I usually reserve my every-other-Friday off for shopping. Today I hit both Target and Home Depot looking for a few items. While Target disappointed for gardening supplies, they had some outdoor furniture that looked tempting. I'm hesitant to start buying such items not knowing whether I'll stay in this apartment long term and decent sized balconies are scarce in Alexandria.
Home Depot had what I was looking for. I'll probably end up making another trip for more planters or pots but I wanted to start with the bare minimum. I purchased a 32-quart package of organic potting soil, two window box style plastic planters, some bamboo stakes which I can cut in half, and some basic gardening tools such as a small rake and a trowel. The trowels were missing barcode stickers so she asked me how much it was and I told her. Later when I looked at my receipt, I realized she never rang it up. Free $4 trowels at the Springfield, VA HD if you get the same girl at the register!
I haven't bought a pair of gardening gloves and cutters. I just can't see myself paying $10 for a cheap pair of gloves from China or $20 for cutters, also made in China. Had they looked better quality, I'd consider it. In the mean time, I can live without both.
All this was precipitated by the fact that the pea plants are choking each other. Since they have nothing else to grab onto, their little tendrils (tentacles) are lacing around each other. It took me a while to untangled them this morning.
Tomorrow's game plan is to get the pea plants into a 24 inch window sill planter. It may be thin enough to fit on my window ledge, if not, it will go outside on the balcony with the plants covered in soda plastic bottle cloches. My other goal is to start planting tomato seeds and eggplants. I'll be trying each in both the plastic cell trays and the soil blocks for a small scientific experiment.
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