I Will Buy Local

It's January 3rd, the ground is snowcovered, and below that, frozen solid to a depth of at least 12 inches, with a bitter windchill (think zero) in the air. Yet here I am thinking about my gardens. My thoughts are fueled by two of my favorite idea generators; the White Flower Farm Spring Catalog and the March 2009 issue of Horticulture Magazine. The latter comes with a cover article entitled, "Ready for Spring". To which I reply, "Hell, Yes" followed by an even louder, "Hell, NO!"

Hell, Yes. I am ready to see green, not white, although technically we only began winter just over 10 days ago. And Hell, NO. I am not ready, because I have planned little and prepared even less.

Last year I went a little nuts between January and March, ordering, ordering, ordering from several catalogs. When the plants started flowing in the spring it was fun, but I have to admit when the seventh box of plants arrived in as many days, I was a little daunted when my husband turned to me and said, "um, where are you going to put all this stuff?" My answer, "I dunno. I'll find homes for everything" didn't really thrill him. My attitude is there are never too many gardens and there is always too much lawn. But what he heard in my response was a weekend of watching the kids while I garden. And he was wrong; it was more like two weekends.
This year, I have vowed to stay away from mail order despite the temptation and buy local instead. Come April and May, (seems a long time from now) I'm hoping to check out The Nashoba Valley Garden Center in Pepperell, Littleton's Cataldo Nursery, various Hollis, NH farm stands, and the Pepperell Garden Club's annual sale. I also am hoping to stay more on task and make a list of the plants that I need to fill in, instead of the "that looks cool" bug that I fall prey to every time I walk through the door of one of these fabulous places.

I have also realized (duh, as mentioned in other posts, the realtor's description was 'wooded lot') that I have a shade-heavy property, and yet, I am drawn to buy every more full sun plants. Which leads to ever more lawn shrinkage - again, a bad thing? naa - but I tend to ignore our vast tracts of shade and leave them just that; green and shady. Not this year I say! If ever there was a resolution I could follow, it is this; I will buy 2 shade plants for every one full sun plant that I fork $ over for. That way I can actually enjoy some color in my back yard, instead of having to traverse to the front of the house for a sighting of pink, yellow, or crimson.

Next...a to-do list.