The shelves are about 150 packages lighter since I made my purchase!

I was reminded once again though, why I don't often shop there - I've not been impressed with their staff. WHen I went through the checkout this time, there were two clerks and one commented on the number of packages that I was purchasing and that there had been several people who had made big purchases of the sale seeds. For the most part, it was just polite conversation, but it still made me raise my eyebrows a bit. Yes, I picked up a large number of packages, but when you price them at a dime apiece and still have significant selection after a week at that price (based on the previous post), it's not like they're FLYING off the shelves. Be happy that someone wants to purchase them.

The second clerk then asked whether the first clerk could man the register so that she could go check out the seed rack before any more were purchased. I would have laughed this off if it didn't remind me of a previous visit there when a Gertens clerk literally bowled me out of the way to get a plant that was in a clearance area. That incident was egregious enough that a separate Gertens clerk who happened to observe the whole thing muttered something about "spectacular customer service" under his breath within earshot of me.

Usually it's fine when I go there, but I've had more instances of rude or weird customer service at Gertens than at all of the other nurseries I frequent in the area combined....

I really love Gerten's but their cashiers are just absolutely, unbelievably terrible. I can't figure out why. Sure, they're teenagers doing part-time work, but I have observed that the (always boys) roaming the aisles do a fair job of giving opinions and getting you to the right part of the store. The (always girls) behind the registers and kind of hanging out around them have uniformly been spacey, uninformed (forget gardening/plant info; I mean about how the register works or how their rewards points program functions), slow and really, really low on eye contact. This stood out to me (on several occasions) because MN teenagers are generally outgoing, helpful and will look you in the eye. So strange!

Okay...spartangardener...I've been over on the hosta forum and new to the Minnesota forum and I can help but asking,

Do you have room to start 150 packets?

Regattagirl (I'm so jealous.)

yes, although I gave a big pile to my mom today, which was part of my original plan. THe seeds last several years, so this will likely be a couple of years worth of annuals via wintersowing, veggies for my veg garden, herbs and a few perennials. I tend to sow extremely heavily with wsing and then chunk out the container according to how densely it germinates.

I don't have room (or the patience or inclination) to do these indoors, but wsing has been a very cheap and effective way to fill out my annual beds and containers, and to fill in with unusual perennials.

the last time I stocked up like this at gerten's was a couple of years ago, and I just sowed all the rest of the seeds this spring. At a dime a package, you can use them easily on the Seed Exchange too, and I also got a friend and his daughter started wsing this year with a huge gallon sized ziploc of seeds I've collected from my gardens and a couple of the old gertens packages. They now have a much more colorful garden and are excited to do more this winter.