhere. A new one I've discovered recently is Mountain Valley Growers and I will have to explore their organic offerings. There is one last extra place to add to the list, and that is Amazon, where I can find seeds I can't find elsewhere. My notebook becomes scribbled with wants, needs and have-to-haves, as I decide on what I want to get for the next growing season. I stop in the middle of ordering to check out the internet for easy liquid fertilizer recipes. Yep, I can make my own, so I don't need to put that on my list.
As I think about it, this is perhaps the best way I could have done it. At the Garden Nursery, I would be rushed, limited as to types of plants, and possibly forget important must haves that I wanted. Later, as I feel better, I will visit a Garden Center to pick up a Grapevine Tree I needed to replace, and a couple planters. But for now, yep, this will do. We can let circumstances overcome us, or we can overcome circumstances. My adventure might not be what I had envisioned for this month, but to me it is still an adventure. Snoozing in my chair, I can dream of what is coming in my mailbox in the future. Let your adventures run free, but if you have to rein them in, it doesn't mean the end of the adventure.
If your circumstances warrant an armchair adventure, because of time constraints, limited finances where you have to be careful of what you spend, or physical limitations, try these online catalogs. I've given links as well as a bit of background on how long they have been in business. I can attest to satisfaction with Gurney's, Nichols, Richter's and Amazon. I will have to try out Mountain Valley Growers, but they look promising. Happy Adventures all!
Gurney's - America's Most Complete Seed and Nursery (gurneys.com)
Gurney's Seed & Nursery Co. is a mail-order seed and garden plant company based in Greendale, IN. Founded in 1866, Gurney's specializes in vegetable and flower seeds, gardening supplies and nursery stock, including trees, shrubs, perennials, fruit trees and berries, fertilizers and plant foods. Gurney's distributes catalogs throughout the nation and maintains a considerable web presence.
Nichols Garden Nursery is located in Oregon's famous Willamette Valley, where deep humus soils and mild climates have combined to bring about the best possible growing conditions. We have been in the seed and nursery business since 1950. Our purpose during these years has been to bring people closer to nature through gardening.
Richters Herbs - Medicinal, Culinary, Aromatic - Plants & Seeds
Richters has been growing and selling herbs since 1969. Our first catalogue dedicated to herbs came out in 1970. We have lived, worked and breathed herbs ever since.
If you are in the Toronto, Canada area, come and visit our greenhouses and gift shop.
In 1983, Mountain Valley Growers, Squaw Valley, CA was incorporated with the goal of providing organically grown pots of herbs to retail nurseries and grocery stores. There were a whopping 7 varieties then. In 1990, we brought these same plants to the retail consumer through mail order. By then, we supplied about 300 varieties. In 1992, we began publishing a quarterly newsletter, Mountain Valley Views, to inform and share our experiences with others. In 1993, our specialty herb gardens hit the market to make choosing from so many plants a cinch. We work daily to perfect the process for organic nursery production so we can bring you beautiful organic Herbs and Perennials. We want to make sure that there are organic herbs and flowers in every pot. In 2002, we became certified organic by the USDA.
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