Now that families are spending time at home due to the shelter in-place, feed store owners are reporting an increase in sales of vegetable seeds and transplant sales; specifically, vegetable transplants. To quote Robert Massingill, owner at Southland Feed in Lufkin, he said the vegetable transplants were just “blowing out his door.”
I get it. With the scarcity mindset that some folks are having, raising their own food has become a result. I recently spoke with several experienced gardeners and novice gardeners about the uncertainty of food supplies and the price of vegetables due to COVID 19. Now, I don’t think the American farmers and ranchers will let us down. They’ll keep us in abundant food supply. Truly the food producers are a critical need.
But gardening can help alleviate many other symptoms of the concerns we have. Most importantly, gardening will help bring families closer together, provide the exercise, stress relief, and help us to get outside to appreciate our environment.
Growing your own food does provide healthy eating opportunities. You will never have fresher produce than what you pick out of your vegetable garden.
Want to spend more quality time with your family? During these economic times and this COVID 19 pandemic shelter-in-place allows a family an opportunity to spend time together producing edible plants.
Want to learn something new? Gardening is a lifetime of learning. Even experienced gardeners are always learning and trying new seed or plant varieties.
Gardening relieves stress, lowers your blood pressure and provides some good exercise. I’m not saying a vegetable garden is easy – not in the least. You’ll sweat. It takes time. And quite frankly, you’ll get really aggravated at the stink bugs and other problems that will reduce your harvest.
One thing that I find cool, is that we are truly blessed to live in an area where we have a choice of growing any kind of vegetable throughout the year. You may not be able to grow much during the hot summer, but you can have a purple-hull peas, okra and a few other options.
Three of the most used methods of gardening for our area include traditional planting of fruits or vegetables directly in the soil, raised beds, or container gardening.
A container garden can be made of flowerpots, feed tubs, barrels, planter boxes, or even 5 gallon buckets. It is important that the container you use that will accommodate the roots of vegetables that you are growing. The container should have adequate drainage and should be free of any chemical residue that may harm the plants or us.
A raised bed is becoming the most popular choice of gardening in our area. They are very attractive to the landscape, provide an opportunity to grow more food in less space. Therefore, allowing you to grow more food in less space. People who do raised bed right, have fewer weeds and less runoff. Beds can be constructed with any a variety of wood lumber, brick, or concrete blocks.
Remember, any garden site needs full sun, well-drained soil and fertilizer. (Organic or commercial). You will need to keep an eye out for weeds, disease and insects.
By planting a vegetable garden, you’ll benefit in more ways than fresh tomatoes, and it might be that family activity that keeps on promoting health, well-being, and lifelong learning.
