Vegetable plant prices

[Phisherman]

Not sure what is going on here. I am looking to buy about 10-15 tomato plants, like I have for many years. I've been to WalMart, KMart and Home Depot. The only tomato plants I found were $5.29 each and I thought how many tomatoes I could buy for 70 dollars? It turns out buying tomato plants is not such a good deal. If this keeps up all I will have is strawberries, potatoes, cucumbers, peppers and no tomato plants. What ever happened to 6-pack plants, or singles for $1.10? Spoke with the manager and these high-priced tomato plants are not selling.

[The moderator]

I bought a nine pack at Wal-Mart for $3.00.

[Billy]

What variety? Early Girl? Ace? Local prices in my area are $2.50 for a

4" pot but they do have a pretty good selection. If I want six packs, I have to go to non-trendy nurseries where I can still get six packs.

And, yeah, I still have cultural problems with Wally World and the depletion of currency from the local economy and the way Wally World's employees are treated.

[cat daddy]

I impulse bought my tomatoes from Home Depot and there were no 6-packs of anything. Bought four singles and two of the 4-inch. Not pleased with myself for not planning this better, like I tell myself every Spring.......

[Hedda Lettis]

I saw Bonni tomato plants, 9 plants to a cellpack at Lowe's for less than $3. Wally World also had them. Look around. Don't go by one store.

[Mark Anderson]

Home Depot is a terrible bargain. Every Spring I have 4 or 5 places I go to get seedlings and Home Depot is always last on the list. Sometimes I'll find some exotic herb in a 4" pot there but for the basics I go elsewhere. You really do have to shop around to find the best deals.

[MajorOz]

More and more Heirloom "flea market" style places are cropping up. I usually get all my annual bedding flowers (marigolds for the tomato patch, clumps for the rain gutter herb garden, etc) there. Six packs for about a dollar, many less than that. And a whole lot of hippies, hillbillies, and weirdos from the hollers who have tons of practical advice for local growing. (and at Baker Creek, lots of great music)

cheers

oz, hurrying to catch up

[David E. Ross]

When I want to buy plants, I never (What, never? Well, hardly ever.) shop at a lumber yard, hardware store, or home improvement megabox store. For garden tools, fertilizers, and toxics, I often go to one of those but not for plants. For plants, I go to a well-established nursery, many of which are found near my home.

Both the high-priced nurseries and the bargain nurseries nearby provide both individual and six-pack vegetables.

[Billy]

The New Economics Foundation (NEF) says that if every person and organisation in a town spent 80 per cent of their income in the local economy, it would generate fives times as much as its original value.