Shopping without a car - Part 2 - The Garden

I've been meaning to write this post for months but am now only getting around to it - garden shopping without a car.

A few friends have asked how do I shop for the garden without a car. It's a fair question. Many garden related purchases are big, too big to carry around: bags of potting mix and fertilizer, bales of pea-straw and mulches, advanced trees and plants. It's easy though, much easier than you would expect. Catalogue and online ordering of garden products. I'm a big fan of this method. I've been a big fan even before we got rid of the car mainly because nurseries that offer a mail-order service a much bigger, better and healthier range of plants available than what you would find at your local nursery. Here are a few of my favourite ones:

Lambley Nursery: My neighbour introduced me to this nursery and I am so glad she did. Lambley is my absolute favourite of all the nurseries I purchase from. They specialise in drought tolerant perennials and their range is fabulous. If you still want a cottage type garden in these water-restricted times, this is the nursery to purchase from. They are located at Ascot, which is near Ballarat, and so experience extreme cold and heat. Only plants that flourish in their 'dry garden' under these conditions are made available for sale. Have a look at their online catalogue and be inspired. They also post out catalogues, four times a year I think. I love reading them for David Glenn's description of the plants alone. The plants come in decent sized pots so if you don't get around to planting them straight away, they will survive in the pots for a few weeks.

Diggers Club: The Diggers Club have been around for a while now and have lead the way in promoting drought tolerant plants and heritage seed varieties. They also have a wide range of hardware that they mail out, such as potting mix, garden shoes, garden utensils, hats, watering devices, drip hoses...it's endless. There website has recently been upgraded and is much easier to navigate if you are ordering online. They also post out six catalogues a year, which also contain some interesting gardening articles. I order quite a bit from Diggers. There plants come in tubes and need to be put in the ground fairly soon after you receive them, otherwise they dry out quite quickly. An interesting variety of plants are available from them and there are always some new varieties introduced with each catalogue.

My most recent delivery of Diggers' plants

The boxes that they arrived in

Tesselaar: Tesselaar's have been around for years and years. I remember my mother receiving their catalogue when I was a child, and wishing we one day we could go to the tulip festival theyhold in spring but alas, we didn't have a car when I was child so that day trip never happened.

They still send out catalogues but they've also brought themselves into the 21st century and now offer an online service. They have a range of plants and bulbs, including tulips for which they are most famous. I like the collections that Tesselaar offer, where they bundle up varieties of a plant, enabling you to try out a few different ones. This year I bought my tomatoes from them, 'Aussie Tomato Collection' and 'Heirloom Tomatoes Collection'.


Hancock's Daffodils: I reckon these are the people to buy daffodils from. They are not the cheapest available but their bulbs are big and healthy, and the quality of their bulbs is world renowned. When we visited their farm this spring I met a gentleman from California who regularly visited them to see the spring display and until recently imported his bulbs from Hancock's because of their wonderful international reputation. I have been ordering from them for the past three years and have never been disappointed. They offer a wide variety of daffodils, older and more modern breeds, and will identify from a photograph if necessary. They have available other bulbs besides daffodils and there are two catalogues per year sent out.

Some photos from our trip to Hancock's Daffodil Farm this spring.

Now finally, how do I get all that mulch, fertiliser and those bags of potting mix to my home? It's delivered by the wonderful people at Andrew's Stockfeed. I must confess, when we first got rid of the car I was concerned about how I would get these products back to the house. I think on my first weekend without the car I asked the staff of Andrew's Stockfeed if they delivered, and if you purchase $40+ of goods they do. Again on advice of a neighbour, I found this store and have been buying from here for a couple of years, mainly the mulch and fertilisers. So it was great to find out that they would deliver. There is absolutely no way a garden, particularly a vegie garden, can survive in these hot summers subject to water restrictions without mulch. I order a variety of mulches for the garden, depending on my mood and bank balance! Pea straw is cheapest, and I usually use this for the vegie garden. I buy lucerne, which is a bit more expensive but nicer looking, for the flower beds and tress.

Andrew's Stockfeed
165 Sydney Road
Coburg
9386-0326

And there you have it. How I garden without a car.