But I was there for the plants. I had been told you can get citrus trees for a good price, and I really want to get a few - my mother in law has even promised to buy them for me for Christmas (yes I know it's March. We are just a bit slow!) So I went to check it out. You can indeed buy citrus trees, many with a lot of fruit, for around $35 for a dwarf lemon or a lime tree. All great - but I walked there, and it's a good kilometre or so. So if I'm going to buy up I need to have a plan for how to get them home - that will be for the next visit.
In the meantime though - I found the seedlings. And who can resist a bargain?? So I started buying. Then I got offered a box to carry them in - so I really had to fill up the box to make it practical to carry home....
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| Not sure about the angle but that is the box full that I lugged home - it is a longer walk than you think when you're carrying a lot of plants! |
The spoils of the day were -
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| I've never eaten kale - and I don't think I could stomach a green smoothie - I was told to saute it though and it's really tasty |
Kale - the current super food favourite. Apparently grows well over the cooler months, and is ok in part shade, so will be going out in the back yard.
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| Six little celery seedlings |
Celery - it also seems to like the mid seasons. I think I have to do a bit more research on this, to blanch the celery so it grows tall and not too bitter - but for now it is in the part shade areas of the garden and we will see how we go!
Rocket - every salad needs it. I tried to grow this from seed and wondered what happened to the seedlings - now I've seen that slug (read about it here) I think I know! But these are bigger plants already so hopefully survive. It's gone into full sun in the front yard.
Coriander - I love this herb but it often seems to bolt easily. I realised perhaps last time I had it in too sunny a spot, so this time it has gone out the back under my clothesline - this might let it stay more leafy for longer I hope.
Dill - always makes me think of a nice fish dish. So giving this a try for the first time. It appears to need full sun and can apparently grow very tall, so it is at the back of the beds in the front yard.
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| The mizuna got a bit squashed on the trip back home |
Mizuna- I bought this not even knowing exactly what it was, but I needed an extra herb to make my 5 plants for $10. I'm glad I got it though - it sounds tasty. Also known as Japanese mustard, the leaves are supposed to have a mustard or peppery flavour. Also a leafy salad vegetable, these grow in part shade, and smaller leaves will be more tender and more tasty (or so I have read!)
Chives - always a kitchen staple.
So all of those cost me $17 - $10 for 5 for the herbs (including rocket and mizuna) and the celery and kale were 6 seedlings in a punnet, and 2 punnets for $7. Bargain!
In addition to those I had also made a sneaky trip to a nursery on my way home from work on Thursday, so I also had four six cell punnets to plant out (they were buy one get one free - couldn't resist) - so in addition to all those I also now have curly lettuce, leeks, dwarf broccoli and spinach which has been planted in various pots and garden beds around - hopefully in the not too distant future I will have a veritable salad bowl in my garden!
Plus, tomato and capsicum plants self seeded and have sprung up when I moved my compost heap - so I have transplanted them to pots, and if they survive I will perhaps replant into a larger pot or into the garden bed for some late season fruit.
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| Lovely marigold |
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| Begonia |
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| Blurry pick of my possible snap dragon |
Then to fill up the box I decided to get some colour - needed to replenish my hanging pots. A petunia, alyssium, marigold, snap dragon (I think!) and a blue plant that I don't actually know the name of all went in - they were also 5 for $10. So for a grand total of $27 I had more plants than I know what to do with - and had to carry them all home!!
The last thing I bought was two bunches of dahlias - because who doesn't love brightly coloured fresh flowers?
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