Mhays wrote:ISO organic gardening supplies - specifically live beneficial nematodes? I hate to pay shipping when I need such a small amount - the back 40 inches apparently has Cabbage worms, which will move on from our lone cabbage plant and get my beets, radishes, and carrots. Nematodes are apparently one of the few defenses.

Have you tried Gethsemane? I was just there this afternoon and thought I say a sign at the registered that they have these.

Hi- I stopped in at Anton's several weeks ago, and they had some vegetable seedlings growing in their greenhouse. They were not quite ready to plant in your garden, but they might be now. They had lettuce and broccoli plants for sure, and maybe some zucchini squash plants. They probably had some other ones too, but I forget which ones. Unless you live in the neighborhood, I would call first, to make sure that they are ready to be planted.

Anton's is my favorite greenhouse, and their quality is excellent. There prices are also very reasonable. They have been in business since 1947. They are located on a residential street two blocks W of Dempster/Dodge.

I cringe when I go to Home Depot in Evanston during gardening season, and see all kinds of people buying their tomato plants there, for a whole lot more money than Anton's. Anton's quality is much better than Home Depot's too, and they actually give lots of helpful advice.

Anton's Greenhouse
1126 Pitner Ave.
Evanston, IL 60202
847-864-1134

Hope this helps, Nancy

Thanks for the tip, I love patronizing the little guy and saving money. I plan to try them out.

I was just in Anton's again on Thursday, and they had lettuce, broccoli, swiss chard, zucchini, cucumber and endive plants ready to plant in your garden. The zucchini and cucumber plants are kind of late to plant, but the lettuce and swiss chard I would have no problems with. They had more lettuce than anything else. They are kind of hidden, so you might have to ask where
they are. They were priced at $1 for one plant, and $1.80 for a 4 pack. I would call before I drove over there. In August they are not open as many hours. They have all their other plants, such as their flowers and herb plants on sale right now. They are located 2 blocks W of Dempster and Dodge. Hope this helps, Nancy

Anton's Greenhouse
1126 Pitner Ave.
Evanston, IL 60202
(847) 864-1134

This is a good weekend to hit your local nurseries, to stock up on bulbs for later planting, and to take advantage of sales on shrubs and perennials for immediate planting. Gethsemane in Andersonville is having a Sidewalk Sale both today and tomorrow, and Chalet in Wilmette is sponsoring a day-long educational event today, the "Chalet Landscape Experience." The latter started at 6AM, so get going!

Bumping looking for an update.

Specifically, does anyone know where to get the best deal on potting mix in the city or near north suburbs? I built 8 DIY Earthboxes out of 18 gallon Rubbermaid containers and I need to fill them with potting mix. I'm wondering if there is anywhere to get this in bulk since 2 cubic ft seem to be about $10 at the places I've looked. I'm fearing that this is going to be a much more expensive endeavor than I anticipated.

Did you try Buy the Yard, which I posted about on the previous page?

Buy the Yard
www.buytheyardinc.com
2215 Main Street
Evanston, IL 60202-1543
(847) 733-0635

Oh yeah, I guess I should have specified that it would still need to be in bags because they are located on the roof.

Also, Buy the Yard doesn't have a 'traditional' potting mix that is recommended/required for Earthboxes.

I finally made my way to Anton's in Evanston, and I am so grateful to the people on this board, for I never would have known about this gem of a place. I love thriving businesses nestled in residential neighborhoods, coexisting peacefully with neighbors and serving a need. What a find for us, thanks to all!

Hi- I know there are quite a few people here that live in the Evanston area, and so I thought I would post this. When I went to the Jewel on Chicago Avenue in Evanston on Sunday, I noticed that they had all their bags of manure, potting soil, and mushroom compost marked down to $1 a bag. I ended up going back there a few hours later and getting four bags of mushroom compost. I just stopped at the store again today, and got four more bags of mushroom compost, and they still had tons of manure, potting soil and compost left.

BTW- While I was at the Evanston farmer's market this last Saturday, I got three pots of cinnamon basil from John First for $1 a pot. I also got three larger pots of basil to make pesto for a total of $10 too. They were B2G1F. Hope this helps, Nancy

Hi- I was at the Jewel on Chicago Avenue again Thursday night, and they had at least 50 bags of mushroom compost still available for $1 a bag, as well as lots of manure. I have already gotten 8 bags of mushroom compost, and I will have to decide if I want to go back to get four more. I drove by the Jewel on Greenbay in Wilmette today, and they still had their mushroom compost on sale for $3.99 a bag, and they also had a big pile of it.

I have heard that the Jewel in Park Ridge on Busse has their mushroom compost for $.99, if anybody lives out that way.

I also went to the Evanston farmer's market this morning, and got another 4" pot of cinnamon basil for $1 from John First, and I got 3 quarts of strawberries marked down to $10. I love strawberries, and I am either going to make some strawberry pancakes or strawberry muffins.

Hi- I know it is kind of late in the season, but I just ran across this thread again. For people that are looking for organic potting soil, I would recommend Promix, which I pick up at Menard's in Morton Grove, although I am sure most of the other Menard's carries it. I use it to plant my herbs and flowers on my condo balcony. A lot of people ove on Gardenweb just rave about this stuff, and that is how I learned about it.

As far as nursery's go, my favorite is Anton's in Evanston, which has been in business for over 60 yearrs. They have tons of veggie plants, including many heirloom tomato plants. Starting in the beginning of August they sell some fall veggie plants that they have started in the greenhouse. They usually have collards, broccoli, lettuce, and some other greens. Most of what Gary Anton cannot raise himself, he gets from his brother that has a huge greenhouse somewhere in Southern Wisconsin, near Kenosha I believe. The staff in general is really knowledgeable, and especially Gary. The only time the person helping me out, could not answer my question, was when I was asking her about hot peppers. I wanted to know how hot a particular variety was. She ended up asking one of the Mexicans that works there, and they were able to tell me. They are way more knowledgeable, and way cheaper than Home Depot on Oakton. When I was in Home Depot around a month ago, I saw a woman with a tomato plant in her hand that she was thinking about buying, and it was $14.95. I went up to her and told her about Anton's, which she had never heard of. I said that their tomato plants were way cheaper than that. Before I approached her, she was considering asking if HD would sell her the plant for 1/2 price, which would still be too much money, because it was not in really good condition. She was not familiar with Evanston, and so I don't know if she found Anton's. It is kind of hidden. I see people buying tomato plants all the time at HD, and I just want to scream.

I got a few organic plants at the Evanston farmer's market back in May from Terrra Brockman too. She has really good stuff, but she is not cheap. She charges $6 per plant, and I wait until she marks it down to B1G1F before I buy anything from her. I also got some cinnamon basil plants from John First for $1 a plant. They are 4" pots. He still had some for sale last Saturday.

Finally it is not organic, but the Jewel on Chicago Avenue still has a ton of mushroom compost, manure, top soil and potting soil for $1 a bag. I believe most of the bags are 40 pounds. The mushroom compost was originally $3.99. Last time I was there on Tuesday, they had at least 50 bags of mushroom compost left, and even more manure. The Jewel on Green Bay in WIlmette is still selling their mushroom compost for $3.99 a bag.

Anton's Greenhouses
1126 Pitner
Evanston, IL
847-864-1134.

They are South of Dempster, about half way between Dodge and McCormick. Hope this helps, Nancy

I also got some cinnamon basil plants from John First for $1 a plant. They are 4" pots. He still had some for sale last Saturday.

I picked up a couple pots of what were labeled as 'Red Rubin' basil, though they were green. I suspected that they were another variety - and I was right, which made me very happy. Thai! I go through a boatload of Thai basil every summer, so a third big pot of it for two measly bucks is a fabulous bargain.

If you make jam or can tomatoes, ALWAYS stroll by First at about noon on market day. They have fabulous bargains on very nice fruit!

Hi- I was in the Wilmette Jewel on Green Bay around noon today, and their mushroom compost now is down to $.99 a bag, and their miracle grow potting soil is $2.49 a bag. They did have manure for $.67 a bag, but it looks like they are all sold out.

They had three huge basil plants for $10 at the Evanston farmer's market at First Orchards, which also had zucchini 10/$1. They still had a ton of it left at 12:30. So many people either don't like zucchini, or don't know what to do with it. Somebody else had all their greens including red russian kale for $1 a bunch.

Hi- Does anybody know where I can get Pro Mix potting soil? I used to get it at Menard's in Morton Grove, but that location does not have it right now.

I would have posted this on garden web, but I don't care for their forum since houzz took them over a few years ago. Does anybody know of any other gardening forums they would recommend? Thanks, Nancy

NFriday wrote:Hi- Does anybody know where I can get Pro Mix potting soil? I used to get it at Menard's in Morton Grove, but that location does not have it right now.

I would have posted this on garden web, but I don't care for their forum since houzz took them over a few years ago. Does anybody know of any other gardening forums they would recommend? Thanks, Nancy

Both Lowe’s and Home Depot carry it. Call first. Here’s the store locator = https://www.promixgardening.com/en-us/store-locator

NFriday wrote:They had three huge basil plants for $10 at the Evanston farmer's market at First Orchards,

Trader Joe's has their potted basil for $3.99. Huge plants; much better than the tiny seedlings the garden centers sell for roughly the same price. I popped a couple in the ground last week and they're thriving.

I have found that Home Depot's web site is pretty good at giving inventory and location of a product in a particular store. Sometimes locations are shifted without having the system updated. The web site seems to use the same database as is used in the hand-held devices carried by employees.

Unfortunately Home Depot does not carry the Pro-Mix for container gardening. I have a bunch of herbs I want to plant on my condo balcony. The Menards store in Morton Grove used to have it all the time, but the Morton Grove store does not have it, and the Mount Prospect store does, but they only have one bag of it. I suspect Menards is discontinuing all of their Pro Mix line, because a lot of the stores that do have it only have a handful. I 've looked on Lowe's site, and they only carry it in store, but they do not tell you which stores carry it,

Walmart has something that I can use at their Golf Road store, but I would have to buy twice as much as I wanted, but I might have to go that route, or I could go to Pesche's or Red's or the Garden center in Andersonville, but they are going to be way more expensive. Thanks, Nancy

Hi- Has anybody been to Farmer's Market Garden Center at Irving Park and Elston? It looks like it is right off the Kennedy. Normally I would not consider going there because it would take me forever to get there from Evanston, but because of the pandemic, the traffic might not be bad on the Kennedy, but the CTA and Metra are not in service today and so more people might be driving. I just tried calling them up to see if they have the Pro-Mix I am looking for, and I just got a canned message saying leave a message and we will get back to you within 24 hours. Thanks, Nancy

The Farmers Market Garden Center is not too far from where I live. I rarely go there because the product selection has been poor and prices run high. The center is in a triangle bounded by Hamlin (3800 west) and Elston. If you have to go there from Evanston, practically any main north-south street would be better than using the Kennedy. Just don't use Western to Irving Park Road as bridge replacement over the Chicago River creates a bottleneck between Western and California.

Hi- I know this is kind of late, but I was at Home Depot on Oakton on Saturday, and they had broccoli, cabbage, romaine, and kale plants for sale outside. You get six plants for $3.49. It is definitely too late to plant the cabbage and maybe the broccoli, but the romaine and kale should be okay. I used to hate their garden department, but it seems like it has improved the last few years. Chalet is supposed to have some fall veggie plants too, but I have no idea what. I tried to go onto their website to find out, but I did not see any listed. They are really expensive anyway. I have not been to Uhrhausen nursery yet to see if they have any. I really miss Anton's. Hope this helps, Nancy

Can anyone suggest a good source of high-quality but not ridiculously expensive pots? I'm in year two as a homeowner/gardener, and I'm ready to start investing in some decorative pots but $100-$300 prices for larger pots make me realize it will be several years before I amass a significant collection. I'm looking for 18" to 36" box planters (probably no more than 9" high) as well as 12", 18" and 24" round pots. Glazed pottery or high-quality resin/fiberglass would be my preference.

My Mom lives in New Jersey near a place that imports (maybe from Vietnam?) pots, and they literally offer hundreds, if not thousands, in every size and color imaginable at decent prices, and I've never seen such a place in Chicago. I go to our garden centers and I'm impressed by the quality, but the selection seems small and the prices high. I'm willing to head to the suburbs if the price is good and the selection is wide.

(Worth mentioning: I have a sensory issue with unglazed pottery, and while I could probably power through and deal with glazed pottery, I'm very open to high quality synthetic materials.)

A good and inexpensive planter is hard to find. CB2 (Crate and Barrel's less expensive brand) has some that are reasonably priced.

Hi- I am looking for some affordable mushroom compost. I have checked at Home Depot, Jewel, Menards, Lowe's and Walmart, and the cheapest mushroom compost I can find is at Menards for $4.99 for a 3/4 L bag. That is before you mail in your 11% rebate, and so it is $4.49 after the rebate. Every body else is at least $5 a bag. Does anybody know of any place that has it cheaper. There used to be a mushroom farm near Mount Prospect that had it for $1 a bag, but I don't know if they are still in business. I could also go to River Valley mushroom, but with $5 gas, I am not excited about that option. I might just use some bags of manure or compost in my garden instead. I have some Promix that I bought at Walmart, but I would like to mix something with it in my garden. Thanks, Nancy