The Rewards of Gardening During a Pandemic

With so many people staying home and social distancing during the COVID-19 pandemic, it was the perfect time to plan out and start seeds for my 2020 vegetable garden. 

The coronavirus outbreak also brought with it rising consumer demand for fruit and vegetable seeds. Seed companies could barely keep up with the demand. 

I asked myself, do I really want to go through all the work of starting seeds this year, when you never know how successful the garden will be from one year to the next. Amid the stress of COVID, my goal was to cut down on my grocery bills by growing my own fruits and vegetables. I felt it would be a nice distraction from COVID crises and the sad political environment that has been a source of stress for everyone. 

There was also a lot of anxiety over the food supply chain. I wanted to try to be more self-sufficient and have some control over the situation we were facing with empty grocery shelves and long food bank lines. It was very concerning to me as I'm sure it was for everyone. 

According to Rutgers University professor Joel Flagler, there are certain, very stabilizing forces in gardening that can ground us when we are feeling shaky, uncertain, and terrified. It’s these predictable outcomes, predictable rhythms of the garden that are very comforting right now. 

Getting my hands in the soil and planting connects me back to the earth and is a reminder of hope and new beginnings. For this gardener, watching my garden grow is very exciting. 

I started my seeds indoors in seed trays until the roots and stems we strong and could be moved to individual larger pots. I began taking them outside in early spring during the day as the temperatures began to warm up so they could get acclimated outdoors until all danger of frost had passed. 

During that time, I also began to prepare my garden soil by adding humus and manure and compost from vegetables and fruit scraps. I've been building this rich soil for about six years now and every year, I build up the soil and add more organic topsoil, humus manure, and compost. 

We had a lot of rain this past spring, and everything had a slow start because of the lack of sunshine for several weeks. I was finally able to get my plants in the ground in the second week of May. I was very careful to space my plants well and feed them with organic plant food as well as watering them well during dry times and scorching high temperatures. 

My herbs, tomatoes, peppers, yellow squash, cayenne peppers, strawberries, and fig tree thrived and gave me a bounty of consistent vegetables and fruits all summer. 

Gardening during a pandemic has been very comforting and therapeutic. Also, it has provided fresh produce that reduced my grocery bill all summer. Every year I learn what worked well and what I should change for the next season. In my first few years of gardening, I learned the importance of creating healthy soil and what a difference it makes in the increased amount of vegetables and the health of the whole garden. 

This year my takeaway was how beneficial it was to feed the plants every 10 days, as well as prune back some of the plants during the growing season. Pruning produced more flowering and in turn more vegetables. Below is a photo gallery of the growing progress of the garden from the spring through the summer of 2020. 

Instead of using my energy towards things I have no control over, I put that energy and passion into getting my hands in the soil and growing my own food. In return, I reaped the rewards with a bounty of fresh vegetables all summer. Just another reminder for me personally to stay grateful and count my blessings! I hope I inspired you to plan and enjoy a garden of your own in 2021.  

Back to the Garden in 2017 - From Seedlings in February to Beautiful Veggies in July!

Back to the garden and back to my blog. Instead of a summer blog, I'm going to post once a week, sometimes twice a week. Everyone thinks I have a green thumb. The funny thing is I used to kill my houseplants in my first apartment. I want to share my knowledge and passion for growing nutritious fruits and vegetables. I will also show you how to cook with these fresh healthy ingredients as well. I may even offer online gardening and cooking classes on this blog, so stay tuned!

The 2017 Garden seedlings got their start in early February. By the first week in March, the seedlings began to sprout. I had to rotate the trays every day in the sunlight on the kitchen table to help maintain strong vertical stems.

Below is a pictorial progressiom of the soil prep I did and have learned is a necessity! Adding humus and manure to organic soil and fertilizing every other week made a huge difference. Don't forget to , plant them in a sunny spot, water twice a day, early morning and early evening, weed as often as possible and you will truly be rewarded. I'm so excited to see my fig tree produce figs for the first time, my first head of cabbage as well as the Mediterranean cucumbers and gorgeous zucchini! 

I made the most delicious simple salad with fresh picked chopped tomatoes, cucumbers, avocados, juice of a whole fresh squeezed lemon , EVOO and salt and pepper dressing. No I did not grow the avocados but worth a try one day. Just picked, healthy and delicious!

I'll be back next week to share more gardening tips and show you what has come up in my little paradise!

Improve Your Vegetable Garden Naturally

Don’t throw out the water you boil your eggs in. This water contains tons of calcium that your plants will love. Just let the water cool and dump it on your plants.

Use baking soda in the garden in several ways. Sweeten your tomatoes by sprinkling baking soda near established plants to make your tomatoes sweeter. Sprinkle baking soda on the soil in your garden.

Rabbits, ants, silverfish and roaches do not like it and will stay away.  Kill slugs by putting it right on the pest. (don’t get it on the plants, though.) Kill Cabbage worms. Mix equal parts of baking soda and flour and dust plants such as broccoli, cabbage, and kale that are attractive to cabbage worms. The worms will eat the mixture on the leaves and die in a day or so.  Repeat the process as often as needed.

Every morning when you make eggs, save the shells for later on, they are great for adding calcium to the soil. All you need to do is blend them and sprinkle it over the soil. Eggshells are a great source of calcium.

If you want to garden but don’t have enough space to do so or live in an apartment this trick is for you. Use a Rubbermaid Container to start your mini garden. It’s lightweight, easy to store on a balcony.

Epsom salt is rich in magnesium and sulfate which are crucial to plant life. If you want a healthy glowing garden, make sure to use it. Add a tablespoon to the soil while plants and sprinkle some over the soil once the plants are mature.

When you boil vegetables, some of the nutrients get into the water, which makes it perfect to use when fertilizing your plants. Wait for the water to cool down.

Seedlings will thrive off the nutrients in a citrus peel. Start your little garden there then later transport the whole thing into the soil, just don’t forget to poke holes in the peel to help with drainage.

Seedlings need a good base to grow well; an egg shell is full of calcium. Starts your little garden there then later transport the whole thing into the soil, this is a money saving idea.

A little pinch never hurt anybody. Pinch your herbs to give them a good healthy glow and a boost in growth.

Natural Weed Killer 1 gallon vinegar, 1/2 cup salt, a dash of dish washing detergent (makes it stick to the weeds). Mix well, spray on weeds in the morning, rejoice in their death that evening. This works best on a sunny day.

Did you know that cutting leaves from tomato plants can make your plant healthier and produce more tomatoes?

Don’t throw out those used coffee grounds.  There are lots of ways to put them use in your garden.  Hydrangeas, Camellias, and roses love them! Used coffee grounds work great right away by digging them into the soil near your nitrogen loving plants for extra nourishment. You will have healthier plants and will also save money on garden fertilizer, and know that you are being good to the environment as a gardener. Blueberries, cranberries and other citrus fruit like used coffee (and tea) grounds added to their soil since they help to bring it closer to the 3.0 -5.0 PH that these plants need.

Coffee grounds are known to deter slugs and snails, so sprinkle them around plants that these pests love, such as hostas and broccoli and Brussels sprouts.  They are the perfect organic DIY snail deterrent.
Rooting hormone. Much cheaper than the chemical stuff they sell in the big box store and just as effective! Just apply cinnamon powder to the stem when you plant the cutting.

Gardeners love cinnamon, but ants do not like cinnamon! Sprinkle it in your greenhouse or around your garden beds. It will not kill the ants, but they will stay away from it. Sprinkle it by your doors if ants are coming into your house. They really hate to cross a line of cinnamon!

Cinnamon for plant wounds. Overzealous pruning or a slip of the weed whacker and you'll have a plant with a wound that needs to be fixed up. Simply dust cinnamon on the wound to encourage healing and prevent fungal infection at the same time.

Cinnamon get's rid of molds and mildew in house plants too. Simply sprinkle a bit of cinnamon on the soil. It will also get rid of gnats if you happen to have them buzzing around your house plants. These are the same gnats seedlings get; the cinnamon destroys the fungus they feed on and they will die.

I hope the tips above help boost your plants' growth! Enjoy your harvest my friends!

Backyard Farming in the Summer of 2016

After getting a very late start planting this spring, my vegetable garden is finally starting to provide me with a healthy variety of delicious vegetables that I love. I would advise you to only plant things you love or are pricey at the grocery store.  

I decided to start as many plants from seed as I could and prepared the soil with organic soil amendments such as humus and manure.  I have been building the soil up for the last three years since starting the garden patch.  This year I also extended my raised garden bed and it has been a big success as you will see in the photos that will follow.

I planted the seeds in seed starter trays and kept the trays moist but was careful not to over water and drown them.  After they grew to a strong healthy size, I began taking them outside during the day and back indoors at night to get them acclimated to the cool spring weather. Eventually planted them in late May, about three weeks later than I usually do.

Watering daily and weeding often as well as feeding the plants with compost tea bags (soak in a watering can overnight) was very important in growing healthy and pest free plants.

I have been able to harvest spring onions, summer straight neck squash, basil and peppers so far. Because I planted a few weeks later, my tomatoes have not turned red yet.  The eggplants and cucumbers are now coming in as well as the pumpkins and watermelon.

It is amazing how fast the squash and cucumbers grow.  You really have to check under the leaves well so your vegetables don't get too huge. They tend to be tough and seedy if you don't pick them when they are tender and not overgrown.

Working in the garden is so rewarding as well as very therapeutic for relieving stress.  The Vitamin D from the sunshine and getting a workout while I do what I love is fantastic! I look forward to sharing more updates and photos on my backyard farm soon! Stay cool in the summer heat my friends!