The interest in gardening, especially vegetable gardening, skyrocketed in 2020 as millions of people stuck at home turned to vegetable gardening to supplement their food supply and as a relaxing (COVID-safe) activity. This spike in interest led to severe shortages of many gardening supplies and even rolled into canning supplies in the fall. Given that we are still in the midst of the pandemic, if you are planning on having a vegetable garden in 2021, here are a few things you can do to make sure you have everything you need for a beautiful and bountiful garden in 2021.
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Make a Plan. Now is the time to think about the layout of next year’s garden. This year’s memories are still fresh, and you are not distracted by the plants available at your local nursery that somehow magically end up in your cart. Think about what plants did well and what plants did poorly. If you had problems with any sort of fungus, like powdery mildew on your zucchini, plan to plant next year’s crop in a different spot. You can also buy your neem oil now, so you are ready if it returns. It was sold out in many places.
Reach out to fellow gardeners in your area and ask what they had luck with. Many gardening clubs have gone “virtual” so you can join clubs that usually met when you were at work to tap into the deep collective knowledge base of local gardeners. You can also make plans to split those six-packs of plants in the spring, so you don’t end up with too many of the same variety.
To help you, there are lots of free and paid planners online or you can just use a simple sheet of paper. If you bought a Tertill weeding robot this year remember to use the included laminated planner or planting schedule (Garden in a Box Bundle) to plan your best garden yet!
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Clean, repair, and inventory your gardening tools. Let’s face it that first warm day in spring when you just want to get out in the garden and dig in the dirt is NOT the day you want to spend sharpening your clippers, wiping off crusty mud, or realizing your favorite gloves have a hole in them. Doing this now means you can order any needed replacements early – hopefully before they sell out in the spring. Heck, there might even be some things on “off-season” sale.
If you are one of the thousands of people who own a Tertill, watch Joe Jones, the inventor of Tertill (and Roomba) for the proper way to store your Tertill on our How To Page. This will ensure Tertill is ready to place in the garden as soon as the snow melts. Read why it is important to NEVER let a weed go to seed in the blog: Changing This One Habit Can Help Decrease Weeds in Your Garden.
- If you are going to be planting seeds – consider buying them now. Last spring many seed companies sold out of seeds, so ordering early is imperative. If you are flexible about exactly what seeds you get, you might want to put a note in the order saying something like “If unavailable, substitute with similar variety” to ensure you get something. If you need specific types of plants for disease resistance or climate/soil conditions, it is way easier to find that variety as seeds rather than scouring garden centers for them. It’s also a great way to try unusual plants – Pink celery anyone?
If you enjoy gardening, you might want to consider giving the gift of gardening to someone you love. It is hard to think of any other activity that has such a positive impact on our bodies, mental health, and even the environment. There are lots of gifts to choose from including festive Rosemary topiaries, windowsill herb gardens, and for those people who have been VERY good this year, Tertill the solar powered weeding robot. The Gift Giving Bundle is $50 off with FREE standard US Shipping through the holiday as our gift to you!
Happy Growing!