Miniature Garden Workshop

Mark your calendars, November 10 at 10 am on a Saturday, we will be hosting our next miniature garden workshop. Class fee is $10 which includes hands-on instruction, soil, and rocks. We will have lots of accessories, miniature and dwarf plants, containers, and so much more for the class.  Here are some examples of gardens! Sign up here or give us a call at 540-436-3130

Butterfly chair miniature garden

 

 

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Tucking away the wee little ones for a long winter’s nap

Well, this week we spent (or rather ME) moving plants from their retail tables to their winter homes in the cold frames in the nursery yard.  I have almost all the perennials moved.  They also got a shot of fertilizer, weeded, and their tops got a haircut.  This is in case we have an early spring and they pop before I open the houses completely, they are ready for a new do!

Skylar & Ronnie came in today to help take down the shade cloth and move the remainder of the perennials and start on the shrubs.  Now the shade cloth is wrapped up, tied up and tagged so come next spring when it is ready to throw it up again, we know the big ones from the little ones and where they go!  They are also put into bags so they don’t get dusty.  This was a big chore.  Now I need to find a bag for the bungee cords to be put into.  Only 8 more cloths to go. Not sure when we will get the ones inside the green house down but I think I need to do it before Tuesday.

We are getting ready for Christmas trees, garland and poinsettias to arrive this week.  We have to flip tables, get their new legs set, move crates, rearrange the patio area to get ready for the wreaths and all kinds of Christmas.  I have some new lights that need to go up, so I will attempt to tackle that tomorrow or Monday.

We have to get a number of baby plants bumped up to the next size pot for spring.  I will be busy for a while as there is always something to do.  Speaking of something to do, we have a number of volunteers that like to pop by and help out from time to time.  It is always fun to see the joy they get from helping others. I know their help always makes my day easier.  So, if you ever have an hour or two to spare and you want to stop by and help out, you are always welcome to!

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Waking up crickets.

You have heard me speak, preach, talk, and teach about buying and dealing with locally owned companies.  I think the key to improving our economy is reinvigorating mainstreet.  If we can spend our dollars within the community, most of those dollars will stay in the community.  Think about it.  If I spend $1.00 at the local hardware, over 70 cents of that dollar stays here in the form of jobs, taxes, products, etc.  If spend that same dollar at a big blue or orange store, that local money shrinks quickly to around 30 cents which is mainly labor and 5 cents for taxes, only 1 cent of the 5 stays in the county for taxes.  The rest of the dollar gets shipped to Arkansas and then on to China because well, it is owned mainly by China.

I have no problem with China and how they run their government but they want equal access to our ports with chicken, apples, etc.  Do you know how crazy that sounds?  Why are we importing chicken when we have many many chicken farms here.  How many people would willingly eat a chicken raised in China?  A place where in the months leading up to the Olympics, they had to halt truck traffic to reduce their emissions to appease the Olympic committee.  I am sure they have not fixed their pollution which in turn makes me think they have dirty chicken.  My problem comes in when a country who wants to appear friendly, really isn’t but wants to be communist or socialist but is really a capitalistic county.  It is all about money.

So, back to my original point.  I really believe if we want to thrive, everybody needs a purpose.  Each of us needs a job to do to contribute and make the world a better place. I think we need manufacturing but we need better ideas, better items to produce, just make it better.  I am hearing and reading alot about you must be an artist, you need to be a linchpin, you need to do this or that.  Okay, alright, we get it.  Yes, there are people that need to be artist but there need to be people that deliver newspapers, drive buses, build machines, make coffee.  All of these jobs are important.  A few years ago, I had this thing about counting how many people it took to get through my day versus other people.  You see, I don’t drink coffee, I don’t stop and pick up a donut and coffee but there are those that do that in the morning.  So, if you thought about it, how many people does it take to get through your day?  Electric, TV man, milkman, breadman, water guy, newspaper writer, printer, deliver, farmer, etc.  You get the idea, but think about it.

There was an article I read today in Advertising Age about the failure of green marketing.  Isn’t the plant business the original green business?  Of course it is but sometimes we miss the ball, it goes flying by us.  Anyway, Sun Chips is stopping their new eco bags because people complained about how noisy the bag was.  I can’t believe people are such whiners.  The last paragraph was the best. CLICK HERE TO READ IT.  It definitely speaks to the masses in our decisions, do you want your children to be piled under all this garbage.  Sun Chips had a great idea, they just needed a better PR firm.  If you educate them, they will get it, eventually.  We all know smoking is bad but there are those that still smoke.  It is their choice, just don’t expect me to light one up.  But we do need to be smarter about our packaging.  Which is something we are looking into with our perennials and annuals we grow personally.  We are going to see if we can contract grow all of our commercial account annuals in plantable/biodegradable pots.  We will see if they are noisy enough to wake up the crickets.

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Rain has finally arrived like a spring bride!

Well, we are super thankful for getting the rain we got last night.  I am sure it is the talk of the town.  I hope everyone got a little bit.  I know Luray & Stanley got 1/2 inch on Thursday evening.  We got over an inch here at the garden center.

We have sure had a busy week with chores.  Cleaning the greenhouses, grooming plants, planting plant plugs in bigger pots.  We got in two different kinds of sedums great for groundcovers and in between walkway stones.

We got in a new pallet of Vermont Slate Stone.  It is super smooth to the touch and tough as nails.

Scott decided we needed to get some order in the nursery yard.  So, we reorganized the entire back.  All the evergreens are in one spot, the Boxwoods are together again plus all of the deciduous trees are in the same section.  Easier to find and figure out what we actually have.

That’s all for now, I need to get some gourds planted on the fence since they are about 9 feet long!

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Potting up perennials

Got some new starts for perennials for spring in & we are potting them up tomorrow, I hope.  Plus the strawberry plants will be in their new pots by tomorrow as well. 

We are getting stocked up on onions, potatoes & seeds plus we got our first shipment of pansies, cabbage, cauliflower, broccoli in this week.  More to come this week.

So, if you need any supplies or just need to stop by and get a touch of spring, come visit me…..

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CHECK IT OFF THE LIST

You can check the arbor and the sidewalk and the handicap parking space off the list.  Those items are done.

On very sad news, the acrylic countertop cracked in so many different directions. Now we have to figure something else out. I am hoping I can cut out the bad crack section and replace it with a new piece. I have one small piece left. Otherwise I will have to use a different material.

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Green is a color, too.

Here is the office building before we painted it today.  It looks fabulous.  Thanks for Craig, Mike & Paula’s help in picking out the color.  I know the black would have been so chic but we have to remember where we are and the green is absolutely perfect and fits well.  9 gallons later and we only have about 1/3 of a gallon left. Not so bad for estimating.  The kneewall around the greenhouse is done along with the office building.

Tomorrow, the electrical rough-in gets inspected. Thursday, the plumbing rough gets inspected and we should be able to get the insulation in by the weekend, inspected by Monday and get the drywall done by next week.  The office is moving along.  Electricians start on wiring the greenhouse tomorrow.

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A bunch of sticks growing

Today the winds were so great and it proved how sturdy the greenhouse really is, I would say the wind gusts were close to 50 mph.  Crazy creaking of the panels but no problems.

Met with the paver company for the sidewalk.  Should know more tomorrow as to the direction we are headed.  Either they are with us or not.  Plus another vendor stopped by.  Then the county stopped by because they have had “phone calls” about our soil & erosion control methods.  Not a bit of water/runoff has left the site.  And this without silt fence (it has been down for over a month).  We had some piles by the road that were debris, old brick, rock, etc.  Had them removed yesterday by our excavator contractor.  Chris (excavator operator), very cool guy and knew exactly what we needed done.  Wished we would have had him here all along.  Scott & Chris got along great and I think the will be good friends.

So, we are not in trouble with the county but we need to get all of the new planting beds covered in mulch within the next two weeks.  No problem, I will do it at 2 am on Thursday, any takers want to come help.

With all the visitors, not much got done on my end.  The wind was not conducive to working.  I did get to Lowe’s and returned some cedar that I got yesterday that was wrong.

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Today's progress, window for counter framed in plus 70 percent of floor is done.

So, this shows todays progress.  Scott did most of the work and got my window put in when I went to Woodstock with the drawing for the arbor over the walkway to get a permit for it.

Had to take my dog, Jake to the vet, he has some sort of neurological condition.  Hopefully it isn’t serious.

Found my electrical contractor.  Need references.  Plus I need to figure out the drywall estimates.  Way too much difference.

Figured out the fruit trees, berries and rose orders.  Picked the two seed companies, chose two tool companies.  Need to find carts.

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5,000 clay pavers

and counting. Today, Andy & Dave put down another 2500 clay pavers.  Half of the greenhouse is done.  Yay!

Knee wall on three sides is done, working on the counter area tomorrow plus the doors.  Today went smoothly.  Media (soil) for the living roof showed up today.  Hopefully it will be 56 degrees on Sunday, we have a lot to do.

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