Household Container transport for Move to US
#31
DE-UK-NZ-IE-US... the TYP
Joined: Mar 2010
Posts: 2,855
Re: Household Container transport for Move to US
I live in Missouri, so not far from Chicago, and I think the challenge is the climate more than anything else. Even with sprinklers the very hot summers coupled with the harsh winters make it very hard to grow anything that resembles the beauty of many British gardens. Plant choices are very restricted, and even then they are not always the prettiest.
#32
Re: Household Container transport for Move to US
I live in Missouri, so not far from Chicago, and I think the challenge is the climate more than anything else. Even with sprinklers the very hot summers coupled with the harsh winters make it very hard to grow anything that resembles the beauty of many British gardens. Plant choices are very restricted, and even then they are not always the prettiest.
#33
Re: Household Container transport for Move to US
Wrong! People love their gardens just as much as the folks in the UK -- and frequently have a lot more space with which to work. There are so many wonderful garden centers, either at home improvement stores or stand-alone, that buying plants at the supermarket isn't the best idea. (My favorite hibiscus, purchased in the sale yard at Lowe's two years ago, is on its winter vacation indoors, and today has three massive blooms.) Sounds as if you have been looking at the more urban residential areas.
Is there some way (online or otherwise) to find community gardens and show gardens in your local area in the US? Just like we have NGS, RHS etc in the UK. I tried googling but couldn’t find much in greater Chicago area.
Also i get the impression that plants (both mail order and in store) are more expensive in the US. Here in UK i often use mail order and its very affordable to buy a wide variety of plants online (many come from Holland and Jersey)..
#34
DE-UK-NZ-IE-US... the TYP
Joined: Mar 2010
Posts: 2,855
Re: Household Container transport for Move to US
i hope you are right, as gardening is my main de-stressing hobby and something i look forward to.
Is there some way (online or otherwise) to find community gardens and show gardens in your local area in the US? Just like we have NGS, RHS etc in the UK. I tried googling but couldn’t find much in greater Chicago area.
Also i get the impression that plants (both mail order and in store) are more expensive in the US. Here in UK i often use mail order and its very affordable to buy a wide variety of plants online (many come from Holland and Jersey)..
Is there some way (online or otherwise) to find community gardens and show gardens in your local area in the US? Just like we have NGS, RHS etc in the UK. I tried googling but couldn’t find much in greater Chicago area.
Also i get the impression that plants (both mail order and in store) are more expensive in the US. Here in UK i often use mail order and its very affordable to buy a wide variety of plants online (many come from Holland and Jersey)..
#35
Re: Household Container transport for Move to US
i hope you are right, as gardening is my main de-stressing hobby and something i look forward to.
Is there some way (online or otherwise) to find community gardens and show gardens in your local area in the US? Just like we have NGS, RHS etc in the UK. I tried googling but couldn’t find much in greater Chicago area.
Also i get the impression that plants (both mail order and in store) are more expensive in the US. Here in UK i often use mail order and its very affordable to buy a wide variety of plants online (many come from Holland and Jersey)..
Is there some way (online or otherwise) to find community gardens and show gardens in your local area in the US? Just like we have NGS, RHS etc in the UK. I tried googling but couldn’t find much in greater Chicago area.
Also i get the impression that plants (both mail order and in store) are more expensive in the US. Here in UK i often use mail order and its very affordable to buy a wide variety of plants online (many come from Holland and Jersey)..
https://chicagocommunitygardens.org/
I'm afraid that I've been gone too long to be able to comment on price comparisons. I used to buy a lot of seeds via catalogues such as Burpee and Gurney's, and once I bought a load of bluebells to naturalize in my woods from the White Flower Farms brochure (the voles promptly ate every last one), but nowadays I usually watch out for sales at local garden centers (there is usually a buy one flat, get a second flat free sale each spring, at which I go crazy!), and haunt the reductions area at the local Lowe's, where I have found some wonderful deals over the years. The aforementioned hisbiscus came home for $7 because it was between blooms, and most of the folks shopping want instant gratification. I go for the orphans that I know will have a second wind! As a gardening fan yourself, I get the feeling you would have the same satisfaction in locating finds in the sale area. Your garden may be very different from the one you had in the UK, but I don't doubt that you will get the same pleasure from gardening.
#36
Re: Household Container transport for Move to US
things like tomato plants seem to be expensive at garden center, maybe 5.99 plus tax if they don’t have a sale on.. I go from seed for most stuff for that reason. but I ordered some Xmas tree seedlings to plant on the edge of our woods mail order for the spring and the 5 year transplants were only $7 each and the 2 year seedlings we only $3.5 each... that said the reason I ordered them was the cut your own place we got to is charging $70 for a tree and that’s before the tip to the net / load guys. I swear they were not that expensive in the UK...
#37
Re: Household Container transport for Move to US
These people seem to list a number of neighborhood organizations:
https://chicagocommunitygardens.org/
I'm afraid that I've been gone too long to be able to comment on price comparisons. I used to buy a lot of seeds via catalogues such as Burpee and Gurney's, and once I bought a load of bluebells to naturalize in my woods from the White Flower Farms brochure (the voles promptly ate every last one), but nowadays I usually watch out for sales at local garden centers (there is usually a buy one flat, get a second flat free sale each spring, at which I go crazy!), and haunt the reductions area at the local Lowe's, where I have found some wonderful deals over the years. The aforementioned hisbiscus came home for $7 because it was between blooms, and most of the folks shopping want instant gratification. I go for the orphans that I know will have a second wind! As a gardening fan yourself, I get the feeling you would have the same satisfaction in locating finds in the sale area. Your garden may be very different from the one you had in the UK, but I don't doubt that you will get the same pleasure from gardening.
https://chicagocommunitygardens.org/
I'm afraid that I've been gone too long to be able to comment on price comparisons. I used to buy a lot of seeds via catalogues such as Burpee and Gurney's, and once I bought a load of bluebells to naturalize in my woods from the White Flower Farms brochure (the voles promptly ate every last one), but nowadays I usually watch out for sales at local garden centers (there is usually a buy one flat, get a second flat free sale each spring, at which I go crazy!), and haunt the reductions area at the local Lowe's, where I have found some wonderful deals over the years. The aforementioned hisbiscus came home for $7 because it was between blooms, and most of the folks shopping want instant gratification. I go for the orphans that I know will have a second wind! As a gardening fan yourself, I get the feeling you would have the same satisfaction in locating finds in the sale area. Your garden may be very different from the one you had in the UK, but I don't doubt that you will get the same pleasure from gardening.
#38
DE-UK-NZ-IE-US... the TYP
Joined: Mar 2010
Posts: 2,855
Re: Household Container transport for Move to US
Last edited by tht; Jan 19th 2021 at 10:46 pm.
#39
Re: Household Container transport for Move to US
That is Fairfield and Easton! I used to go to Westport for HSBC and Tiffany’s to save a trip to the city... but they closed every HSBC in CT now... stuff is much cheaper up at my place in Litchfield County... did a refi closing up there that would have been $1500-2000 down here for $495 as a repeat customer... will be getting my contractors from up there down to do my bathrooms here... “coastal premium” for everything is crazy... and people just take it because it’s “cheaper than the city”....
I might be interested in your bathroom guy! After a 50K quote from a Stamford company, decided that new bathroom rugs would suffice!
#40
DE-UK-NZ-IE-US... the TYP
Joined: Mar 2010
Posts: 2,855
Re: Household Container transport for Move to US
#41
Just Joined
Joined: Jan 2021
Posts: 1
Re: Household Container transport for Move to US
This is old info, but hopefully might give you a framework. I moved Boston to Cambridge in 2002, nearest port was Felixstowe. 6500 lbs or 900 cubic ft. in a 20' container. Self pay, not employer paid. Entire contents of a 1000 sq ft one bedroom flat w/antique heavy living, dining, bed room furn, kitchen, all stored lifetime effects--decided it wasn't worth editing to a shared or smaller container or storage fees for just part of it. $7K. Self-packed all boxes. Contract w/Allied, they subcontracted on UK end. Returned to US in 2004 w/Pickfords $9500. Paid for door to door (they pack) that time, tho that's not what increased cost (post 9/11 did it & fact I came back w/a Welsh husband and his effects : ). I did find w/paying for packing that Pickfords did a great job & gave advice I wouldn't have known...like, it's not worth taking everything--ie spice rack or liquor in the kitchen boxes for all the huge hassles it cd cause with Customs. Ditto electronics & electric appliances. I would take some extra care w/things you love. I had great leather chairs that they wrapped in such a way that friction against the stacked cushions in the container rubbed all the leather off the piping, antique lamp broken. Insurance was helpful & reasonable. But aside from the container wait at destination (3-4 wks), it wasn't much different than moving to a different house in my town. Good luck!