Posted on 01/06/2012 9:53:54 AM PST by JustaDumbBlonde
January is not the most hospitable month of the year to be sure. If you're like me those cold dreary days are best spent curled up in a chair (for the guys that don't *do* curl -- sit there very manly) with a cup of tea (insert the manly beverage of your choice) and a stack of garden catalogs that you need a front-end loader to move (got you with the front-end loader, didn't I?).
I've got to hand it to the catalog people, the covers are exceptional this year and, by golly, with all of the $25 to $100 coupons right there on the front ... I saved $475 just walking in from the mailbox!
Your first five minutes spent thumbing through will tell you something, regardless of which catalog your choose: Prices. Are. Up. Must be that ol' supply-n-demand thing, because I choose to believe that MY favorite seed suppliers would never take advantage of a market that is growing by leaps and bounds as people discover that you can feed your family the highest quality foods and save money at the same time. Not to mention, you know exactly how your food was handled and by whom. It must be said -- produce from Mexico just doesn't have the same tropical appeal that it once did.
These are the catalogs I've received as of this morning. I've put these in the form of a link that you can take to that company, if you so desire. You can request a catalog of your own or, do what I do, which is peruse the paper catalog and then place an order online.
Gurney's Seed & Nursery Co.Please let us know about your favorite catalogs and gardening-related companies. I know that we all love to discover something new that will further our fun in the garden.
Musser Forests, Inc.
Michigan Bulb Co.
Agri Supply
Growers Supply
Stark Bro's Nursery
The Greenhouse Catalog
Gardener's Supply Company
Totally Tomatoes
The Cook's Garden
Burpee
Henry Field's Seed & Nursery Co. *
Gurney's Seed & Nursery Co. *
Jung's Seeds & Plants
R.H. Shumway's Illustrated Garden Guide* Henry Field's and Gurney's are one and the same group. I suspect that Burgess is also owned by them, but haven't confirmed
Pond Springs Rd.... just east of Anderson Mill/183.
The pickling brine is ‘bout boiling when I pour in into the jars of prepared cucumbers. Hot pack - according to what the instructions call it.
The refrigerated jars do form a seal - you have to pry the lid off and it is definitely a vacuum seal. I hot pack them, put the lid and ring on immediately, let them cool for a little, then into the fridge. Where the lid pops down and forms a vacuum. Has every time I’ve done it that way so far.
Following the directions on the Sure Jell.....(I don’t EXACTLY).... it calls for a huge amount of sugar, so I have to wiggle it around to get to the amount of sweetness/full fruit profile, that I am looking for. It’s a personal preference thing, but yes, it makes doing jelly more of a challenge for sure. And it means that the sheeting is very important or I don’t get the proper set. There is a “low sugar” Sure Jell, but I haven’t found it locally yet, so I am left to experiment. I’m close, but need another season.
I want to learn the lost things, even if I have failures, because someone has to pay it forward. Yes?
That is so funny!
Interesting!
Yes. Thanks, again. I’ve gathered up everything and will be making some pots today. I need to scrounge up a tray though. I’m hoping tomorrow to get to a couple nurseries in the city and then it’ll be thumbs up.
Looks to have a bead drawn on your area. If you need to do anything to prepare ...
STILL no snow on the ground in Red Hampshire...ROTFLMAO!!! Love it! None in the ‘long range’ forecast, either...
SOME nurseries will give you a few seedling trays if you ask...
hold the alt key down and type 0176 the current temp here is 69°F.
When I go to WalMart I always check the garden dept. because they always have empty trays.
What does no snow do to your water table in the Spring?
Nothing. It still RAINS now and then...there is more in the forecast for Wednesday and Thursday. I don't have to shovel rain; I don't have to clear rain off of my roof; and I don't slide all over the road nearly as much when it rains.
Water table? Just fine. :-)
That tip does not work for me. I don’t know why it is different. The ‘176’ part is correct, but I have to use different characters before and after that. I think it is ASCII code rather than HTML, but my brain doesn’t remember back that far in my prior code writing skills.
Please becareful tubebender, you’re the only tubebender we’ve got.
I do too. Anykinds of beans call for jalapenos (fresh) and jalapeno juice in the bean juice. Love it. I’d never tasted jalapenos until I came to TX and I love them, fresh, pickled is ok...but loses some of it’s flavor.
Hmm. I’ll dig out the soil, I think I do have plastic weed mulch down there.
Oh, you poor dear. Hubby suffers from cedar, though he takes medication, he still sniffs, snuffs, coughs. It’s awful. Me..?
When you raise the worms...do you just put a mess in the tub and fill it with food they like and keep it moist then they do what worms do and multiply?
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