Posted on 05/09/2020 10:53:29 AM PDT by thecodont
Spring is always a busy time for garden centers. But during a nationwide lockdown, the season is a whole different animal.
"We are 500% busier than we normally are this time of year," said Mario DiGrande, owner of Oakland's Thornhill Nursery. "I've already sold as much soil in six weeks that I do in an entire year. It's just crazy."
Considered essential businesses by California's stay-at-home order, many garden centers have opted to stay open for the past few months - albeit with reduced staff and social-distancing measures such as curbside pickup or appointment-only shopping.
[...]
Herbs, tomatoes, cucumbers, citrus trees, soils and fertilizers are all especially popular items. At Thornhill Nursery, DiGrande, who is currently running the whole operation by himself, says they’ve had to limit customers to one basil plant per person. (And if people aren’t buying edible plants, they’re at least stocking up on houseplants, he added.)
From stockpiling canned and dry goods at grocery stores, to cultivating sourdough starters and baking bread, growing vegetable gardens seems like the natural progression of quarantine clichés.
“It’s survivalist, first and foremost,” explained Melissa Smith, who recently started a garden in her San Leandro home with her family. “People have gone generations without knowing where food comes from and how to provide for themselves.”
There’s even a bit of a history behind this urge to start a garden. During World War I and World War II, various countries, including the United States, were encouraged to plant victory gardens: vegetable, fruit, and herb gardens planted at private residences and public parks to supplement rations and boost morale.
(Excerpt) Read more at sfgate.com ...
Western Wisconsin here... was 26 degrees this morning, possible flurries tonight, and it’s supposed to be 27-28 degrees Sunday and Monday nights.
It’s our third cool, delayed spring in a row. Must be climate change. :-)
AT LEAST 50 cars there and multiple people per vehicle.
Sounds like our longtime nursery. They had been admitting a maximum of 5 customers.
Last weekend they opened up and now admit a maximum of 5 vehicles, when one vehicle leaves, another can enter. Long waits, and no one leaves without going into their parking spots.
Our Meyer Lemon tree has just about become year round with blossoms and various stages of lemons and blossoms. We still have about 3 dozen left from the last harvest. Our yard guy works out trades with people with other fruit.
Our fig tree has a few figs about ready to be picked and a ton of blossoms. The fig tree is in a horse water trough and has feral mint in the container. So we can pick a Meyer Lemon and mint in the same little trip to make sun tea.
We are longtime customers of a SE Asian family (all legals) who have several incredible farms in the area from strawberries to Fresh Corn from July to the first of November. We stop on the way back from that vendor to buy fresh eggs and whatever, they are growing. We only raise the tomatoes, lemons and figs as the veggies from these vendors is superb. We have not been to a farmer’s market since we discovered these vendors.
We get about 6 tomatoes from the tomato lady, and they are planted in horse water troughs.
Went to Lowes Garden Center the first weekend on lock down to get plants for the garden. Went the second weekend to get more. Both times it was very crowded.
Have maybe a dozen tomatoes bigger than a quarter and lots of blooms on the cucumbers. Herbs are sprinting. Peppers just starting blopming.
I’m about a month ahead of where I usually am.
“Hey! Let’s be careful out there!” /Brian May
Our back yard soil is poor, rocky, and at 72/80 we are in no physical condition to fix it. No tiller, we have 2 of the Made in the USA Tartar horse tanks with no bottom that can hold 4-6 tomato plants.
Our Upright freezer isn’t large and is getting old.
Grocery stores, Sam’s, Costco are rationing meat to 2 packages total. Go past planting season we will be looking like Venezuela. They have all kinds of excuses that Congress built into our food production system. Like you can’t sell raw milk. Good grief, heat it to kill any bacteria then cool it. Milk Freezes for a while. Liquify eggs and store in freezer. Most fruit, veggies will freeze. Just don’t wash fruit till you are ready to use it. Hybrid does NOT reproduce, you want Heirloom seeds or plants. People forget why we had cellars.
Shad Sullivan - We Are Being Forced To Dump Your Food Supply
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T2ortQpF-5I&feature=youtu.be&fbclid=IwAR3Sg_57_neKqTLDsInOPLmJi4sUo_el75GykzVc7u-OQGTU4XbgoSDTtts
The cost of the pandemic for America’s farmers
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n8dDgeJLqOg
How the COVID-19 pandemic is sending American agriculture into chaos
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zlpx2UARByo
Costco to limit meat purchases
https://kfdm.com/news/nation-world/costco-to-limit-meat-purchases-05-04-2020
Oregon farmers dump produce as COVID-19 shuts down big customers
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JMxkb-YrqIY
Michigan beef farmers feel the effects of COVID-19
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VGHpOda9jFM
McDonald’s CEO says he is confident in the company’s supply chain, as the fast-food giant changes how restaurants get beef and Wendy’s runs out of burgers
https://www.businessinsider.com/mcdonalds-chief-executive-confident-in-meat-supply-chain-2020-5
Dairy Farmers Forced To Dump Milk Say It’s ‘Devastating’
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3V9c4JvPRyQ
Farmer is forced to dump his crop with decreased demand
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bRcVp1MbCcI
Shad Sullivan - We Are Being Forced To Dump Your Food Supply
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T2ortQpF-5I&feature=youtu.be&fbclid=IwAR3Sg_57_neKqTLDsInOPLmJi4sUo_el75GykzVc7u-OQGTU4XbgoSDTtts
The cost of the pandemic for America’s farmers
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n8dDgeJLqOg
How the COVID-19 pandemic is sending American agriculture into chaos
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zlpx2UARByo
Costco to limit meat purchases
https://kfdm.com/news/nation-world/costco-to-limit-meat-purchases-05-04-2020
Oregon farmers dump produce as COVID-19 shuts down big customers
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JMxkb-YrqIY
Michigan beef farmers feel the effects of COVID-19
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VGHpOda9jFM
McDonald’s CEO says he is confident in the company’s supply chain, as the fast-food giant changes how restaurants get beef and Wendy’s runs out of burgers
https://www.businessinsider.com/mcdonalds-chief-executive-confident-in-meat-supply-chain-2020-5
Dairy Farmers Forced To Dump Milk Say It’s ‘Devastating’
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3V9c4JvPRyQ
Farmer is forced to dump his crop with decreased demand
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bRcVp1MbCcI
Not time yet for them to be ripe. Some white fungus got mine 2 yrs ago. Blackberries are in bloom, but are not going to produce much, didn’t last year. Have to see if 1 of those Tartar bottomless horse tanks will hold a few green beans.
I’ve already started harvesting my asparagus.
The spinach and lettuce are coming along nicely.
I have potatoes and onion sets in and have started tomato plants and some herbs.
We are doing a permaculture garden. This method will work on any ground, even rocky ground. It’s also easier than other methods. No tilling, no digging. Check Back To Eden Gardening on YouTube.
If the stores are sold out of mulch or wood chips, check with a tree removal service.
Amen !
As one with a rather plebeian palate, the canned stuff ticks all the boxes on my short list.
Actually, if I had a ton of money I'd buy a small truckload of MREs and call it done !
The wife has staked claim to the dollar rack at Lowe’s. Many, many less-healthy plants for one, three or five dollars. She only buys the dollar plants...and brings’em back to good health. The yard is flush with green growth.
Cross-Ping to the Weekly Garden Thread Gang!
Having managed a Garden Center for 10 years...I cannot express to you all how RELIEVED I am to be retired from that life these days!
I’m glad to see more people giving it a try, but I predict more failures and quitting versus learning and improving their skills for many that are jumping on the bandwagon for the wrong reasons. :(
We saw this with people buying baby chicks this spring so they could have a few laying hens at home. Lots of fatalities. :(
However - if any Freepers want advice, we are here to help - and we will! We have a HUGE knowledge base and we all LOVE to grow food and flowers and raise small (and large!) livestock. Just ask! We’re glad to help!
Here in Connecticut, we had police cars directing traffic at these nurseries. I hope they protected their plants last night though because the temperature was 28 degrees this morning.
15 plots and we only have eight gardeners.
That’s too bad...but, more room for you! :)
This year I started a whole flat of tomatoes and peppers just to share with the neighbors, in case the stores run out.
It hasn’t happened yet, but we’ll see. I can plant them myself if no one wants any.
This, on top of the 8 flats I started for my own garden. I’m also growing a bigger potato patch than originally planned, and a 50x50 patch of wheat.
My “garden” is over an acre, and could be expanded to 4 acres without cutting into the soon-to-be-orchard space. This year I’m really glad I have it, as well as my chickens. They’ve been keeping us supplied with eggs through the shortage.
Great Idea Diana. When I started gardening, the FR garden thread really helped me a lot.
I also in my research, ran across a web site that was so great-I printed a lot of the articles for reference in my garden planning and emergency planning files:
I have checked and Grand Pappy is still active and penning more articles even now. Some particular Topic Headings:
HARD TIMES SURVIVAL
HARD TIMES RECIPES
GARDENING TIPS-check out the Vegetable Recommendations for New Gardeners.
https://www.grandpappy.org/indexgar.htm
LIST OF MANY MORE ARTICLES-just a sample and there’s more topics such as survival, firearm topics, the economy, etc. He’s even got articles about the current Pandemic and Preparations etc.
Home Gardening Articles by
Robert Wayne Atkins, P.E.
“The information on these pages could be useful to anyone interested in gardening. However, they were written with the average home gardener in mind.
By home gardener I mean someone who plants and maintains a small garden each spring using a simple shovel, hoe, and rake. These are the basic hand tools I use each year and they have consistently served my needs in my small home garden quite well.”
During Hard Times Should You Know Some Basic Gardening Skills? - Added February 19, 2011.
How to Maximize the Harvest From Your Vegetable Garden - Added March 4, 2014.
How to Select Vegetable Seeds for a Hard Times Garden - Added February 2, 2015.
Why Should You Buy a Few More Vegetable Seed Packages Each Spring? - Added February 2, 2015.
Vegetable Recommendations for New Gardeners - Added January 14, 2011.
Crop Rotation Strategies - Added September 1, 2014.
How to Grow Your Own Vegetable Seeds - Added May 1, 2007.
How to Harvest, Process, and Store Vegetable Seeds - Added May 1, 2007.
How to Grow Fruits, Nuts, Grapes, and Berries - Added March 1, 2011.
How to Grow Fruit Trees From Seed - Added March 1, 2011.
Some Bad Gardening Advice and Some Good Gardening Advice - Added April 8, 2013.
The Benefits of Mulch - Added May 17, 2008.
How to Convert Human Waste into a Safe Garden Compost Fertilizer - Added December 31, 2008.
Ant Hills: A Simple Solution - Added October 1, 2008.
Grandpappy’s e-mail address is: RobertWayneAtkins@hotmail.com
Should get 100 melons (minimum) out of the plot.
I'm 76 but have a gentlemen who helps me and does the tough stuff.
I myself have planted a garden. I did this in the past and have become bored now and now do the same. I have time on my hands.
Relative to food I have ample and have had such for years in dried form. I am a prep-per. On my land is abundant game of which about 100 pounds are in the freezer in the garage. Much more is out their if needed to harvest. I can kill game, and harvest them. If we have electricity I can take them and make them hamburger. We do this every year and the meat is most great.
I will survive! I know how to live in the desert of West Texas or the swamps of South Louisiana. I prefer the swamp. Not much in West Texas that will kill you except rattlesnakes and dehydration. The swamp is full of food and also full of things that will kill you.
I hate water moccasins. I think they are democrats.
My mom always canned....especially tomatoes. My daughter, in her 50’s, still cans...lotsa salsa.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.