My ILs came up yesterday and while FIL worked on K’s car with him (that monstrosity [ok, it’s a Chevy Impala, not THAT big of a monstrosity :)] is over 200,000 miles now and we want to keep it going as long as possible), the MIL and I headed over to Pigliavento’s to see if they had any heirloom strawberry plants.
We got there and it was totally dead. I had called and the answering machine said they were open until 5pm on Saturdays, but there was NO ONE there. And it was gray and looked like it might rain, but that didn’t explain the total ghost town. There was no sign saying they were closed.
But this is why I love local businesses. We marched around the front of the farmhouse knocking on the front and then the back doors, no answer. The back door was in fact OPEN, we could have totally raided their house if we wanted to.
All of the greenhouses were open. We could have helped ourselves to any number of plants, had we wanted to.
(Ok, I come from downstate NY, just north of NYC. You gotta understand – this level of trust with strangers – customers- is unheard of to me).
I decided to keep walking around the farm until I found someone. And way in the back, next to a black pickup truck I found the owner of the farm. He told us they weren’t officially opened until next week, but he’d sell us whatever plants we want to right now for last year prices. Score! Talk about pleasing your customers.
Of course, the next remark out of his mouth I wasn’t too pleased with. I asked him if he had any heirloom strawberries, and in a mocking voice, wryly asked me what the hell heirloom strawberries were. It was clearly a jab towards organic gardening, and I didn’t appreciate it. Still, he redeemed himself somewhat by telling me in passing (i.e. without me having to ask) that he doesn’t like using pesticides.
So I bought 4 plants @ $2.30 a piece. They are everbearing strawberries, but I honestly don’t know if they’re organic or heirloom…sigh…he was bitter about people buying strawberries that came from California in the supermarket, so that gives me hope that they’re at least one or the other.
I also bought a gorgeous blue delphinium for our pots out back on the deck.
4 strawberry plants and one delphinium!
I hope to get the strawberry plants into the ground today as it is gorgeous out!
We’re also going to check out Gade Farm today to see if they have any heirloom plants. If so, I’ll just plant some of the ones I got from Pigliavento’s in pots instead. I can’t wait to get going! Now I just need the hubby to wake up!
Filed under: Gardening | Tagged: blue delphinum, everbearing strawberries, Gade Farm, Pigliaventos, strawberry plants | 1 Comment »
Chelle
Little House on the Great Flats 