COVID19 Garden

[jp1961]

Hello,

Is anybody considering putting in a vegetable garden,with food shortages in your local grocery store? Sort of similar to the "victory gardens" during WWII. I guess I can break out my TroyBilt tiller and expand mine.

Regards

Jeff

 

[enigma-2]

We used to have as big garden when the kids were young. But as you get older the bending to pull weeds gets to be too much work. Especially in the dog days of summer when you need to water every day.

Currently we have a small herb garden, basil, oregano, dill, rosemary, etc. Wife picks and freezes for use year round.

 

[bertsmobile1]

looks like popping in a few veggies is very popular down here while we are in lock down.
Now that toilet paper h returned to the shelves veggie seedlings have all vanished .
Prefab raised garden beds are all gone as well as have pop up greenhouses .

So I expect there will be a rash of people trying to avoid Covid-19 engine up with Listeria , Legioniers & Tetnus from playing with garden soils & manures.

 

[Ambassaduss]

heheeee, looks like all these lockdowns experience our fantasy all the actual posts on forums are about ” hey I want to try this, any advise?” I like it!! Hmmm, nice that you have the possibility to have an own small garden. I am for years in the topic of healthy eating and there is always the problem that supermarket veggies have almost no nutrients(( so I was always dreaming about my small garden. But!!! I keep pushing in my small apartment and raise micro-greens at home. You do not even need so much equipment, but you get fresh germs for salad)))

 

[cruzenmike]

Last year we were able to start some aboveground gardens with beds that we got on clearance from Sam's Club. We didn't do it because of COVID but it was nice to have fresh ingredients for cooking right in the back yard. In SE Michigan we grow zucchini and herbs very easily. My tomatoes and peppers did not do well but I suspect that I was over watering the planters. Home grown food is always more nutritional and healthier for you as well! Well, that is unless you live over an old hazardous waste storage site!

 

[StarTech]

I wish I had the time to spend gardening again. It not as much work many think when you use a pre-emergent to control the crabgrass. For many years I raise a half acre plot but since I am now by myself and have the shop to run 6 days a week it is very hard break and maintain a garden spot. I am however raising young fruit trees with a couple that bloom this Spring, just having to see if any fruit got set. I do some container plantings anyway.

IF I do get a chance to start a new garden spot it will have to be raised beds as my yard looks more like a swamp during the Winter and Spring. I still got a couple acres that can't even mow so far this Spring as water is standing out there.

 

[NorthBama]

We had a good covid garden last year so we are going at it again this year. We are getting a late start this year because of all the rain but we will get going soon.

 

[Scrubcadet10]

i plant a small 15x15 garden. just enough to give me some tomato's, squash and green beans.
i also panted some watermelon this year.

 

[Born2Mow]

I'm in north GA and there have already been runs on seeds, tillers, canning supplies, etc. Seems everybody is growing something.

 

[bertsmobile1]

Always had a garden and would be lost without one.
Just a matter of routine.
Probably spend about 1/2 hour a day on them averaged out.
Glyco & fine mulch is the answer.
Anything that comes through the mulch is a weed so gets a rub with the glyco wand.
I have tried weed mats under the mulch with the plants poking through tight cut holes.
Just about everything gets planted as a seedling so some times the root veggies don't quite work if the leading tip of the root gets munched up .
And yes raised beds is the way to go .
Got a dozen IBC's from a recycler customer a while back so will be making some water bed gardens shortly as they take even less care & can be left for a week in summer .
The only real problem down here is the Queensland fruit fly .
A research group ( funded by big supermarket chains & big agri businesses ) did some work that found the sprays used to control fruit fly were very dangerous to bees so they recommended banning them for residential use & limiting them to lisenced farmers.
The fact that fruit flies attack ripening fruit which happens a long while after the flowers that the bees would be pollinating have dropped off was apparently beyond the interlectual capacity of the politicans . So it appears we have learned nothing from the days of the cane toad , intorduced to control the cane beetle but the life cycle of them is such that neither come into contact with each other .
Thus nearly all commercial fruit & vegies are picked green ( makes them easy to transport ) then ripened chemically , so they all look the same and of course have almost a single day of shelf life so you have to shop 3 times a week if you want to eat fresh. .
Thus I have to plant about 10 times the number of caps . tomatoes, squash, zuccini stone fruit , apples , pears , citrus etc than I need in order to get a feed and now the fruit flies are starting to attack the oilves