Value-added transplants

A quick trip to a local big-box home supply store required an initial detour through the garden center's display of vegetables and herbs (not the point of the excursion!) It looked like there were more plants than the last time I visited.

I wasn't surprised with the array of hardy kale, cabbage, and other transplants. Even the herb varieties offered up looked OK, although cilantro and arugula transplants are decidedly unsuited to the warm spring weather that's just around the corner here.

But I've got to give the transplant producing company credit for being proactive and imaginative; they had snap pea transplants (!) for sale (also labeled as sweet peas...), onion plants in 6-packs, and a number of other things that I hadn't seen offered before in previous seasons. Now snow peas are very easy to sow directly, and best grown that way, but geez, what a clever idea to try to get folks to buy a 6-pack for more than the price of a packet of seeds? They were attractive, too; they might even grow well if very gently and quickly transplanted.

Less reasonable were the bean plants (it's still a month until our last frost date). They're not likely to be successful if planted out now, and neither will the cucumber and squash plants also on offer. The Mr. Stripey tomatoes (and all the regular Early Girl sorts) looked nice enough now, having recently been delivered from warm greenhouses, but wouldn't be happy in the currently cold, wet soil, not to mention air temperatures below 50° F. This is simply value-added marketing at work.

I felt like nabbing Mr. Stripey and bringing him home to put on the heating mat under grow lights for the next month. Oh, dear.

I'm glad that the main producers are providing a greater variety of transplants, and maybe encouraging beginning gardeners, but do wish that plants were provided at the right time to plant! To their credit, the info on their (the producers) website is decent.

Thinking about transplants

Um, I love to look at seed catalogs, and seeds are really CHEAP, as hobbies go. I've been cataloging mine in a spreadsheet (an uncharacteristic activity) to see what I have to grow as transplants for an upcoming Garden event to encourage people to grow some of their own vegetables.

We represent lots of partners: the SC Botanical Garden, Upstate Locavores, CU's Sustainable Ag program, CU's Home and Garden Information Center, SC Master Gardeners, and local community groups.

This will be a free event, with lots of info about how to grow vegetables (as a revived Victory Garden sort of thing). Many Americans are enthused about giving vegetable gardening a try; I'm seeing much more interest now. Hooray.

But, here's the list (uh, I did say I like seeds, right). Donating these seeds or transplants gives me the opportunity to buy more. Hmm, and I'll probably be enticed to buy transplants to support the cause, too! Not a bad thing.

What a nice list to contemplate.

Vegetables for transplant:

Cucumber
Ashley Cucumber
Italian cucumber (Lungo Della Cina)
Kiwano (African Horned Cucumber)
Sweet Armenian
Armenian

Eggplant
Fairy Tale Eggplant
Millionaire Eggplant
Thai Light Green round
Thai Long Green (Elephant Tusk)
Lao Green Stripe
Lao White

Kohlrabi
Early White Vienna
Purple Vienna
Dyna Giant Purple

Okra
Hill Country Heirloom Red OKRA
Burgundy Okra

Peppers
Ancho San Martin Hybrid Pepper
Pizza Pepper
Corno Di Toro Red Pepper
Carmen Hybrid Pepper
Red Cherry (Cherry Sweet) Pepper
Carolina Wonder Bell Pepper
Ashe County Pimento Pepper
Corno di Toro Mix
Southwestern Chile Trio
Pizza My Heart (container sweet pepper)
Gambo

Summer Squash
Portofino Squash
Trombonciono Squash
Tromboncino Squash
Thai Serpent
Zucchino Rampicante (Zucca d'Albenga)
Eight-Ball Zucchini
Trombetta di Albenga
Ronde de Nice
Baby Round Zucchini
Petrowski

Winter Squash
Thai Small Pumpkin
Green striped cushaw
Chiriman
Greek Sweet Red
Thema Sander's Sweet Potato
Menina Rajada Seca

Swiss Chard
French
Golden Sunrise
Perpetual Spinach
Ruby Red
Barese
Erbette

Tomato
Big Beef Hybrid Tomato
Black Heirloom Tomato
Mortgage Lifter Tomato
Quick Pick Hybrid Tomato
Brandywine Heirloom Tomato
Super Marzano Tomato
Italian Goliath Hybrid Tomato
Big Bite Hybrid Tomato
Small Fry Hybrid Tomato
Miroma Hybrid Tomato
Sweet Chelsea Hybrid Tomato
Sweet Cluster Hybrid Tomato
Tomosa Hybrid Tomato
Fourth of July Hybrid
Tomato Heat Wave
Roma 'Pompeii'
Green Zebra
Early Girl Hybrid
Rio Grande

Tomatillo
Purple Coban
Pueblo Verde

Herbs
Profuma di Genova Basil
Cilantro Santo
Cilantro
Cilantro Slo-Bolt
Smokey Bronze Fennel
Maresilles Basil
Sweet Purple
Dill 'Mammoth'
Giante d'Italia
Sweet Curly Parsley
Borage
Thai Basil