Quarantine Garden

Artie

In California, garden nurseries were declared essential services because they sell the means for people to grow their own food.  Even apartment dwellers can put a pot of tomatoes or other veggie on the balcony and a few herbs in the window.  Gardening is also solitary exercise, which is what we're being encouraged to do.

Armstrong Garden Centers went to online orders.  You can get delivery or curbside pickup.  I wasn't sure what I wanted and went to Home Depot instead.  I needed other stuff there anyway, and it's closer to my home.  I was originally going to pick up seeds while I was at Sprouts, but everyone else had the same idea and they only have a small display of them to start with.

After standing in line for 10 minutes just to get in, I didn't find any seedlings I wanted.  Fine, tossed in a bag of soil and headed over to the seed display.  This one was well-stocked.  I avoided nightshades and gourds, going instead for kale, cauliflower, and beets.  It's kind of late in the season for all of them.  I did this shopping on March 31st, when the latest you can realistically plant any of these in my area is mid-April.  It gets hot here the week of the 4th of July, and these are cool-weather plants.

Of course, this wasn't starting from scratch garden-wise.  I had a mature arugula and several sprouts of it.  In the Pond I still had a radish, about a dozen carrots, and some pea vines.  The last is finally starting to flower, so I'll have peas soon.  Two of the three artichokes were starting to bud, and the citrus tree had ripe fruit.  Plus, there is food at the store.  Now.

Total for the seeds and soil was $12.96.  There's no way I'm going to grow that much in food, but the exercise and entertainment of gardening is worth something when you're not doing much else.  At the very least, it gets you out into the sunshine for Vitamin D and a melatonin reset.