I never thought that I would be much of a gardener. I’m not really sure why, seeing as both sets of our parents are successful gardeners. Kyle’s parents focus mostly on vegetables. My parents (my mom, really) give most of their efforts to prolific flower gardens and many, many house plants. And over the past few years, I’ve really gotten into gardening. Probably because we’ve done many of the interior projects that needed to be done. Now I can focus on the outside.
This year we built a new garden in our yard. It takes advantage of some of the sun we now get after taking down a large, rotting tree last year.
We’ve made it a perennial, shrub, heirloom tomato and basil garden. Many of our neighbors have given us the thumbs up on the project. I wonder if it’s so they can score some tomatoes later in the summer? If the squirrels don’t get to them first, of course.
Have you taken on any new gardening projects this year? Where did you get your supplies?
That’s gorgeous! Love the aerial view.
I’m not taking on new garden projects this year, but have come to terms with my inability to grow peppers. This is the first year I am refusing to plant any. It’s just too disappointing for me.
Thanks, Kerri. I took a couple of street view shots and then went upstairs to write the blog post. I looked out the window and thought, “hey, an aerial view would be much better.” And voila!
We’ve determined that we have minimal success with the vegetables, so only tomatoes and basil. And the crop on those will probably be minimal at best. We planted 13 tomato plants figuring at least half of them will die via disease, squirrel or due to our brown (vegetable) thumbs. Luckily, the West End farmer’s market is right around the corner.
Great job, Amy! Did you get your plants at the Hartford flower market. I heard a few people talking about that place this weekend.
Mandy, we got most of our shrubs,perennials, annuals and basil from the Hartford Regional Farmer’s Market, which we’ve blogged about in the past.
This year we also discovered Woodland Gardens in Manchester. Prices were fairly reasonable and the staff was very knowledgible and friendly. Selection was huge. They would have just about anything you would want. We got some more perennials (and a house plant) there.
Our tomato seedlings came from the Urban Oaks Organic Farm in New Britain. Really a terrific place. They still have a few more weeks of plant sales left.
Dirt and mulch came from Moscarillo’s in West Hartford.
I plan on writing a gardening post this week to highlight all of the places we went.
Another place I go is Plant and Garden World in East Hartford on Silver Lane, just east of the Manchester town line, formerly named Vinny’s I believe. It is owned by a Hartford resident that lives in the West End on Prospect. Nice staff.
As for Mulch and Soil, other local options are EnviroCycle in West Hartford and GreenCycle in Farmington. Many of the smaller garden center purchase their soil and mulch from these guys anyway…
BWP
Thanks for the tips, Brooks!