Buying Local

This year, we decided to go out of our way to buy our garden plants from a local nursery because we wanted to support the local economy & yada yada yada. And we did support the local economy...and the national one, because this weekend:I made another plant shopping trip--this time to Fred Meyer. All but ONE of the tomatoes we bought from the nursery died (and it is looking VERY sickly but still sort of alive)--and we were VERY careful to surround them with a large amount of compost because while the horse manure did WONDERS for the grass, it can be a bit too hot for garden plants. It doesn't seem to have been too early, because I planted one tomato from Fred Meyer in the first planting round, and it's alive, healthy, and growing like a weed.

I also picked up lots & lots of pepper plants--19 to be exact, which is more of a mistake than complete delusion, as I lost track of what I was doing and was completely led astray by a 9-pack of jalapeno peppers--and they are now scattered throughout the beds. Since they don't take up much room, it made more sense to stick them in here & there and leave the bigger spaces for the big plants, like potatoes & cucumbers. And it might up their chances for survival--at least until I need them for salsa....:)

Theo observed all the activity from a safe distance
probably taking careful notes on where to dig things up in the future. He's made a clean sweep of the kohlrabi and took out a fair number of radishes, but not even a very determined cat can compete with the peas & beans. He has been eyeing the carrots, though.....