Garden log 1/28/24. So much of gardening is a question of whether you want to spend money or time. It’s cheapest to start with seeds (possibly even free, if you can gather them), but that’s going to take the most time, from start to finish. It’s easiest and fastest to buy nice big mature plants, but those will cost more money (because someone else has been putting in the time to nurture them). And a lot of the time, you end up with compromises: some money, some time.
This is an example. I wanted more May Night salvias in my garden — I have three, and they’re spotted around, and I’d like to have a more dramatic effect, so it’d be great to have three clumps of three. They’re perennials, so I could dig them up and divide them, but that takes effort and time, and when it’s the right time for digging and dividing, I never have enough time and energy to divide everything I’d like to.
I could just buy full-size plants at the nursery, for about $18 each. That’s a lot of money. So I’m trying something different — there are a lot of home propagators and small businesses on Etsy selling plants, so I bought several starter plants at $6 each.
They arrived a few days ago, packed in wet shredded paper, and seem to have travelled fine. I watered them and put them on a self-watering tray, because I am pretty forgetful and anything that requires time and attention from me, it’s best if I get a little help.
I’m going to TRY to remember to check them every day, but every few days at least? And put them near the basement grow lights, and hopefully keep them alive and growing, repotting if necessary as they get bigger, so that by May, they’ll be ready to plant in the garden.
I’m guessing they still won’t be as big as the $18 nursery plants, but we’ll see how they do! I also got some Summer Beauty allium, same plan, and a new salvia, Sky Blue Marvel, so I’m not sure I actually ended up saving much money in the long run, but three times as many plants….if they survive. We’ll see!
All of these are from Jasper Plants: https://www.etsy.com/shop/JASPERPLANTS
