Kathy’s Home & Garden Tips – Plan Your Garden During Quarantine

So, you’re stuck in the house trying to think of things to do. The house is clean, and you’re getting tired of Netflix and YouTube. With the weather getting better around Chicagoland, why not do some gardening? Maybe you are a first-timer or have gardened for many years, but it’s a great time to plan a garden. You can decide if you want to have a vegetable garden, a flower garden or both! 

The first thing is to check out your space availability. Even the smallest yard should have ten square- feet of space with some decent sunlight to place a few vegetables or flowers. Even if you are living in an apartment or condo, you can garden in containers. There are many resources online to learn about gardening. Chicago Botanic gardens have a great article on small space gardening on their site. It tells about everything from choosing the space to how to prepare the soil to picking seeds or plants. The only things I would recommend growing from seed would be lettuces and spinach or root vegetables like radishes. These vegetables sprout quickly, and the small shoots can be picked for salads. They also love cool weather, and it’s great to be eating salad greens so soon after planting. 

Summer growing vegetables like tomatoes and peppers can’t go into the ground before the frost has passed, usually the end of May around Chicago. You can certainly plan though how you can place your plants and how many you will need. Each tomato plant will need 3 square feet and peppers around 2. Use fences or trellises to train up green beans and cucumbers. 

Take advantage of the few warmer days we’re having to clean up the yard. Rake up all the debris and clean up around bushes and trees. If you already have a garden, till up the soil and add some mushroom compost. This will add nutrients to the soil and loosen it up for better root growth. 

So even in this crazy time, you can take advantage and plan a great garden that will be feeding you through the fall. Or schedule a flower garden to make your landscape beautiful throughout the year, with spring, summer, and fall blooming flowers and shrubs.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                              

KATHLEEN WEAVER-ZECH AND DEAN’S TEAM CHICAGO