These gardens can be portable, created in a large pot, planter, or box (or something more unusual like a child’s wagon or a galvanized wash tub), or they can be a tiny vignette in the ground in your full-sized garden. They are charming and quick to create, and lend themselves to cute accessories. And who knows, yours might be so attractive to the wee spirits that a real fairy might take up residence there. Do you believe?

The seed racks are filled and waiting, and product has started to arrive. Hang on, the ride has begun!

If you order in February or March, we can bring in your fruit trees by special order, in bare-root form. (That means they’ll arrive without a pot, so they’ll be easier to transport, and less expensive to purchase.) Call us for availablity of the varieties you want. We’ll bring them in when the time is right for planting, and call you to let you know they are here. You can dig the holes, pick up the trees, and plant that same day. What could be easier?

The plants we sell are already branched, not the twigs that you’ll find in the box stores. In 3-5 years you should be able to harvest fruit from your very own fruit trees. What are you waiting for? Give us a call! (740-546-4467)

The web site allows you to look at your state in an enlarged version, and to plug in your zip code if you can’t figure out where on the map you really are. (Don’t feel bad, I’m geographically challenged, too.)

Fresno Chile image courtesy of Ivy Garth Seeds

Do you like jalapenos? Then you’ll like Fresno Chiles, too. They are just about as hot (maybe a bit hotter) and have the thick waxy feel of a jalapeno. You could use them interchangeably in recipes. They are good fresh, added to salsas, roasted (and stuffed as an appetizer if you like that heat), or canned.

They begin green and ripen to red, at which point they are a little sweeter. The plants are vigorous and bear well.

I don’t know about you, but the reason I like to eat fruits and vegetables I’ve grown myself is that I know they are fresher and healthier than those I can buy in the grocery store that have been picked and shipped across country, or even across countries.

photo courtesy of Ivy Garth Seeds

With that in mind, we are growing a tomato variety this year called Caro Rich. The name derives from the fact that it is higher in beta-carotene (up to 10 times as much as in other tomatoes!) Beta-carotene is  an antioxidant  that gives orange and yellow fruits and vegetables their color and is converted by the body into a safe form of vitamin A. (This is believed to promote eye health and help with vision—there’s a reason your mother told you to eat your carrots.)

It is an 8-10 oz beefsteak-style tomato in a deep orange color. (That’s about the size of your average Better Boy– a nice size for a slice on a burger.) They are low acid and sweet. They are large plants, probably a better choice for in-ground growing, rather than in a pot. Oh, and did I mention, they’re more healthy?

One of my goals for this “downtime” from the busyness of the Garden Center in the winter is to learn to take better photos, to learn about exposure and lighting and developing my vision where photography is concerned. To help with that I’ve been reading some books about photography, and trying to take photographs and get at least one photo out of the bunch to be good enough that I’m not ashamed to share it.

This time of the year challenges me, though. All is brown or white and seemingly lifeless, and it is a challenge to come up with a view of the garden in this season that is anything other than barren-looking. Meaningful? Hardly.

So I try to be patient and not too anxious for spring. Meanwhile I read, and might add Mr Benson’s book to my list of books to learn from this winter.

We’re here at the shop today tightening our plug orders. Plugs are tiny starter plants that we buy for some of the potted plants we grow to sell to you. Some plants grow easily from seeds, and others are grown from cuttings of existing plants. (Growing plants from cuttings requires equipment and facilities that we don’t have.)  The easily-seeded ones we do ourselves, the more difficult-to-seed and the cutting-grown plants we buy as plugs. See, you learned something about us already that you didn’t know…

Anyway… we’re spending some time double-checking the orders to make sure we have enough of each variety, but not too many. It makes me get anxious for spring to come when I think about all the beautiful flowers that will soon be growing in the greenhouses. But first we have to get through some more winter…

Stay warm and drive carefully!

We’ve finished the inventory and have begun to change the store over to its spring look, even though we aren’t open this month or next. Bob is working on tree and shrub orders, and Anita and Patty are planning the seeds we’ll sow down in February and March to have ready for you in April and May in our colorful greenhouses.