Given the climbing price of food, I’m looking to expand the household vegetable garden this year beyond the seeds that we planted back in February. We’ve looked around, but the few places we’ve checked are devoid of organic labeling. Organic isn’t a particularly big deal to me in the food that I buy, but the stuff that grows in my own garden I like to keep away from the ol’ Miracle Grow. Can anybody suggest a nursery in the area where I could stock on up tomatoes, basil, cucumbers, etc?
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I don’t know if they have organic or not, but you may want to give Millmont Greenhouse over here in Stuarts Draft a call. They have a TON of stuff and they may have organic options being out here in the country.
Try going to the Charlottesville Farmers Market on Saturday morning. Talk to the folks at Waterpenny Farm (from Rappahannock), who are regular vendors. They’ve got plenty of vegetable seedlings and, although I don’t believe that they’re certified organic, I think you’ll be satisfied with their farming practices. They don’t use any chemical pesticides or fertilizers.
(Maybe you could pick up some local strawberries for me, while you’re there?)
FWIW, I don’t care at all about “certified” organic. I’m perfectly happy to have somebody tell me “well, I stuck it in the ground, I watered it, I put some horse manure on it, and now it’s for sale.” I’d never heard of Millmont Greenhouse, but I’d be happy to take a trip over to Stuarts Draft if they can hook me up.
Have you not had any luck finding such at City Market? While they might not be certified as such, there are definitely organically grown seedlings there for all of the plant types you listed, including heirloom varieties. Plus you can often find out how a plant was grown directly from the folks who stuck the seed in the dirt in the first place.
I was going to say Waterpenny Farm too. The actual farm is in Sperryville, but they come to the City Market and sell a wide variety of heirloom tomatoes, so you might be able to get seedlings from them too. IMO, Waterpenny Farm has the best tomatoes at the City Market. They sell other things too.
Then you definitely need to make the trip. I have a close friend that lives in Greene County and is a gardening NUT and she drives all the way from Greene to Millmont to buy the things she covets most.
You want to talk to the folks at Radical Roots. They definitely are organic. Not certified but they are Permaculture Trainers. They are near Harrisonburg and are at City Farmer’s Market Every Saturday a couple of booths down from the Market Manager. These folks know what they are doing. They train interns in the Permaculture and organic way of things. They’ve got the plants and the produce. No I don’t work for them and don’t get a cut but I have purchased a lot of things from them, have been at talks they have given and have a friend who studied at their farm with them for a year and has nothing but great things to say about this family operation. Look em up!
As an avid gardener, I’d suggest the Farmer’s Market first. Lowe’s is another possibility, but check over the plants carefully. Millmont in Stuarts Draft has amazing plants, including a nice selection of different tomatoes.
doesn’t burning all that gas to get to stuarts draft kind of make the whole thing a little less organic? how about buying some seeds and letting the mail truck drop them off at your house?
My concern isn’t fuel use, it’s the safety and healthfulness of the food that I’m putting into my body. “Organic” provides no necessary benefits w/r/t reduced fossil fuel usage.
But you are right that it would be goofy to drive clear to Stuart’s Draft just to buy plants. Both my wife and I have family there, so we could visit them. We could go to Perfect Flavor and buy a pint of ice cream. I’ve been meaning to get together with Brent, of hburgnews.com, so I could circle over to Harrisonburg to visit. And I hear that there’s a great BBQ joint by the entrance to Massanutten. I’m sure I could fit that in somehow.
Now that I think about it, it sounds like I’ve got a pretty good day mapped out here. :)
We went to Millmont Greenhouse on Saturday. It was totally great. Thanks so much for the recommendation!