Garden Supplies

It is possible to spend an amazing amount of money on garden supplies. For proof, check out William Alexander’s The $64 Tomato: How One Man Nearly Lost His Sanity, Spent a Fortune, and Endured an Existential Crisis in the Quest for a Perfect Garden. You don’t want to go there!

If you choose to, you can spend almost nothing on a garden. A compost pile can be just a pile in the back of the yard. Tomato supports can be made from fallen branches, left-over lumber, or many other things. Seeds can be saved or traded with neighbors. If you get creative you can grow a lot of food at very little expense.

There is, however, a middle ground. Here are some tips on where to purchase things that I’ve found useful.

Favorites …

Trowel. My favorite trowel is the Oxo Good Grips Gel-e Gardening Trowel. Its handle is comfortable in the hand, the bend in the handle is ergonomically helpful for wrist and arm muscles, and the serrated blade is oh so useful. I’ve found it on Amazon for about $15, and I wouldn’t buy any other trowel.

Gloves. I highly recommend Atlas Glove’s Nitrile Tough gloves. They are protective and durable, but comfortable and they hardly impair dexterity at all. They add some welcome warmth in the spring/fall but breathe well in the summer. You can wash them in a clothes washer and hang them up on a line to dry. I’ve found them for $5 at Wanamakers and Shattucks. Highly recommended.

Kelp Extract. Full of micronutrients and plant rooting hormones, kelp extract helps new seedlings and new transplants settle in quickly and get off to a good start. Get it from Fedco, either with or without fish extract, which is a general-purpose fertilizer. Highly recommended.

Soil Testing. The UMass Extension Service’s Soil Testing Lab does soil tests – $15 for a complete test, including pH, nine garden nutrients, four heavy metals, and percentage of organic matter in the soil. Test results come with suggestions for improving your soil. If you are planning to grow food for human consumption, you definitely should have your soil tested for lead.

Soil & Compost …

Potting Soil. I like the Komplete NP Mix Potting Soil from Fedco (which comes in a 50 pound bag – big!). If you want smaller quantities you’ll need to purchase it locally, and I have no particular recommendations about brands – none of the ones I’ve tried have worked well for me.

➢ If you don’t want to buy and ship potting soil, you can make your own. Fill a pan (roughly 12” x 18” x 3”) with good garden soil and another pan with well-rotted finished compost. Bake the pans in your oven: 250° for 2 hours or 200° for 3 hours. (The smell is unappealing, but should dissipate in a day or so.) After the soil cools, put it in a big sturdy bag. Add 8 or so cups each of vermiculite and sand. Mix well. You may want to use a commercial mix for starting small seeds unless you screen your garden soil and compost before baking it, but an unscreened mix works well for larger seeds, houseplants, forcing bulbs, repotting, etc.

➢ Many germination mixes don’t have enough nutrition to get a seedling to the garden without feeding. Fish emulsion works well as a supplemental feed to keep the seedlings growing vigorously, but your house may smell like fish emulsion for a couple days. This is why I choose Fedco’s Potting Soil over its Germination Mix. I haven’t had difficulties germinating small seeds in it, and it contains enough nutrients to sustain a seedling to transplanting size.

Compost. Commercial compost can jump-start your garden, but every form has problematic aspects.

➢ Municipal compost contains anything that people put into their yard waste bags, so its quality varies widely. Arlington residents may pick up municipal compost at the Hartwell Avenue Composting Facility in Lexington, a.k.a. the Minuteman Composting Facility. There is no delivery, but up to two barrels of compost are free for the taking and the price is modest after that.

➢ Lalicata Landscaping in Arlington, Cannizo Brothers in Lexington (781-863-0050), and Weiss Farm in Stoneham deliver compost, mulch, and loam (see the box for why you shouldn’t buy loam!). Their compost is generally municipal in origin, so it varies in quality. Most companies have a 3-4 cubic yard minimum for delivery.

➢ Manure, including composted manure that isn’t in a bag, provides very high fertility (especially nitrogen) but can contain a lot of weed seeds. A lot of weed seeds. Did I mention a lot of weed seeds?

➢ Bagged composts are generally “dead” – most of the microbial life has been killed to increase shelf life. They are not as useful for your garden, and they are expensive if you want to do anything more than fill a few pots, but they are better than nothing if you and your neighbors can’t use 4 cubic yards or more of bulk/live compost.

o Look at the sources. Some brands are made from by-products of logging. Coast of Maine is made from seafood and agricultural “wastes,” which provides better fertility and is better for the environment.

o Bagged composted manure can be a good compromise, but I wouldn’t use it solo for container gardening since it is heavy on nitrogen doesn’t have a good balance of nutrients.

Leaf Mold. Leaf mold is leaves halfway to compost, and has a horrible name, but it’s a lovely thing to use as a mulch – soft, dark brown, weed-free, and a great boost to soil fertility. Leaf mold decays more quickly than shredded bark mulch, but it adds much more to the health of your soil. If you have an established perennial bed and/or shrubs that aren’t doing so well, I highly recommend mulching them with leaf mold for a couple years. Last I knew you can get it from Nowak Brothers in Millis (781-449-3825).

Composters. Many towns nowadays sell simple composters at a discounted price, so if that’s what you want check with your Town Hall or DPW. In my opinion, the best composter on the market is the double-barrel rotating composter from Mantis. It turns easily, with its handle at a normal standing height, so you can keep the compost well-aerated. It has two bins, so you fill one up and let it cook while you fill the other one, then empty the first and start over again. (If you optimize conditions, it really can make finished compost in less than two months – I’ve done so. Usually, though, conditions aren’t optimal and cooking takes longer.) It’s made out of metal, so critters simply can’t get into it. It isn’t cheap, but it’s durable and good-looking, as composters go.

Seed-Starting Supplies …

Grow Lights. If you want to start your own plants, supplemental light is usually necessary for healthy and vigorous seedlings. All you need is one or more fluorescent fixtures suspended above a surface that holds trays. Shop around (make sure to include Gardeners’ Supply Company), or make it yourself. Adjustable heights are handy. Plant lights (as opposed to regular fluorescent lights) may make a difference or may not, but having plenty of light is key.

Seed Starting Trays. Bottom watering and humidity domes (or plastic wrap) are essential for starting seeds indoors. Wicking systems are convenient but not necessary, and make it difficult to provide bottom heat. Look around at Fedco, Johnny’s Seeds, and Gardeners’ Supply Company, as well as your local hardware stores, to see what fits your space and your budget.

Heat Mat. If you want to start peppers or eggplants indoors, a source of bottom heat is essential to warm the soil to their germinating temperature. Tomato seeds appreciate bottom heat too, but it isn’t essential if you keep your house near 70 degrees. Do you have a nice big flat piece of electronic equipment that you’re willing to water a seedling tray on top of? If not, consider a heat mat (which tends to run a ridiculous $40 or so) or heat lamp (unconventional, but clamp it well, about a foot under the seedling tray, and it does the job much more cheaply). Once the seedlings have sprouted you they longer need the bottom heat, so you’ll be using electricity for only a few days. Most other seedlings do not need bottom heat at all.

Soil Thermometer. Knowing the temperature of the soil takes the guesswork out of planting and transplanting times. A thermometer is especially recommended if you want to grow beans, since they need a soil temperature of at least 70 degrees to germinate, rather than rot, and it’s easy to be over-enthusiastic and plant them too early.

Other Specific Items …

Bean Tower. I grow peas and cucumbers on it too. Use twine that is safe to compost, and at the end of the season you can just cut everything down and toss it all in the compost pile. Go to Park Seed and search for “bean tower.” Park Seed also has other useful plant supports, so it’s worth browsing to see whether something matches your needs and aesthetics.

Tomato Cages. I grow my tomato plants on a pair of Tomato Support Cages from Gardeners’ Supply Company stacked on top of each other and wired together.

Tree Irrigator. Many young trees die or fail to flourish because they don’t get enough water in their first year or two. The best solution is an irrigation bag or tube that you fill up regularly and then let the water seep into the soil. Lee Valley Tools has a couple of options.

Aqua Cones. These simple devices turn a plastic soda bottle into a water reservoir that helps get water into the soil and a plant’s roots, rather than running away or evaporating at the surface. Find them at Gardeners’ Supply Company.

Cloches. A good way to protect seedlings from cold and animals. I recommend item # ED903 from Lee Valley Tools.

Raised Beds. I recommend using composite lumber made from recycled plastic to make raised beds, since it is durable and non-toxic. I got a system from Home Depot in 2008; so far so good.

Self-Watering Planters. Container gardens need to be watered frequently – at least every day in hot weather – so if planters with water reservoirs can be well worth the money. Check out the selection at Gardeners’ Supply Company.

Watering Can. Buy locally and look for a can that does not have a sharp ridge of plastic under the handle. Or file down the ridge on a cheaper can. But makes sure it feels comfortable in your hand.

Gardeners Paper. Newspaper does much the same thing, and it’s fine to use newspaper as a mulch as long as you omit the glossy pages. But gardeners’ paper is tougher and looks less informal. Check current prices at Pinetree and Fedco. (Pinetree is generally a good source for things that are supposed to be cheap, but don’t buy anything that is supposed to be expensive from them.)

Corn Gluten. A by-product from the manufacture of corn syrup, corn gluten is a natural pre-emergent weed killer that is also a high-nitrogen fertilizer for established plants. (In other words, it does a good job at killing seeds just as they are sprouting, but does no harm to older plants, or to bees, butterflies, birds, etc.) Spread it around shortly before unwanted seeds germinate in the spring and fall. Just make sure you don’t spread it anywhere you want seeds to sprout in the next 60-90 days. You can purchase a 50 lb bag from Fedco (enough for 2500 square feet) for $60. Maybe find a friend and share?

Milky Spore Disease and other biological controls. One of the most comprehensive sources for organic pest control, fertilizers, etc., is Gardens Alive. It doesn’t always have the best prices, or the most detailed information about what exactly is in its products, but it’s generally considered reliable. Milky Spore Disease (a bacterial infection of Japanese Beetle grubs) may also be available locally. It’s never cheap, but if you apply it once it will reduce the grub population in your soil for years or decades. (You’ll never have no grubs, no matter what you do, but if there are few enough they don’t do much harm. If you treat with milky spore disease, you’ll occasionally find grubs that have an opaque milky white color. Leave them alone: they are incubators for the disease, and you want them to keep growing so they infect other grubs.)

In general, though, my approach to plant diseases and pests is to keep the plants healthy, and then they can fight off problems themselves. It’s like people – all of us get a cold sometime, but when you’re run down you’re more likely to get a flu, or to have flu turn into pneumonia. If you give your plants lots of compost, they’ll get the occasional plant-cold, but it probably won’t get too bad.

One exception is tomato hornworms: keep an eye out for these monsters and pluck them off your plants if you see them!

Where to purchase:

Seeds

Plants

Spring Bulbs