Prepare for 2013 growing season

Choose from eight varieties of sweet and hot peppers.

The 2013 M R Gardens plant list for summer gardening is now available! This spring I'm offering 40+ varieties of tomatoes, peppers, tomatillos, culinary herbs and beneficial flowers. Seedlings are sold in 3-in. x 3-in. containers when they are at a strong size for ease of transplanting.

Please request a plant list and order form by emailing me at gardens@wncmretc.com. Orders are due by Monday, March 18, and seedlings will be ready for you to plant in early May. Photographs of some of the plants and produce can be viewed on the M R Gardens Facebook page. Click on the photograph to view the caption, which usually mentions the variety.

I try to respond to special requests for your favorite varieties. If you have good luck with a variety that you don't see on the list, let me know and I'll let you know if I can offer it.

Heirloom Sweet Big Red pepper

This spring I’m focusing on selling the vegetable seedlings that absolutely have to be grown as transplants while encouraging customers to direct seed crops that do just as well when sewn right into the garden. You can direct seed early spring crops such as root crops, mixed salad and other greens, as well as summer crops such as squash and okra. For customers seeking a tutorial on direct seeding, I am offering a special on my garden coaching services March through mid-June. Look here details.

In mid-summer, I plan on selling seedlings for your fall garden such as kale, broccoli, cabbage, leeks, parsley, and spinach, to be transplanted in August. At that time of year, the hot weather makes direct seeding less feasible for temperature finicky crops like spinach. With a little bit of help from season extension techniques, you can be eating your garden's greens into late winter. The fall plant list will be available in mid-May.

Four types of basil

Get updates on plant sales and gardening services in M R Gardens newsletters, which has information about this year's products and services, tips for making your life in the garden manageable, and reflections from my time in the garden and in horticulture school. If you don't already receive it, please sign up by clicking the "Subscribe" link at the top of this page.

M R Gardens solely uses organic potting soils, pest control methods and fertilizers. Plants are sold on a sliding scale to ensure the availability of healthily grown plants to all layers of the community. I trade seeds with Appalachian growers or buy from companies that have taken the Council for Responsible Genetics Safe Seed Pledge.

First tomato of 2012 in mid-June

Growing space is limited at this time, so please order as soon as possible to reserve your plants! I look forward to helping you create a bountiful backyard this summer.