tht

I had “city pickers” on our roof and with summer NYC temps they had to be watered every day without fail... but if you can keep them watered the light/heat really makes stuff grow!

lizzyq

I agree that climate certainly makes gardening a challenge, but there are also new discoveries too, like being able to grow and ripen melons. I still need my kitchen herb garden though so at the moment out lounge window is home to 2 rosemary plants and a (small) bay tree, they love the summer weather but the winters in PA are too harsh for them. My sage bushes look dead every spring but then come back with a vengeance for the summer and autumn. Gardening is a life long learning process wherever you do it, but starting that process again in another country and climate zone is definitely interesting.

Wh431

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)..

tht

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...

Nutmegger

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.

Nutmegger

You have to get out of Westport to shop! I get a six pack of tomato seedlings for $1.99! If I decide to splurge on a two-foot sturdy plant, that's $3.99. My cut my own tree was $37 for a seven footer (total DIY though, no netting or loading).

Wh431

Yep, i ve been a regular at my Local Wyevale garden center’s sales aisle. Have also been trying to resurrect plants from Morrisons dodgy plant section for many years

tht

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”....

Nutmegger

I might be interested in your bathroom guy! After a 50K quote from a Stamford company, decided that new bathroom rugs would suffice!

tht

Haha, get inline, polish guys and they squeezed me in last year before the new budget year, and a new government contract.... my wife won’t let me get a boat for the lake house until we have redone both [original] 1950’s baths... if you live in the area you will know exactly the ones I mean, we have the pink with matching toilet in the hall.. and the blue in the master... that tile is so thick it will be a mission to demo...

SwanseaCwtch

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!