Stay home. When shelter in place start a vegetable garden. Wow, every time I turn on the TV that’s all I hear. This is the first time in my life I am afraid of my hands. Hand now don’t you touch me now. Nose stop encouraging hand with itch. Nooo, itch! What are you doing? Hand stop, don’t go there! Hand went there. Come on hands I know where you had been, I think.
When Shelter in Place Start a Vegetable Garden.
- Find a place you want to grow your vegetables.
- Herbs like a place to grow as well so you need to find a corner or a place where you can easily cover them up during the hot days when the temperature goes up to 120° F.
- Get a timer to water your garden. You don’t want to water your plants in the middle of the day or else you’ll end up cooking them before it’s time to harvest. Every 2 to 3 days (every 24 hours or 48 hours.) Because of the heat, the best time to water would be at 5 AM and 6 PM twice a day versus winter 8 am every 48 hours once a day.
- Established citrus trees are 10 to 14 days.
- Also, clear out any dead debris from trees and dying plants. Declutter the yard, so to speak.
Perfect time to start. Spring is here. Right now you don’t want to plant lettuce, kale, broccoli, or any cool-weather crops. Things you will need right now at the beginning of April are:
- Containers, buckets are great if you don’t have a yard, small place, or balcony.
- 3 cu. ft. Steer manure.
- 3 cu. ft. peat moss.
- 3 cu. ft. All-natural garden soil.
- Perlite. (Optional)
- Gloves
- trowel
- Seeds
- Transplant from the store.
It’s a little late for seeding. I would go with transplanting your vegetables and herbs.
Directions:
Mixed half of each in each bucket/container. Perlite is optional because it comes in 8 quarts bag. You can get 3 to 4 bags if you like to use it. I use it because I have raised garden beds. High ones about 3 ft high and ground ones.
You can purchase most of them at the big box stores like the Home Depot or Lowe’s they have all the materials you’ll need to build a few or two. Have fun and good luck.
Right now the weather is getting hotter in the desert southwest. This mixture is the standard mixture for all edible vegetables, herbs, and flowers. It’s my go-to mixture.
What to plant?
- Potatoes or sweet potatoes.
- Corn or sweet corn.
- All beans.
- Summer squash all varieties.
Grow these together for enhancing the taste of each.
- Carrots start in the fall. Heat make it a little bitter. FYI.
- Tomatoes.
- Borage next to tomatoes to deters hornworms.
- Beets, red
- Mustard greens grows year-round just like the beets.
- Collard greens.
- Hot peppers like Thai chili peppers, sweet peppers, and bell peppers
Herbs:
- Cilantro
- Green onions/scallions
- Flowering dill
- Thyme
- Sage
- Lemon verbena
- Lemongrass
- Chives
- Parsley
- Mint
- Anise
- Basil
- Garlic chives
- Borage
Now is the time to prune:
- Basil
- Lemongrass
- Mint
Don’t need to prune lavender, rosemary, sage, and thyme. My experience is they, died. Prune at your own risk. Note: Seed cilantro, celery, and carrots during the fall for best taste in flavors. Like I said earlier heat makes them bolt too early and a little bitter.
Edible flowers:
- Nasturtiums
- Marigolds
- Pansys
- Borage blooms also a herb.
- Chive blossoms
Citrus/fruit trees:
Perfect time to plant citrus before the heat comes. Choose citrus that requires 400 or less chill hours. Or else you won’t get fruits. Read more for when to fertilize citrus trees.
For established grapes fertilize times are February and May.
These are what I have, however, this list goes on. I don’t write down what I haven’t tried. It’s completely up to you. Try at your own risk.
Problems and Issues
Watering your plants is crucial because some veggies like damp soil but not soggy it will cost root rot. Not enough water they will wilt.
Pest, like tomato hornworms, aphids black and white ones, and whiteflies. You want to attract honey bees, ladybugs, praying mantis, even ants. They eat aphids. Seen it with my own eyes.
Your soil has mushrooms growing from it. Don’t worry count yourself lucky. It means you have fertile soil. It’s great! Just pick ’em off and put it back in the soil so it can decompose back.
Issues with moss growing, you’re watering too often or too long. Let is damp between watering, maybe even letting a dry a little.
Go test your soil if you got enough water by touching it or use your finger to dig 1/2 an inch to 3 mm down the soil. If it’s wet, damp you’re good.
To get rid of pests. Use some dawn liquid soap maybe about 1/4/soap and 3/4 soap in a spray bottle and spray them.
I hose my climbing rose buds down just last night. They were full of aphids. That’s another option too.
You can hose it down as well. Buy some all-natural organic neem oil spray and spray the veggies once a week or until there’s no sign of them. Keep this in mind not all bugs are bad bugs. Make sure everything you use is organic, even the seeds you use.
Get Outside And Do Something With The Family.
Since schools are out until the end of the year because coronavirus is a dangerous threat to us all this is one of the best ways to keep everyone entertained.
Teenagers can dig the backyard. Preteens can help weeds and transplants. And small kids can seed. Oh boy, only if, right? I will be praying for you. Good luck with having the kids help.
Another way is to take them hiking if they don’t like exercising in the dirt, take ’em to the mountains.
My solution and conclusion
There you have it. Shelter in place, start a vegetable garden. Going crazy? I hope not just get out there and start a vegetable garden. At times like these where we are afraid to go out in public because of a threat, we can’t see and cure that seems too far to come by, and it’s doing damage to us.
We have to do something so, me, you and your family won’t go hungry.
Let’s pray that this, COVID-19 aka coronavirus, blows over soon and we can all go living normally.
There’s also another option is to get some chickens. Living in the county allows you to have a rooster and hens. I live in the city and is allowed to have 8 hens, no rooster. For meat, you would like to have more chicks for the future. Research your area to see if your city allows what you can and can’t have.
Thank you for reading my blog. I really appreciated your time as yours are as valuable as mine. If you have any comments, questions.
Disclaimer:
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Do what you love. If, gardening isn’t your forte give starting an online business a try. Do what I do and start a blog and have a website. Nothing to start. Everything to gain.
