To curb the spread of COVID-19 in Michigan, Governor Whitmer announced that garden centers inside stores over 50,000 square feet could no longer serve customers in person. (You can read the full executive order here.) This order caused some confusion and upset for people in Michigan as many have turned to backyard gardening to make sure they have food to eat during these uncertain times. Others are tending to their gardens to cultivate good mental health. But this executive order does not inhibit home gardening for many Michiganders, as initially thought.

While we may not be able to buy mulch or seeds at some of the “big box” home and garden stores, we can still support our smaller, local hardware and garden stores. Let’s take a further look at what we can do right now for our health, food security, and local businesses.

Seeds and scraps

One of the first barriers to growing your own food right now is the limitation on where seeds can be found. Stores in Michigan over 50,000 square feet have been asked to shut down their home gardening sections as they have been overcrowded. Many stores have left the seeds behind the tape or barricades they’ve set up to close off those sections of the store.  So how do you start plants at home? Here are a few options:

• Buy seeds online from your local garden supply store a large retailer. They can be shipped to your house or you can use curbside pickup.
• Visit a local home and garden or hardware store, instead of a big-box store. Stores under 50,000 square feet are exempt from the restrictions on home and garden sales.
• Your local farmers market may have plants already started for sale
• You can even grow plants from kitchen scraps. This article offers some great guidance.

Michigan State University is also offering beginning online gardening classes for free during the COVID-19 pandemic to get you started. Learn more here.

When is the best time to plant in Michigan?

As of writing this blog (mid-April, 2020) it is too early to plant in Michigan! Just last week, most of Michigan got a dusting of snow. Michiganders know that spring weather can be unpredictable, and we don’t have consistently sunny, warm weather until at least late May or early June.

So, when is the earliest that people can put their vegetable plants in the ground? A good rule of thumb for home gardeners without a greenhouse is Memorial Day. In the meantime, keep your seedlings inside! If you want to find out your local “Last Frost Date” (AKA the last day that your area could potentially get frost and kill your plants), check out this tool from Dave’s Garden.

Most seed packets also let you know when the best month to plant is. If your seed packets don’t have that information or you are starting plants from kitchen scraps, a quick Google search will surely provide you the information you need!

For more tips for starting seeds indoors, check out the Old Farmers’ Almanac.

Where to plant your garden

If you’re lucky enough to have a yard or other outdoor space, you could build raised beds por garden boxes. If the soil is healthy enough, you could plant right in the ground! Again, you can still purchase supplies like lumber (MML Foundation staff member Danielle Beard and her husband built very simple raised beds using very inexpensive pine fence pickets) even under the new executive order. Pine wood is a great, inexpensive wood that could be used to build planter boxes and raised beds. Otherwise, there are lots of great DIY planter box kits and plastic, pre-made planter boxes.

If you’re in an apartment, you could still plant in indoor window boxes. Or check out any local community garden plots where you can lease space or reserve space for free to start your own garden.

This article from NPR has even more great tips and insight.

 

 

 

 

Wave “hello” to the neighbors!

Is this situation ideal? No. But nothing is ideal right now. Most things require more planning and less instant gratification. This is just one more of them. Gardening is still very possible in Michigan and can be great for your physical and mental health. It’s also a great way to get outside, see your neighbors and stay connected, even while a little further apart.