The garden is in the mail

Well, I'm afraid I've gone a bit insane.  Like all of my big ideas, my garden just could not wait.  Even though we still have about 2 months of cold/mild weather before any planting can even begin, I am ready to go!  I have ordered a number of seeds and small plants online.  In the future, I hope to get to know some of our local nurseries.  But with my schedule it's been difficult to get out during business hours.  Also, I just love shopping online.

Here is what's coming in the mail:

Berries from Burnt Ridge Nursery.  I've been reading some message boards about gardening in Arizona, and the name kept coming up as a good and reliable nursery.  Plus, I've had some difficulty finding preferred varieties of Arizona-friendly bushes at some of the larger stores.  The extra-exciting thing about ordering online is that you tend to get large bundles of plants!  I am getting 5 Arapaho blackberries, a South Moon blueberry bush, 5 Boyne raspberries, and 25 Rainier strawberries.  Arapaho, South Moon, and Boyne are all recommended varieties for this area.  I couldn't find good info on strawberries, but in containers they seem to do well.  For my bundles, I am going to alternate putting them in planters and in the ground and see how everything does.  If I can get a bunch of decent-producing berry bushes I will be a happy gardener.

Seeds from GMH Seeds.  This store was a dream come true!  I found the website through craigslist.  The guy who runs it is local and has specially selected vegetable and herb seeds that are proven for desert growth.  I've e-mailed him as well and he's extra friendly.  I ordered a few packs of seeds, and afterwards saw he had a great deal with all 13 vegetable varieties for $15 (with free shipping!).  He had no trouble changing my order and wanted to see photos of my garden in the future.  Very happy that I found a one-stop shop for Tucson varieties that are affordable, and I get to shop local.  I bought the Arid Collection which has corn, carrots, snowpeas, lettuce, tomatoes, squash, raddish, chard, onion, and watermelon.  That should get me off to a good start.

Finally, I ordered some extra odds and ends from Seeds & Things on Amazon.  I do not know a lot about this store, so this could be a crapshoot.  But they had a good selection of familiar flowering bushes and plants in the area.  Even though growing trees and bushes from seed will be a practice in patience, it's very appealing at the moment due to being cheap!  When we first moved in, I probably spent nearly $100 on some basic shrubs and groundcover.  We had two cold snaps and everything but my iceplant is dead.  At any rate, I ordered peppermint, scarlet wisteria, mexican sunflower, red knight sweet pepper, bok choy, sage, alpine strawberry, 2 types of bird of paradise, and royal poinciana flame tree seeds. 

My boyfriend and I got mad Home Depot gift cards for Christmas.  Today we spent nearly 2 hours there and I picked up a seed starter tray and a few bags of steer manure.  I also got a connection to some goat manure.  Never thought I'd be excited about that.  Again, in the future I hope to be able to get compost and manure locally (even for free!), but as we're just getting started, I wanted to get what was easy.  My seeds will hopefully be arriving in the next 2 weeks and I can start them in a sunny spot indoors.  If my tax return is half decent, I hope to buy some beautiful large ceramic planters to keep some of the berry bushes in.  While I am going to try a few in the yard, I know that their acidic soil needs and the need to protect them from birds and squirrels may mean they do best in isolated planters.

Well - there goes my paycheck.  But I hope it will all be worth it in a few months.  Stay tuned for photos of our first raised garden bed being put together.