A Complete Guide to Quarantined Gardening

Benefits of Gardening?

• Gardening is not just a practice but a therapy. Working with the soil enables one to connect with nature.
• Thus, elevating stress and anxiety – especially in times like now – gardening can work wonders for everybody in the house.
• Plus teaching kids gardening would also help them learn some essential values.
• This is a good way to convince them to eat more fruits and vegetables since it is cool to grow your food.
• Hands-on practical learning: parents can show them roots, buds and how the plant develops from seed along with processes like photosynthesis.

Where to Start?

Well, if you have a garden then the answer is quite obvious. But, if you are living in apartments then you need to get plant potters, which won’t available in the markets now because of Coronavirus.

Don’t worry, we’ve got you covered

⦁ Pots

You can use old cold drink bottles, ice cream tubs, cookie jars/boxes, plastic boxes or even clay pots that are out of use. If you are using any plastic container then make sure that it has drainage holes. To create drainage holes just use a compass and blow some holes in the box/container so that excess water flows out. If you want to be creative then you can even paint those containers or tie a string to the pot and hang it in in your balcony/ near window as a supplement to home décor.

⦁ Soil

You can use whatever type of soil is available near you. For making the soil nutritious you can prepare your manure:
⦁ Using husk of coconut shell.
⦁ Vegetable and fruit peels.
⦁ Using coffee grounds etc.

⦁ Soil is Not the Only Possible Medium

You can also opt for plants which grow in water. Just go and look for a bottle which is out of use and place a plant cutting in it which can survive in water like money plant.

⦁ Seeds

Yes yes I know that seeds won’t be available since the markets are shut. But, hey who said you need to buy seeds. I am pretty sure you must be having a lot of them already at your place.

⦁ Tomato: The seeds in Tomato can be directly sown into the soil to get your tomato plant which will bear fruits in just a few months after sowing them ( if weather and season are favorable).

⦁ Chilly: You can also grow chilly from the seeds in it but make sure that the chilly is red. The seeds found in a green chilly are not mature and hence don’t grow into a plant. You can put a green chilly under the sun and wait for it to naturally turn red. Once it turns red go ahead and sow them.

⦁ Garlic: yes you read that right you can grow garlic from its cloves (make sure you don’t break it from any part). Just take a few cloves and sow them into the soil and see your plant grow.

⦁ Bonus Tip

You can use the garlic leaves in cooking, the garlic leaves which will continue to grow till garlic gets mature underneath the soil taste exactly like garlic and can be used in garnishing your favorite dishes. It is a widely used element in various cuisines across the globe.

# Black grapes, Papaya, Dragon Fruit: just sow the seeds and look your plant grow.

# Coriander: You can also use coriander seeds to grow coriander leaves and then use it to garnish your delicacies.

# Bell Pepper: Just like chilly, the same rule applies for bell pepper as well use seeds from red bell pepper (because only mature seeds germinate) and sow it in well-drained soil.

Final Words

Gardening is one of the best de-stressing, self-absorbing and an activity that can teach one a lot of things. Also, there is nothing better than admiring the greens that you have grown yourself. Moreover, gardening can give you that much-needed break from social media and a time to not only connect but also strengthening your bond with your family (if you are doing it together). It is a very good team-building exercise because being able to successfully grow a plant from a seed together shall be considered a joint achievement.