the Austin Garden: gardening through corona crisis | nurseries shift in response

Covid-19 effects: Many of the springtime gatherings of gardeners are cancelled, and most nurseries have altered operations to follow city guidelines: BARTON SPRINGS NURSERY: open regular hours; 10 people allowed at a time. GREAT OUTDOORS: open 10 a.m. - 4 p.m. 25 people allowed at a time. THE NATURAL GARDENER: closed. (A March 23 meeting will 'determine path forward.' ) SHOAL CREEK NURSERY: business as usual. WIMBERLEY GARDENS: curbside pickup, and free next day delivery within 10 miles; minimum purchase $10; contact: 512 842 1220 or email your order to Jennie@wimberleygardens.com

BRITE IDEAS: business as usual. ❦

Let's support our local nurseries during this highly unusual time. Hats off to all the noble gardeners/farmers - such as Tim Miller in Kyle (photo above), Sunshine Community Gardens, and Renee Studebaker from Smith Elementary (see article below) - who are sharing their bountiful organic crops with the food banks and students in need. Thank you.❦

Sanctuary: 'It's a wonderful thing to have a garden in our shut-in status,' writes Grania Patterson. 'Always plenty to do, and we can talk to the trees and veggies. Hoping fresh veg will be available to us as my beans are only 6 inches high, and a bean a little way off. Have held off on tomatoes as I need to get the chicken manure from Wimberley Gardens. Weather gorgeous and Austin looking lovely in fresh green.' ❦

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Little bloomin' trees: writer Skip Richter celebrates a dozen of Texas's finest small trees. They can be planted as shade for a west facing window, as understory trees, as focal points in a garden design, or they can provide shade 'for a poolside sittin' spot.' Texas Gardener ❦

New illustrator: welcome to artist Linda Anderson, who has joined the staff of the Austin Garden. Linda is a retired art teacher who lives in a funky/beautiful house in Windsor Park called Fig Cottage - named after her little front garden orchard. As a student she studied printmaking and design at Brigham Young, and also book conservation.

Linda is influenced by the Bloomsbury group in the UK, and Walter Anderson and Milton Avery in the U.S. 'Right now my biggest passion and focus is books,' says Linda. 'To be in books. . . to tell stories with words and art, to make books by hand, to create objects that tell stories: all things book!' Linda's art blog ❦

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a d v e r t i s e m e n t

Thursday Morning Landscape

design and installation,

free consultation Call Dwight: 512 913 2189

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Central Texas Gardener: in the studio, an interview with Brianna Crowley about plant pathogens. On tour, a visit to Brenham and the beautiful pastureland gardens of noted horticulturist Bill Welch. Sat. 4 p.m. Sun. 9 a.m. KLRU ❦

photo: Renee Studebaker

Distancing in the garden

in the time of Covid-19

by Renee Studebaker

I’m expecting several packets of seeds to arrive in the mail today from Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds: Old Timer peas (aka speckled purple hull peas), Armenian yard-long cucumbers, Christmas pole lima beans and Henderson's bush lima beans.

At the time I was ordering them (about seven days ago), I didn’t know whether my school would even be open after Spring break. It occurred to me that ordering those seeds was probably not a smart thing to do. Hopeful perhaps. And maybe poignant. But not smart. I wondered if I would still have a job at the garden by the time the seeds arrived.

Well, I’m glad I decided to go ahead and order those seeds because since then, my thinking has changed. I’m going to plant the seeds in the Smith Elementary School garden even though the school and the garden are now closed for the next two weeks and probably longer.

And, since I need something worthwhile to do for who knows how long while I’m unemployed and distancing, I might as well keep taking care of all the vegetables that are already growing in the garden, including lettuce, beets, onions, kale, Swiss chard, snap peas, and cilantro.

And, since all those vegetables need to be harvested soon, why not offer bags of fresh produce to the families who will be picking up free packaged meals at the school next week? Smith Elementary Principal Francis Maldonado liked that idea, so that’s exactly what we’re going to do.

But what about the distancing time left over after I tend to the Smith garden? Well, lucky for me, there are enough maintenance projects in my home garden to keep me socially distant and busy for months.

In my front yard garden on Monday, I picked cabbage loopers and Army worms off the kale and knocked aphids off the dill with blasts of hose water.

On Tuesday, I weeded for what seemed like forever. While I was out there, I noticed lady bug larva nibbling on aphids and paper wasps hovering around kale leaves hunting for loopers. (I’m sure I haven’t picked off all the loopers so there should be plenty left for the wasps to feed to their babies.)

On Wednesday, I saw two monarchs fluttering and twirling around each other high above a small patch of milkweed. It looked like a courtship dance, which means — yay! — monarch caterpillars coming soon.

Which brings me to a few final thoughts about gardening and Covid-19: I think gardeners definitely have an edge over non-gardeners during these trying times. For example, when I’m ready for a salad, all I have to do is step into my garden and harvest some lettuce and green onions. No worries about empty shelves or long lines.

When I’m feeling a need for a tonic, I have easy access to garlic, onions and thyme, three plants that might help me keep my immune system strong. When I’m feeling helpless about this awful pandemic or restless after so much distancing, I can go out and pull some weeds or harvest extra greens and offer them (from six feet away) to a neighbor who doesn't have a vegetable garden.

And when I need a little of that extra special boost that humans get from interacting with nature, all I have to do is step outside my front door and watch the black-eyed susans bloom and the butterflies fly by. ❦

Longtime Austin gardener and writer Renee Studebaker is a retired newspaper journalist who now teaches children how to grow and cook vegetables.