Best place to buy starter herbs for my patio...

We enjoy growing our own herbs and small veggies every year. I know it’s early in the season, but where do you like to shop for starter seeds, herbs and plants in West/Conn. Don’t mind taking a drive…

Gilberties in Westport CT

Thanks, jfood. We will visit Gilberties. We also like to stop at Terrain in Westport for some coffee and browsing…

Looks really nice but a 45 minute hike for me. There must be someplace in Westchester that’s good. There is a really nice nursery in Pound Ridge - but I bet they are pricey.

The Pound Ridge Nursery is somewhat pricey, but so is everything here. They are the only ones that carry the Dahlias I like though.

I walked around there once. Beautiful stuff.

I do some serious container gardening on my back deck and south side of my house. Usually 6-8 herbs, 20 types of hot chile peppers, several Asian style eggplants, and 5-6 types of heirloom and cherry tomatoes, and a few other things each year. All told around 100 plants each year. All in three gallon planters.

I have had great luck with the herbs and veggie plants I get at Home Depot. I have never been disappointed. And the liquid fish emulsion fertilizer I get there is amazing. I had 10" tall tomato plants the last two years, that produced like crazy.

I also order chiles, tomatoes, and eggplants (that’s all they carry) from chileplants.com when I want special, exotic, and very high quality strains of those veggies.

Sounds great, JMF. And thanks for the tips! We also enjoy working our small patio…

Took a drive to Westport on Sunday and stopped by Gilbertie’s Herbgardens. It was our first time thanks to this board and it was great. Although it is early in the season, they already stocked more herbs and related plants than I have seen anywhere, so far. Terrain came up a bit short, but their restaurant was hopping…

Visited Westchester Farms on Hartsdale Ave. and picked up our first round of starter herbs. Their stock all looked hearty…

At the Earth Day festival in Ossining this past weekend they had a lot of starter herbs and veggies for sale. I didn’t know they would-- next year I will definitely take advantage of this. At least one of the vendors uses seeds from the Hudson Valley seed library which has lots of cool heirloom varieties.

Also in Ossining, Teatown will be having their plant sale on May 12&13 and will have seedlings for sale… Flowers, herbs, and vegetables.

I also like the nursery on 133 in Ossining. The name escapes me. It’s run by an Italian couple and has been there a long time. We’ve always had luck with their flower and herb seedlings and they have some fantastic Italian pots and pottery.

Rosedale Nursery in Hawthorne had a nice selection last weekend, although they are Bonnie brand, which is the same brand you can buy at Home Depot for half the price. They have a gorgeous selection of trees and shrubs, too, although they are very expensive. I have heard great things about Pound Ridge as well, and a place called High Ridge near Stamford, CT.

I’m starting most of my herbs and peppers from seed this year but depending on my success rate I may go back to potted starts next year.

@biondanonima I stopped by Rosedale about two weeks ago and it was like an abandoned ghost town. Did they just open for the season? It was so creepy I felt like I was in a horror movie. Abandoned greenhouses, cars but no people around, and not one plant to be seen. It was so odd…

They must just have opened in the last couple of weeks. It was hopping on Sunday - the checkout line was stretched all the way around the building. Their selection of shrubs is really incredible. There’s another nursery just north of Rosedale on Sawmill River Rd. that IS out of business (or hasn’t opened for the season) and it does look incredibly creepy, sitting empty like that!

Maybe I was at the wrong place!!

For a while this season we could not find nasturtium at any of our local garden centers. While on a recent trip we visited a local farmers market in Wells, Maine on opening day and there it was at one of the booths. It was early into our stay so we were not sure whether to buy it and take care of the plant for the remainder of the week, but we did. We even brought it into the rooms where we stayed and nurtured it near the windows.
The good news: we finally got our Maine nasturtium home and it is growing nice and hearty on our patio…