So if you’ve been keeping pace, your baby plants are now budding and showing themselves in their baby pots. This is a very exciting time in your garden journey. Hopefully, you have also been scoping out plans for your outdoor garden and finalizing where you will be sowing your newly budding baby plants in your yard. There is still time to make adjustments, so be sure to read articles, watch YouTube videos and see pictures of the many inventive ways people have decided to grow all sorts of plants. This is an opportunity to use your imagination and get creative with many items you have sitting around your house. Anything from leftover gutters to plastic bottles can be turned into useful items to help your plants thrive.

Now under normal conditions, I would be preparing my garden and making multiple trips to various hardware stores for various items to help with setup. However, as I warned before, the old heads had a jump start on all of us and have been buying most of the supplies up. Things that are usually very common such as tomato cages seem to be in short supply. I usually rely on Ace Hardware for all my needs, as they stock the most ideal backyard garden, small operation items on a regular basis. But this year, it was less than a week ago I stopped by and found they had virtually nothing but an empty isle. No seeds, no trellis, not even twine. The cashier told me it was bought up weeks before. It was one of those moments I had a slight pit in my stomach at the store, kind of like when I saw people getting pushy in the Sam’s Club over the remnants of what was left in the meat isle. These are the times we are in right now. We can’t stop, we won’t stop, so we will have to make due with the items we have to make this work. We got this!!

The free section of craigslist always is full of junk people are wanting to leave on the curb and have magically disappear. Many of those items can be altered to work in the garden with alittle creativity. Let me first say, be careful picking anything up from anyone’s house. Don’t go alone. Either only go to the announced “curb pickings” available anytime posting or meet in public places. Weirdos post on there and any post in which I must share my info with you and we are NOT exchanging money seems sketchy. Why do you need to know when I am coming if the item is free? Why is it in the backyard? Can’t you drag it around front? Oh, it’s inside your house, down in the basement….nope, I saw Silence of the Lambs and I’d make a rather large skin suit. I’d rather dive in a dumpster wearing my own skin, thank you very much.

A saying that I have heard many times from very experienced gardeners is that you must have your plants in the ground by Mother’s Day to be enjoying a harvest by the Fourth of July. Because of the mild winter and the blooming of flowering trees such as dogwoods and cherry blossoms, I feel pretty comfortable with the head start we have gotten in the garden this year and the time line we are on. But to put it in perspective, we also have plenty of time to change plans, add to the garden and regrow baby plants that just aren’t thriving. No matter how careful I plan, how delicately I handle plants and how thorough I am with preparing growing spots, mistakes will be made and some plants just won’t be successful. Some plants (like squash) are known for growing very big, producing lots of flowers, then no successful fruits. Tomatoes are very delicate to replant in the ground, I’ll lose a few for sure. It’s okay. We will just do our best and try to create as much wiggle room as possible, meaning lots of room for error, but still harvesting plenty for our needs.

There are a few things I’d like you be on the lookout for over the next week and not throw away….any kind of bottle or jug. Soda bottle, water bottle or milk jug, even thrown out 5 galloners….we can use them all. Plastic grocery bags (they can be used as plant containers in a pinch), any kind of stick, old broom handles, bamboo, string or rope, twisty ties from the produce section of the grocery store, twine, wood of any kind in stick form such as 2×4, 1×2, etc., netting or trellis (beware of rust), chicken wire will even work, old yard waste such as you stone, mulch, old hay, old grass clippings and even pavers that are no longer used. PVC pipe with end caps is ideal, yard stakes, anything and everything will be utilized. Don’t be afraid to get dirty and save as much as you can. Trust me, you getting dirty has only just begun!!

Another thing I want you to be on the lookout for us canning supplies. I am hoping yard sale season is not a complete bust, but if it is, stores like Ace, Walmart (although I wouldn’t recommend going there in this hysteria), and even a lot of grocery stores sell canning supplies. I would rather use recycled stuff for the garden and beef up my canning supplies as much as I can afford this year. You will put these items to use, your efforts this summer can last you all year if you keep in mind how much your family eats in a weekly basis. Always be on the lookout for things that can help your garden be the very best it can be!!