We are so excited that spring is here, and are planning to spend much of today out digging in the dirt. Yesterday, we ordered some additional food-producing plants for our mini farm, and I wanted to share, since we felt like we got a very good deal. We got a catalog in the mail from Spring Hill Nursery, and it had a coupon for $25 off, with no strings attached. We were looking through it and found dwarf citrus and banana trees that can be grown in pots and moved indoors in northern locations. Sweet! We read the reviews, and it looked like people were pretty pleased with the plants overall, so we decided to add to our orchard. We ordered a lemon tree, a lime tree, an orange tree, a banana tree, a dwarf blueberry bush (we already have one blueberry bush growing in a planter, this will be a different variety), and 50 strawberry plants. After the discount from the coupon, and including shipping, we spent a total of $82. I can go through $82 very quickly in the produce section at the co-op, so we figured this was money well spent.
We don’t know how successful we’ll be with all of our plants. We have a huge variety of things going now, all sorts of vegetable seedlings, tons of berry bushes, 14 regular fruit trees, and now several dwarf fruit trees that will go in pots and spend the summers outdoors and the winters in the house. I’m sure there will be plenty of failures, but we’re hoping that there will be more check marks in our success column!
If you’re interested in ordering something from Spring Hill Nursery and didn’t get a catalog with a coupon on it, try calling them. I called them yesterday to see if I could get a coupon for my mother, and they were great. The lady created an account for my parents and gave me an account number that my mother can use when she orders, which will give her the $25 discount too.
To clarify, as usual, this is not a sponsored post. I just felt like we got a really good deal, and I’m excited about the new “exotic” trees we’re getting, so I wanted to share in case any of you are interested in something similar. Have a wonderful Sunday!
Mrs. Money says
Awesome! I am wanting to do more to our garden but I’m hesitant because I don’t know how long we will live here. Lime and lemon trees sound fantastic! Could you imagine living in Arizona and picking fruit off the trees?
Frugal Trenches says
Ooh I hope you post pictures of your orchard! How lovely!
Random Thoughts of a Jersey Mom says
Sounds great! I hope you succeed & it sounds like a good investment.
Kay says
yayyy! more fruit trees. :) How wonderful! Would you please post a picture of your garden, come summer?
We cant wait to get our own patch of backyard to plant trees. This summer is going to be a mix of balcony garden and I’m keeping my fingers crossed for getting a small patch in the community garden.
Kay says
by the way the link to the spring hill nursery isnt working.. just thought I’ll let you know
FrugalBabe says
Kay, thanks for letting me know. I think I’ve fixed it.
Cate says
I’d love for you to post pictures of your garden/orchard, too. They sound lovely! I’m very jealous of your orchard in particular.
Molly On Money says
I started reading ‘Crockett’s Victory Garden’ (from 1978) tonight and your right on schedule with your fruit trees!
It was 34 degrees outside where I am but I too was determined to spend it out in the garden. I spent the weekend building a new brooder for our baby chics coming in tomorrow and shoveling a bunch of horse manure into the vegetable garden. God I love Spring!
Meg says
I love it! Thank you for posting the pictures.
Hubby and I just planted 4 fruit trees last weekend (dwarf plum, apricot & 2 pears.) We know we wont get fruit this year, but I love that they will in the next year or two. I have a red raspberry patch that requires very little work, and produces so many berries! We love it. I love perrenials!
Around this time of year, Lowes has 75% off their treees. We purchased 2 pear trees at 75% off last weekend for $5/each!
I have also looked into arborday.org. They have really good prices on trees (and hazlenut bushes!) I have not bought anything from them yet; however, plan on it when we complete our yard rennovation in the next couple of years.
~M
FrugalBabe says
Meg,
Wow, great deal on the pear trees!
We bought a bunch of tiny pine trees from Arborday earlier this year. We bought three varieties, and they were around $2/tree. The Norwegian Pines are doing amazingly well, but unfortunately the Blue Spruce all died, as did most of the Austrian Pines. The price was so low that it’s not a huge loss though, and we’re planning to replace the dead ones with more Norwegian Pines in the fall. We also got a bunch of tiny flowering trees from Arborday (a freebie with a $10 donation) and they are mostly doing well so far.
Have fun with your yard – it sounds great!