uprooting

[amalnahurriyeh]

I'm moving on Monday (eeeeeeeek!) from an apartment where I have lived and gardened well for six years. Leaving my beautiful, wild, messy, food-making garden is breaking my heart a little (not to mention leaving my compost bin--the dirt I made), so I'm trying to figure out what, if anything I can salvage from it and take with me on my 300 mile trek to my new house in a small rural town.

I have, in pots, some chives, thyme, and mint. I also have four brussels sprouts and a kale plant in the ground, and a huge wild mess of strawberries. I am wondering the following:

1) Will the brussels sprouts and kale survive in pots? I know the strawberries can, but I'm less sure of the others. I won't be able to break the ground at my new apartment, so I can't plant them when I get there. (Note: the sprouts have some kind of infestation--little white things that flutter off them when I shake them. Also a lot of flies, so maybe they are baby flies? IDK.)

2) If I can move my plants to pots, can I put them in a big plastic box (like this), seal it up, and give it to my movers? They'll be in there from Monday mid-day through Tuesday afternoon, in a non-climate controlled truck. The alternative is to try to move them in our trunk, where they might not have to be closed in and would only be in there for 6-8 hours, but I'm not sure how much room we'll have.

Also, a related question:

Does anyone on here vermicompost? ince I will probably only be in my new place one year, and it's a place with frigid winters, I'm not going to put in a full compost bin, but we've got a basement and/or mud room that would make a good home for a worm bin. For those in the US, where do you go to get worms? I got mine for my last bin from the LES Ecology Center, but I don't even know what to Google for to look for them. My two thoughts are that a) I live near an agricultural extension center, and maybe they will have them, and b) there's a lot of fishing where we're moving, and I've seen gas stations with live bait vending machines, so I guess that would work in a pinch?

Comments

[teapot_rabbit]

It sounds like your brussels sprouts have whiteflies. I wouldn't bring anything that has any bugs with you on your move - no point in introducing more pests to your new garden, after all.

I have a feeling that if you put your plants in a big plastic container in a hot truck for 24 hours, you will open the box and find a bunch of very dead, slightly steamed plants.

The herbs that are already in pots will probably survive the trip in your car, provided you water them well the night before.

[rainbow]

i'd move your plants by car, definitely. having them enclosed in a hot truck for 24 hours is a good way to kill them (assuming live where it's either the hot season right now, which would mean they'd cook, or the cold season, when they'd freeze. if it's temperate (45-65 or so) and the truck won't be heatingup in sun and you left the bins open (or drilled air holes), it might work).

but if there's room in the movers' truck for bins, you could bin up your compost and have them take it.

[chalcopyrite]

i'd agree with annoyedwabbit; sounds like the sprouts have whitefly. Mine got it last year and I don't think I ever really got rid of it; also, if you transport them with the kale, it's likely to spread to the kale.

I don't vermicompost (despite best intentions etc), but the worms you want are called brandling worms. You can buy them via online, and wikipedia tells me they're also used as bait, so those live-bait vending machines probably have the right thing too. Also, if that agricultural extension centre has horses, beg some half-rotted manure from them, and it will have the right kind of worms in it.

I am sorry you have to leave your garden! I hope the next tenant appreciates your work.

[rydra_wong]

For those in the US, where do you go to get worms?

I don't know about the US in particular, but you should be able to order them online ("worm compost" seems a good Google starting point) and get them through the post, in a nice big bag with some earth to keep them happy.