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To Market, To Market
Finally, after a couple of false starts, spring seems to have arrived! On Saturday, the Farmers Market in Ferguson, about 3 miles from us, opened for the season. Most booths were selling plants, although the hormone-free meat and egg people were there, and the honey producers, and the pecan sellers. We concentrated on plants and found very healthy-looking Jet Star tomatoes at a reasonable price, along with some herb plants and some sturdy marigolds. We rewarded ourselves with half a dozen cookies from the organic flour booth on our way to the car.
Our next stop was Theis Farm Market, one of our regular stops for two decades. They have the best home grown produce in season, including strawberries and peaches. We had assumed the Easter weekend freeze had finished the strawberry plants but there were pints of berries for sale. They were (and are) as delicious as ever. But this time of year, the main feature is the acres and acres of greenhouses and irresistible bedding plants. We bought two flats worth of impatiens, begonias, and petunias, along with some stray coleus and some other foliage shade plants.
We'll have to go back next weekend for some more bedding plants, and also for some of their stunning geraniums. Of course we spent most of Saturday afternoon, Sunday afternoon, and this afternoon getting plants into porch boxes and the flower beds. Next entry will show some of our results, if the rabbits don't nibble everything overnight! This region is a great botanical crossroad that is gradually getting warmer. Plants that used to grow only as far north as Oklahoma when I was a child...crape myrtle, Rose of Sharon, lantana, hydrangea...are all hardy here now. Although we are stiff and sore from gardening (despite all of our good exercise classes) it still felt great to be outdoors in 80 degree weather, getting our fingernails dirty. (They are clean, now.)
Finally, after a couple of false starts, spring seems to have arrived! On Saturday, the Farmers Market in Ferguson, about 3 miles from us, opened for the season. Most booths were selling plants, although the hormone-free meat and egg people were there, and the honey producers, and the pecan sellers. We concentrated on plants and found very healthy-looking Jet Star tomatoes at a reasonable price, along with some herb plants and some sturdy marigolds. We rewarded ourselves with half a dozen cookies from the organic flour booth on our way to the car.
Our next stop was Theis Farm Market, one of our regular stops for two decades. They have the best home grown produce in season, including strawberries and peaches. We had assumed the Easter weekend freeze had finished the strawberry plants but there were pints of berries for sale. They were (and are) as delicious as ever. But this time of year, the main feature is the acres and acres of greenhouses and irresistible bedding plants. We bought two flats worth of impatiens, begonias, and petunias, along with some stray coleus and some other foliage shade plants.
We'll have to go back next weekend for some more bedding plants, and also for some of their stunning geraniums. Of course we spent most of Saturday afternoon, Sunday afternoon, and this afternoon getting plants into porch boxes and the flower beds. Next entry will show some of our results, if the rabbits don't nibble everything overnight! This region is a great botanical crossroad that is gradually getting warmer. Plants that used to grow only as far north as Oklahoma when I was a child...crape myrtle, Rose of Sharon, lantana, hydrangea...are all hardy here now. Although we are stiff and sore from gardening (despite all of our good exercise classes) it still felt great to be outdoors in 80 degree weather, getting our fingernails dirty. (They are clean, now.)
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