......must....buy....plants

Saturday I went to buy more Jiffy pots at my local hardware store and as I pulled in the parking lot, wonder of wonders.....the garden center was open. I felt like skipping from my car. This garden center is medium sized, part of a fairly large True Value Hardware Store. But the people that run the garden center must read the same seed catalogs and magazines that I do, because they get great plants. They usually have all sorts of heirloom vegetable seedlings later in the spring and annuals and perenials that you just don't find anywhere else. Certainly not at the big box stores. Me and the few other people brave enough to browse the aisles in 40 degree weather with 30 mile an hour winds were positively floating. We all smiled at one another and pointed at the lovely specimens put out for sale. So of course I got pansies. 2.99 for a six-pack. The orange one is called 'Whiskers Orange'. Haha.


And they had these cute litte nesting baskets for $2.99 as well, so I bought them to hang from the front porch to discourage the purple finch that builds a nest every year in the twig wreath that I hang on the door to the living room, forcing us to use another door for over a month. Keep your fingers crossed.







And here are some of the bulbs I bought when I purchased the adorable weeping pussy willow featured on Knit a garden. And the galdiolus bulbs I bought at the garden show awhile back. My garden shop also had poppies and several varieties of cold weather veggies, which I did not buy. I had hoped to plant peas (sugar snap, snow, and regular) along with sweet peas, beets, swiss chard, and onions over the weekend, but the only free time I had it was usually very cold and windy and I just couldn't get excited about it.






















There was a transition over the weekend. I took pictures last Friday of flowers about the house. Some of them are done already, like the purple crocus and the snowdrop. But the hellebores are holding strong and the daffodils are opening at the front of the house. I didn't realize aconites were as long lasting as they are. On Friday afternoon, I cleaned out the future chicken house. It needs a little modification, but it should work nicely. I need to remove the two un-opening plexiglass windows and put in glass ones that I can prop open, so I don't unintentionally cook the chickens during the summer. I got two chicken 'how-to' books yesterday and became a little paranoid about chick mortality, so....I ordered two more. Four Buff Orpingtons and 2 Plymouth barred rocks. I'm nervous but really excited.














Oh, and a seedling update...peppers are on the march! By Friday afternoon, less than a week after I planted them.... this is what I had. As of this morning, all but a few along the perimeter were unsprouted. I feel confident though, after my visit to my garden center, that I can leave them in these sprouting trays for a little while still. The seedlings in the greenhouse at the garden center were 5 times the size of mine and in trays with much smaller plugs. But soon enough I will be very busy. I'm so glad it's finally spring though.