Shopping Local: CT Garvins

I remember when I worked for the student newspaper, The Exponent, at UAH; that I wrote an article about carving pumpkins and where you should get it. I visited CT Garvins, one of the places I highly recommended buying pumpkins since they were the least expensive and closest to campus. I wish I had my camera with me but sadly it was left at home. I managed to pick out from the wide selection of bulk seeds, some for Mom and Marc to plant in the garden this year.


Now, I still would like to emphasize why its important to shop local. One, you are supporting the community an more than like receive better prices on some items or better quality to store brand. Two, gain some knowledge that you would not have otherwise when going through a self check out line.

In this case, I picked up 1/4lb + 1oz worth of seeds for  $4.09 (before taxes)
Rattlesnake Pole Bean
Buttercrunch lettuce
Green Salad Blend
Swiss Chard
Dwarf Okra

A lot of seeds for a good price if you ask me. They also had a good selection of seeds specific to this area. Which is awesome because sometimes, you may purchase seeds from a seed company that wont do as good as expected in the area. Sometimes you do have the unexpected, boss fruit yield because that year was a good growing season. And they also were very nice and helpful when asked some questions. I was going to get some burgundy okra but he suggested the dwarf okra if you didn't want a super tall variety and spineless. So, going to give that one a try. 

So far, the Okra and pole beans will have to be started probably around April 10th outdoors. So, I can't plan them in the yard for Mom and Marc but the lettuce found a home and the Swiss Chard will end up on the front porch. Now, if I wanted I could plant the okra much sooner in Austin because they growing season starts earlier.

Funny thing, I found what I presumed to be annoying gumball trees growing in the flower bed. And I pulled one up and the seed looked like an almond, that isn't right. And on further investigation, I discovered that in deed it was a tree but not from a tree in our yard. A few years ago, Grandma gave us a big bucket of peaches that we made cobbler with and preserves. Not thinking about it, they got dumped in the compost bin. Two years later, the compost bin was dumped out into the flower beds because it was falling apart and we needed to buy a new one.

So, I have two peach trees growing there.May need to move them into some pots and transplant them to another place in the yard. I sorta would like to take one back to texas though not sure how it will do in transit on the 2nd move when Kalen gets his job after college. We'll see...