Pat and I heard rumors about local garden centers experiencing a “rush” of panicked gardeners cleaning out the aisles of seeds, plants, fertilizers, and books/videos for beginning gardeners.
So, when we were shopping in Spokane last weekend, we stopped in at the North Spokane “Northwest Seed and Pet” store to see for ourselves.
What we observed: most seed packet racks still had a good assortment of varieties, though the seeds for the “common” veggies (cabbage, broccoli, lettuce, tomatoes, etc.) were in short supply. Fruit tree selection was limited, though maybe due to the sales pressure from the small forest of baby apple, pear, cherry, and plum trees for sale at the nearby Costco. Seed potato bins were down quite a bit, and the selection was kinda grungy (soft, huge or too small, broken eyes). Fertilizer and soilless (seed starter) mix was in short supply: small boxes and small bags were the only choices.
I asked the store manager when he expected a re-supply truck, and he said “we’ve missed three trucks already, but we hope to have more stock next week.” Hope this helps.
Speaking of the store manager from Northwest Seed and Pet, I remembered to ask him for our club’s unique “customer number,” so that we can all enjoy a nice 15 percent discount on gardening-related products. Our club customer number is 4679, and you can tell the cashier that our club has yet to meet this year to hand out club membership cards with that important number boldly printed, somewhere on the card. Please tell the cashier that “we’re working on it.”
Speaking of free “gardening-related” classes/videos available on the internet:
University of Idaho – Idaho Victory Garden classes
Oregon State University Master Gardener Short Course
Finally, I have decided to try growing sweet potatoes this gardening season. I bought two Korean sweet potatoes (because this variety has a 90-day growing season, instead of the “normal” 120-day growing season type, that’s why!) at the local asian food market. I started the potatoes in glass bottles on 30 March 2020, and hope to pick off “slips” in late April or early May, for transplanting into their new, exclusive “hot-house raised bed” sometime around mid-May. We’ll see what happens.
Stay warm, dry, hydrated, and well-fed – we’ll meet again.
Jim.
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