In the Yard: Transplants

Advocate file photoLauren Hegge, Luis Alvergue and Mairi Miller, from left, members of the LSU Hill Farm Community Garden, seed trays of vegetable and herb plants.

Casual gardeners or busy people who want to grow vegetables in a spring garden do well to buy transplants of popular vegetable plants at the nursery or hardware store.

Growing tomatoes, peppers and eggplants from seed won’t save you much, if any, money on a small scale, but it’s good experience and educational if you involve children.

Start the seed in small pots filled with good potting soil in sunny windows or outdoors under plastic cake or cookie boxes.

From personal experience, Naylor’s, 14441 Old Hammond Highway, has the best selection of seed in town. Naylor’s puts together 225 packs of different vegetable seed from bulk. I heard from a gardener near the end of January that the nursery had red Lasoda seed potatoes, a sometimes hard seed potato to find.

Pruning demonstration

Jim Culpepper, a consulting arborist, will conduct a free crape myrtle pruning demonstration from 9:30 a.m. to 10:30 a.m. Saturday at the Crape Myrtle Garden at Independence Park, 7500 Independence Blvd.

Park at the Baton Rouge Garden Center. The crape myrtles are behind the building.

Ed Cullen

Advocate staff writer