Poll: Money spent for seeds and plants

[RZehr]

How much is your budget/estimate/guess?
Is it mostly greenhouse plants?
Seeds?
Trees?
Shrubs?
Flowers?
Vegetables?
Grass?

[Bootstrap]

I mostly buy vegetable seedlings and seeds, plus annuals for the herb garden.

I should buy seeds and plan ahead for this spring to save money. I tend not to because (1) I have only had a garden again for a few years, (2) you can start planting very early here in North Carolina and it always catches me by surprise, and (3) I get overwhelmed by the number of varieties in seed catalogs and don't know how to choose. So I tend to amble down to the store and buy a bunch of seedlings when I realize it's too late. I plant the vegetables that can be planted later as seeds. I don't have a cold frame ... maybe I should ...

Since I should start planting in February, I should be planning now ... I have only three 8 foot by 4 foot raised beds, an herb garden, and a few other plants, but I am doing a variant of square foot gardening so I have a lot of different kinds of vegetables growing in that small space in close quarters.

[MaxPC]

How much is your budget/estimate/guess?
Is it mostly greenhouse plants?
Seeds?
Trees?
Shrubs?
Flowers?
Vegetables?
Grass?

Mostly veg seed of varieties we have not planted in the past two years will be bought. We like to save seeds from our heirloom plantings and that cuts costs. We have spent most of 2020 improving the soil to our satisfaction using green manure (clover and rye). My wife enjoys her rose bushes: she gets them as gifts from family = 0$ for us. We get composted cow manure from the field of friends.

[QuietlyListening]

I like to try new varieties. But I buy seeds from catalogues as you have more varieties to choose from. I save them in the freezer for about 2 years. We plant seeds that can be directly sown. I used to plant seeds at home for tomatoes and peppers but these days it is just easier to buy them as plants. I like to have more than one variety and planting that many seeds and watching them grow, replanting etc became more hassle than it was worth. . I also buy sweet potato plants.

We have our own compost piles now and use that in our raised beds.

I rarely buy annuals except for my 3 hanging pots/standing pots. Otherwise I buy perennials and bulbs from time to time to keep my flower beds blooming all summer. Probably won't get any perennials this year.

[Robert]

My wife informed me that we ARE planting a garden this spring. I cost of seeds will be little. I have to buy a tiller, fertilizer, and several lengths of hose. I am sure she will want timbers around the edge too.

I forgot about all the canning jars she will decide we need too.

[RZehr]

I went through a Territorial seed catalog and marked every I’d like. It came to $400. Seemed like way to much, hence the poll.
I was hoping to have a green house and not have to buy plants. But I’ll have to buy some plants instead again.
I looked at Baker Creek Seeds but they don’t have the selection.
Speaking of Baker Creek, I was in Missouri last month, and it looks like Baker Creek is building a very large building to accommodate their growth. I hear they will have a retail section that sells supplies and maybe a cafe as well.

[MaxPC]

I went through a Territorial seed catalog and marked every I’d like. It came to $400. Seemed like way to much, hence the poll.
I was hoping to have a green house and not have to buy plants. But I’ll have to buy some plants instead again.
I looked at Baker Creek Seeds but they don’t have the selection.
Speaking of Baker Creek, I was in Missouri last month, and it looks like Baker Creek is building a very large building to accommodate their growth. I hear they will have a retail section that sells supplies and maybe a cafe as well.

It does get to be dear in price. Instead of a green house, we have opted to use hooped covers or tunnels on our rows. Here's how easy it is to build one.
How to make a row cover tunnel.
We put the PVC in place and stabilise it with hog wire overtop. It also provides support for the heavy plastic. Initial cost was less than $100 for four 3ft x 30ft rows.

[Neto]

I don't know, and I think it's better if I don't. (My wife's category.) When I was growing up (In north east Oklahoma) we always planted everything from seeds. (Maybe sometimes an exception.) My grandma started her tomato plants in January, at fist in the window sill, then they went into a sort of 'green house' which was actually the bubble top off of a WWII aircraft. She kept a light bulb burning in there for heat, and covered it with old quilts.
But here at home (in Ohio) we have switched to all garden boxes. Not really soil, at least at the beginning. It was a mixture of Bull Country mulch, vermiculite, and peat moss. I was skeptical at first, so we started off with just a few boxes the first year, then switched entirely away from planting in the ground the second year. (Well, we do still have raspberries & blueberries growing in the ground.) Strawberries don't do well in the boxes - they climb out & grow better in the walkways than inside the boxes.)
So, I need to sell our tiller, as we never use it anymore.

[Robert]

So, I need to sell our tiller, as we never use it anymore.

Make me a good deal including delivery. I got about $20 to put into it.

[Bootstrap]

Trying to sort out my garden plan.

I would really like to do better with lettuces and cabbages for salads, planning for a mix of salads through the spring. In Central North Carolina, we can start planting lettuce at the beginning of February (see this chart).

When I go to seed catalogs and search for lettuce, there are lots of choices, I do not recognize many of them, they are things I have never eaten. I could play it safe and use the varieties I know from stores or I could branch out. This year, I would like to plan better than I did the last two years - any suggestions?