Gardening Must Haves from an Obsessed Organic Gardener

Do you know what time it is?  Check your calendar, Green Talk readers. It is gardening time!  Get your hoes and let’s dig some dirt.  Make Mama proud with your finest tomatoes or mouth watering cucumbers.  (Remember mine look like tennis balls with an eight o’clock shadow.  Made you look, didn’t I?)

When I received the above notice in my email box, it got me thinking.  Hmm. Free shipping from my beloved Gardener’s Supply. Plus, ten percent off too with orders over fifty dollars.  There MUST be something that I need.  I bet there is something you could use too.  So, I decided to write a post about my must haves to inspire all of you to make your gardening adventures so much more fun.  Who said playing in the dirt is only for kids?

Big Girl Toys

Many of my loyal readers know I am obsessed about gardening, dream about gardening, and mourn that last warm enough day to garden.   But along with gardening, I am also equally obsessed about my big Green Girl toys.  (Think boys and their toys.)  When my gardening catalogs comes in the mail, well, I, um, hide in the bathroom and leaf through each page like an addict.  Turning pages, marking pages, and folding over corners.

Well, I have a whole closet full of my gold elite gardening paraphernalia fit for a queen.  Moi.  Yours Truly.  Yep, the Queen Bee herself.

So, are you dying for a peek into the royal gardening closet (and garage too?)  I thought so.  How much time do you have?  There is a lot of ground to cover.  (Sorry, couldn’t resist the pun.  It is late while I am writing this post.)

So where does a Green Gardening Girl’s Bling Come From?

Instead of introducing you to every little thing I have in the closet, listed below is my must haves.  Now, before I go any further, I wanted to explain that I am a Gardener’s Supply groupie.  I adore all of their products!  I would say almost 90 percent of my gardening arsenal is from them.   This is why I have become an affiliate of them (which means for every purchase you make from Gardeners Supply on my site, I get a small percent back.  I even buy from myself!)

I even love  talking to their customer service people who by the way are all gardeners.  Many of times, I would call Gardener’s Supply to ask their gardeners a question even if it had nothing to do  with one of their products.  Secretly, sometime I call because my family is sick of my gardening talk.  My friends have threatened to stage an intervention.  And the next door cat thinks I need to get a life.  So, what is a gardening girl to do?

Call another gardener and sometime ( don’t tell them. since it kind of embarrassing…) I call customer service just to talk to them.  Gardeners like to talk about gardening.  It is one of those self evident fact.  Put two gardeners in a room and come back in two weeks and we will still be talking about gardening.  It is a sickness which can not be cure except by snow falling.  (Well, almost.  I cut my Kale when it was snowing…)  Any gardeners out there nodding their heads in agreement?

Onto the List

So, my must haves for this season are as follows:

Raised Beds.

I have the three foot by three foot grow beds that I are tall enough for growing carrots and parsnips.  (Remember those parsnips that grew all the way to China?  Or the carrots that looked like a bad horror movie?)

All of my gardening beds are or will be raised by the beginning of the season.  I noticed that my plants just seem happier above the ground.  The beds stay warmer and drain better. Gardener’s Supply has many different ones to choose from.

Potato Grow Bags

I grew organic blue and yellow potatoes in these sacks last year.  The blue potatoes came from Gardener’s Supply and the yellow ones came from my refrigeration. They were easy to fill, did not take up much room, and the clean up was seamless for the winter.  I simply dumped the dirt into a depleted bed.

As for the blue potatoes, they were small, but tasty.  The flowers from the potatoes were outstanding!  I may be wrong but I think the color of the flower depends on the color of the inside of the potato.  The flowers of my yellow Yukon potatoes were white.

On a side note, you can grow anything in these sacks.  I grew beets in them too and the seedling seemed to be happier in the sacks then my raised beds.  Go figure.

Tomato Cages

If you are going to pick one thing, pick these tall tomato cages.  I keep buying them since some how I end up with too many tomato seedlings.  This year I have fourteen tomatoes plants.  (Don’t ask.)  My cages are going on their fifth year and are still strong and sturdy.

Gardening Gloves

I go through gloves like water.  I recently purchased these at GS and love them since they are light weight and conform to my hands.  Personally, I hate gloves but seem to wear this brand alot since I can still feel what I am doing with the added benefit of fingernails that don’t look dark black from the compost.

Beans cages

I can’t live without my bean cages.  Just buy stakes with them since a strong wind can make them lean when they are heavy with beans.

Energy-Efficient Indoor 3-Tier Light Garden

I bought this baby this year because I grow my vegetables from seed.  Normally, I use my sunny kitchen to have the seedling grow but they tend to look spindly.  This year I decided to splurge on a three tier light garden  with T-5 fluorescent lights.  This was the best thing I ever did.

All of my vegetables are strong and tall.  This was the first year I successful grew herbs.  I will continue to use the light garden during the summer to get a jump start on the fall season.  Remember, us gardeners are three steps ahead of the growing season.

Now, if you are like me, you think, why would I need such a large light garden.  I was ready to change my mind thinking there is no way that I will use that entire structure.  And I even called customer service and told them I wanted to change my order.  (Now, this is why I love the customer service at GS…)  The customer service person (who I told you was a gardener) told me not to change my order.  She (remember I told you she is a gardener)  assured me I would use every bit of that light garden.  She knew from talking to me that I am obsessed.  In fact, she told me where to purchase flower seeds that I could not find and how to take clippings from my geranium plants!   I am sorry..I can’t stop gushing about them.  I swear they are all gardener psychologists.

So, readers, I could keep going on and on about my gardening supplies.  Now, I have shown you mind, let’s hear from you about your favorite gardening tools and products.

The season is just started, so head over to Gardner Supply and take a look see. I am sure that you will just adore their products.  Remember, free shipping! Now is just the time to plan a garden or supplement one.

Got to order more tomato cages.  (I told you not to ask…)

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