Jelenek’s Garden Center

Great place to shop. Very good bird seed mix, not a lot of filler, less clean up.
Great selection of fresh veggies as well.

What a great find! I went based on the reviews here and was not disappointed. Great plants, friendly place, knowledgeable staff, reasonable prices. Made for a great time. Will definitely be coming here again next spring.

What a wonderful family-​owned produce and garden center. Been coming here for over 10 years! It is NOT Gary but Lake Ridge/​Calumet Township with a Gary address. It is outside Gary city limits served by the County cops. I live around the corner. They have the FRESHEST grass seed — bought a huge bag at a chain store cause we happened to be there that didn’t grow — Jeleneks grass seeds grow usually in a few days and I don’t even water them (Let God do it with rain) and just cover lightly with straw. We buy our livestock worming cream here, mole killer, pesticides (one of their little brown bottles for $ 6 that makes GALLONS when mixed with water — kills every bug I’ve seen, even the dread Asian ladybug. I wipe my windows with it and sprayed on my siding and two years later, the bugs are landing and dropping dead. EVERYTHING they sell is real farm stuff and better than than Big Chain Stores. Produce is out of this world delicious. Best of all, if you need advice on your lawn, animals, moles in the yard, etc., you can ask Mr. or Mrs. Jelenek and they have wise advice you can trust. 50 year old mom with a hobby farm

Wow, really? This is considered Gary? I’ve been coming here my whole life and had no idea I lived that close to Gary. Cool. I guess I’ll be prepared when I move to «the most dangerous city in America», St. Louis. But I digress…
Jelenek’s is a very cool place and has been around at least as long as I’ve been alive. My mom used to take us here to stock up on our annuals, vegetables and seeds for the garden. Once I was a little older and wiser, I figured out how to buy flower flats myself and gave Mom a Mother’s Day treat of planting the front yard for her. Not quite a surprise the next 15 years that I did it, but every year she was thrilled with the flowers and how nicely they held up all summer.
Jelenek’s is family-​owned if my memory serves me and I love the long-​haired Crystal Gayle-​esque woman who works there. She’s a sweetheart in her big-​brimmed gardening hat, full of knowledge and happy to help. They’ve got a nice selection of seeds, plenty of soil, mulch and tools and I’m pretty sure they have perennials as well. I always enjoy pushing my unwieldy cart through the gravel paths and admiring all the colorful annuals. The greenhouse vegetables at Jelenek’s have never failed me and always yield hefty harvests (at least in my experience). The only trouble I’ve ever encountered was the time I thought I bought sweet banana peppers, but they turned out spicy as hell. When that’s your biggest beef with a down-​home, country gardening store, you’re in good hands.