Quarantine Vegetable Gardens

[KALI]

#1. I would plant anyway. What are they going to do? Lock me up?
#2. If necessary, drive to another state to obtain, or order online.
#3. The minute, they try to take food off my family's table, is the minute, I will declare war.

With the coronavirus quickly becoming a new normal, home gardening is taking off, as more and more Americans start to grow their own fruits and vegetables. But in Michigan, many stores have been barred from selling seeds, soils, plants, and other gardening supplies.

Michigan Bans Many Stores From Selling Seeds, Home Gardening Supplies, Calls Them “Not Necessary”

 

[KALI]

Are you using two water?
I've grown them dozens of times. I like when they become vines.
they're very pretty.

Lol they have never sprouted. I put the toothpicks in the avocado pit, keep the bottom half in water, and nothing ever happens.

 

[airportwoman]

I have lived in an apartment since 2012, and grow veggies in pots. You'd be surprised how much you can grow this way!

I was at the grocery store down the road from me today, and they had sprouted potatoes on sale at 25 cents a pound. Most of them were still technically edible, because they weren't green, but really, those are best being planted right now, so I announced on Facebook that they were there. I already have some "ripening" on my porch (we're expecting SNOW tonight!) and will plant them in a few days.

 

[airportwoman]

I get the premise, but that's kind of ridiculous. I imagine it doesn't generate anything approaching the revenue stream that liquor sales or the state lottery does.

Does anyone currently buy seeds online? I never have, but I would in a heartbeat if I had no other options.

I have. Rare Heirloom Seeds| Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds will send you a catalog if you give them your address, if they still have some, but be forewarned: They're out of a lot of things and are behind in filling orders, as one could imagine.

A couple years ago, a long-term men's shelter that has a garden was needing seeds, so I ordered some things and sent them to this facility.

Declaring a garden store "non-essential" at this time is beyond insane!

 

[watergirl62]

I ordered all mine online.

I order most of mine online from Johnny's, but they are now no longer selling and shipping to home gardeners, just to their large customers, to protect the staff. I understand but, it's a blow I am sure for people who hadn't gotten their ordering done yet.

My seeds from Johnny's always do a million times better than anything from a store ( Burpee or Ferry etc) I recommend them highly for later in the season and for next season! You pay a buck or two more for a packet but earn back tons later in the season when your plants don't get diseased or pest ridden quite so easily, and give an enormous harvest. If you can, spring for the very best quality seeds, is my stance. Because gardening is so much work and can get so frustrating when your seed quality is poor! It'll make you want to give up and never try again which would be a shame.

Edited to add: I see they are announcing on their website they will start shipping to home gardeners again starting April 28! Awesome news!!
Johnny's Selected Seeds

I have. Rare Heirloom Seeds| Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds will send you a catalog if you give them your address, if they still have some, but be forewarned: They're out of a lot of things and are behind in filling orders, as one could imagine.

A couple years ago, a long-term men's shelter that has a garden was needing seeds, so I ordered some things and sent them to this facility.

Declaring a garden store "non-essential" at this time is beyond insane!

When you get a chance... what do y'all recommend /what are your favorite items from these vendors?

Just curious, because I love trying new things that I would not even consider left to my own devices.

TIA.

 

[IceIce9]

Are you using two water?
I've grown them dozens of times. I like when they become vines.
they're very pretty.

I press three toothpicks into the avocado pit, and then placed it in a tall glass with the bottom half of the pit in the water. I am careful to keep the water level over the bottom half of the pit.

They never grow! What am I doing wrong?

 

[Gardener1850]

I press three toothpicks into the avocado pit, and then placed it in a tall glass with the bottom half of the pit in the water. I am careful to keep the water level over the bottom half of the pit.

They never grow! What am I doing wrong?

I've never grown an avocado pit but have you tried it with dirt instead? Apparently planting in a clay pot with dirt is more successful than the water: How Long Does It Take an Avocado Pit Plant to Grow?

Also what are your lighting conditions? Temperature? It needs a very warm and bright space to grow. IMO most homes will not be bright enough/warm enough for a tropical plant to really thrive. If you really want to get one to grow inside consider buying an inexpensive grow light. This year I bought a $25 LED grow light similar to this one: https://www.amazon.com/Lights-Hydro...9Y2xpY2tSZWRpcmVjdCZkb05vdExvZ0NsaWNrPXRydWU=

My pepper seeds were not sprouting after over 2 weeks in a bright window. Within 3 days of starting to keep the seed cups under the grow light some of them sprouted. I have 6 tiny pepper plants now (various kinds of peppers). My tomatoes are doing well under the grow light too. These are all planted in yogurt cups I saved and filled with cheap top soil with a granular organic fertilizer added to the dirt. I cut holes in the bottom of the yogurt cup and water lightly every few days when the dirt feels dry.

 

[oviedo]

I press three toothpicks into the avocado pit, and then placed it in a tall glass with the bottom half of the pit in the water. I am careful to keep the water level over the bottom half of the pit.

They never grow! What am I doing wrong?

I've never had success either. I'm trying to "regrow" fennel stalks we used last week in water - I've seen it on pinterest with celery, etc but never had any success. I can grow many herbs and tomatoes just fine on my patio in pots. I've also had some success with planting directly in bags of potting soil by slicing an X and putting the plant there but the squirrels always get to it first - and I can't put anything in the ground because of the heavy summer rains. I may build a raised bed planter for my deck to keep the squirrels away - then I can just put the bags of soil in them - I've seen plans using free pallets.

 

[Gardener1850]

For anyone who only has a balcony or patio (or if your dirt is not suitable to grow in) I recommend getting some 5 gallon buckets or large pots. You can buy the bags marked for growing veggies/fruit in raised beds if you want or if you need to save money on dirt consider making your own mix instead. I'm using a mix this year of 50% peat moss, 25% compost with manure and 25% top soil (the cheapest bagged dirt at my garden store). In the past I have bought the organic premixed bags or the regular Miracle Grow dirt. There did not seem to be much difference in the results of those two. I use all organic methods despite the dirt not always starting out as organic. No matter the dirt you start with you will want some granular fertilizer to feed your plants (follow the bag directions). The fancy bagged dirt may have it in there already but you might need to add more midway through the season. I have always done raised beds or containers on a patio.

Here's a youtube gardener that has some great tips for beginners on making your own soil mix and growing in buckets:

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I saved approx 50% on my dirt this year by making my own instead of buying the premixed stuff. I searched for and found the above video while looking for advice on the best dirt mix for potatoes. I've never grown potatoes before and it seems they need a loose soil to grow well. I'm going to be starting my seed potatoes in grow bags this weekend.

 

[Gardenista]

For anyone who only has a balcony or patio (or if your dirt is not suitable to grow in) I recommend getting some 5 gallon buckets or large pots. You can buy the bags marked for growing veggies/fruit in raised beds if you want or if you need to save money on dirt consider making your own mix instead. I'm using a mix this year of 50% peat moss, 25% compost with manure and 25% top soil (the cheapest bagged dirt at my garden store). In the past I have bought the organic premixed bags or the regular Miracle Grow dirt. There did not seem to be much difference in the results of those two. I use all organic methods despite the dirt not always starting out as organic. No matter the dirt you start with you will want some granular fertilizer to feed your plants (follow the bag directions). The fancy bagged dirt may have it in there already but you might need to add more midway through the season. I have always done raised beds or containers on a patio.

Here's a youtube gardener that has some great tips for beginners on making your own soil mix and growing in buckets:

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I saved approx 50% on my dirt this year by making my own instead of buying the premixed stuff. I searched for and found the above video while looking for advice on the best dirt mix for potatoes. I've never grown potatoes before and it seems they need a loose soil to grow well. I'm going to be starting my seed potatoes in grow bags this weekend.

I highly recommend all of this YouTuber's videos. I've used his advice many, many times over the years.

 

[JudgeJoe]

#1. I would plant anyway. What are they going to do? Lock me up?
#2. If necessary, drive to another state to obtain, or order online.
#3. The minute, they try to take food off my family's table, is the minute, I will declare war.

Yes Michigan’s gone a little craycray. I doubt anyone is getting extra virus exposure grabbing some seed packets at Walmart. I also think about families with young kids & infants who rapidly outgrow clothes in a couple months of sheltering- unable to grab a t-shirt a couple sizes up.

Today I added to my tomatoes, basil, rosemary & cilantro- corn, brussel sprouts, lettuce, cucumber, sweet peas, nasturtiums, arugula- and something else I don’t recall. It’s a tiny little plot, mostly in containers, but it’ll be enjoyed later & provide some nice distraction from lock-up.
Nice to think of food & gardening for a few hours instead of what the latest numbers are. Hope you all are well & your thumbs green!

 

[Gardener1850]

It's too windy to mix my soil to fill my potato grow bags so I'm keeping busy inside today. I planted ginger root in a bucket, basil, dill, arugula, lettuce, sweet peas, marigold seeds and nasturtium seeds. I'm making plant markers out of the sides of a milk carton. I also chopped the root ends off of organic celery and put it in a shallow tray of water in the windowsill to start to regrow. I think I'll buy more regrowable veggies every couple of weeks at the grocery store for a fun experiment. Next week I'll look for some leeks, fennel and lemongrass. My green onions in a mason jar have been regrowing since about mid-march.

 

[Kavya01]

When you get a chance... what do y'all recommend /what are your favorite items from these vendors?

Just curious, because I love trying new things that I would not even consider left to my own devices.

TIA.

From johnny's seeds, what I order standard every year, the real must-haves with incredibly good results:
Fortex (pole beans, they don't have any this year but hopefully you can get them again next year, and then save your own seeds. best beans ever, easy to grow, pounds of beans, super tasty, no strings!)
Carminat polebeans, second best variety ever. Super prolific, and taste, and no strings. Purple flowers and beans, just beautiful. they turn green when cooking them. Both varieties freeze and can very well.
Buy a baggie of bean and pea inocculant as well, it will double your harvest I find.

Tomato seeds the Mountain magic 2 inch tomatoes and the Bolseno ( a fullsize slicer) are fool proof and very very flavorful. I order them every year. They don't get blighty or sick and are indeterminates, so prune to three or so runners. They produce very well until frost starts.

Leeks! My favorites of theirs are the King Richard, the Megaton, and the Tadorna. Very easy to grow, also fool proof only now use a rowcover or insect screen cover on them because the Leek Moth has made it to the US since a year or two ago, sadly.

Carrots! Make sure you have loose soil and put the leeks and carrots together, alternate them, I mean intersperse, as they repel each other's pests and both like deep and loose soil.
The varieties from johnny's I really like: Bolero is best, with Hercules and Mokum second.

Peas: The Oregon Giant snowpea is great, and they have Sugar snaps again for the first time in five years! I like getting peas you can eat whole, I always feel shell peas are a waste when you can get peas where you can also eat the shell.

I also always order these of their lettuce seeds: Green Salad bowl, red Salad Bowl, and Black Seeded Simpson, and a Romaine or two.

Those are my standards every year and so far so good, five years in a row fabulous harvests.
Hope it helps!

 

[Gardener1850]

I posted this over on the main discussion thread but copying it over here too:

I have some family members in Michigan and I was really concerned when I read about all these restrictions placed on buying garden seeds and gardening supplies. My relatives are retired and have always had a large backyard garden each summer (both vegetables and flowers). I called them yesterday and offered to mail some seeds so they could plant despite the restrictions. To my great relief, they told me that they can still buy garden seeds and garden plants and I didn't need to send anything. The restriction is ONLY on buying those things at the big box stores like Walmart and Home Depot. Apparently the rule is based on the physical size of the store. They can get all their seeds and plants and other supplies from smaller garden centers. And they told me they got almost everything they will need already. My relatives main concern with the restrictions were that the rules made the small garden centers more crowded and meant they had to increase their risk by shopping at more than one store. They wore masks and gloves but it was impossible to social distance in one of the smaller stores. The other small local garden center was placing restrictions on the number of people allowed in at once. That was good for social distancing inside but it led to long lines outside and a full parking lot. I'm glad that the small garden centers will likely be able to stay in business but I worry a little that they might not be able to handle all the additional people who are suddenly wanting to start gardening. Hopefully this ban is only a temporary situation. I wouldn't like those rules at all.

MOO.

 

[Gardener1850]

The weather is overcast today and looks like rain tonight or tomorrow. We decided to go ahead and mix the soil and put our potato grow bags in the garage. We spread a tarp out to catch any spilled dirt and mixed in batches in a wheel barrow: 50% peat moss, 25% composted manure and 25% top soil. We planted mostly red potatoes, a few white potatoes and sweet potatoes. Also did some onion bulbs. I hope these grow bags work. I still have some russet potatoes from the store growing eyes. I read that the grow bags are not as good for growing russets as other varieties so I think I'll prepare a patch of ground somewhere and stick those in to see how they do. We have clay soil and I've read you can grow potatoes in it but the yield won't be as high as with a loamy soil. But I read another blog that said growing potatoes in clay can help to break up the soil and next year you can grow something else there. So if these grow and break up the soil I'll use it as another garden bed for something else next year. If they don't grow or don't improve the soil, it's no big loss. I'm doing a lot of experimenting this year that I have always wanted to do.

 

[watergirl62]

From johnny's seeds, what I order standard every year, the real must-haves with incredibly good results:
Fortex (pole beans, they don't have any this year but hopefully you can get them again next year, and then save your own seeds. best beans ever, easy to grow, pounds of beans, super tasty, no strings!)
Carminat polebeans, second best variety ever. Super prolific, and taste, and no strings. Purple flowers and beans, just beautiful. they turn green when cooking them. Both varieties freeze and can very well.
Buy a baggie of bean and pea inocculant as well, it will double your harvest I find.

Tomato seeds the Mountain magic 2 inch tomatoes and the Bolseno ( a fullsize slicer) are fool proof and very very flavorful. I order them every year. They don't get blighty or sick and are indeterminates, so prune to three or so runners. They produce very well until frost starts.

Leeks! My favorites of theirs are the King Richard, the Megaton, and the Tadorna. Very easy to grow, also fool proof only now use a rowcover or insect screen cover on them because the Leek Moth has made it to the US since a year or two ago, sadly.

Carrots! Make sure you have loose soil and put the leeks and carrots together, alternate them, I mean intersperse, as they repel each other's pests and both like deep and loose soil.
The varieties from johnny's I really like: Bolero is best, with Hercules and Mokum second.

Peas: The Oregon Giant snowpea is great, and they have Sugar snaps again for the first time in five years! I like getting peas you can eat whole, I always feel shell peas are a waste when you can get peas where you can also eat the shell.

I also always order these of their lettuce seeds: Green Salad bowl, red Salad Bowl, and Black Seeded Simpson, and a Romaine or two.

Those are my standards every year and so far so good, five years in a row fabulous harvests.
Hope it helps!

I ordered a catalog, Kavya01. Those Oregon Giant snowpeas look amazing. My family loves snow peas. I will give those Carminat's a try also. I like purple varieties and anything that can go right into a salad is a WIN. Megaton leeks, if these are easier to clean/ process, it is definitely worth $4.55 if they save some time. Thanks for the recommendations.

Horseradish! I went to a Mother Earth News Fair and attended a presentation by Rosemary Gladstar, a medicinal herbs guru. She makes 'fire cider' from horseradish root, for sinus headaches, which DH suffers from. Anyways, I have been wanting to grow some horseradish ever since.

 

[JudgeJoe]

I ordered a catalog, Kavya01. Those Oregon Giant snowpeas look amazing. My family loves snow peas. I will give those Carminat's a try also. I like purple varieties and anything that can go right into a salad is a WIN. Megaton leeks, if these are easier to clean/ process, it is definitely worth $4.55 if they save some time. Thanks for the recommendations.

Horseradish! I went to a Mother Earth News Fair and attended a presentation by Rosemary Gladstar, a medicinal herbs guru. She makes 'fire cider' from horseradish root, for sinus headaches, which DH suffers from. Anyways, I have been wanting to grow some horseradish ever since.

I’m interested in that “fire cider”. What’s in it? TIA!

 

[MimosaMornings]

I ordered a catalog, Kavya01. Those Oregon Giant snowpeas look amazing. My family loves snow peas. I will give those Carminat's a try also. I like purple varieties and anything that can go right into a salad is a WIN. Megaton leeks, if these are easier to clean/ process, it is definitely worth $4.55 if they save some time. Thanks for the recommendations.

Horseradish! I went to a Mother Earth News Fair and attended a presentation by Rosemary Gladstar, a medicinal herbs guru. She makes 'fire cider' from horseradish root, for sinus headaches, which DH suffers from. Anyways, I have been wanting to grow some horseradish ever since.

Horseradish will take over a garden - plant in a pot.

 

[Auntie Cipation]

Some friends of mine also make a fire cider for sale: Honey Rose Fire Cider

 

[sassyblue]

I press three toothpicks into the avocado pit, and then placed it in a tall glass with the bottom half of the pit in the water. I am careful to keep the water level over the bottom half of the pit.

They never grow! What am I doing wrong?

I always grow my avocado seeds in a pot of dirt. If I do 3 I usually have 2 sprout and sometimes only 1 but I have grown many this way.

Make sure the seeds are clean then fill a plastic one gallon pot with potting soil and nestle the seed at least halfway down in the dirt. Water well and let it drain then put the pot into a ziploc bag and seal it up with the seal at the top of the pot and make sure the bag you use has at least a few inches of room at the top. Place the pot in a warm place with bright light but not direct sun and forget about it for awhile.

Once it has sprouted wait for it to grow a bit before you open the bag. And then open the bag before the sprout reaches the seal and leave the pot in the bag for a few more days...kind of like hardening it off from the mini greenhouse atmosphere. Then just watch it grow. You will need to transplant into a bigger pot fairly soon because the root grows rather quickly and outgrows the 1 gallon pot.

I did two pots for a friend at work this winter and it took about two months before the first one sprouted and three months for the second pot to sprout. I had the pots at work and he would check those bags everyday because he had never had any success either and he didn't quite believe me when I said it was easy. The first thing you will see is the crack at the bottom of the seed then you will know the rooting has started then later the tree sprouts.

I have had my seed grown trees produce fruit but that was years ago in California and I had planted them in the ground. I have not had any fruit from the trees I have now living in big pots but they are only a few years old right now and are only 8 feet tall so I still have hope. I overwinter them in my sunroom and put them outside for the summer.