Coronavirus Quarantine (WFH, homeschool, tips, etc.)

Herbs are easy, don’t need a lot:

Basil when it gets sunny.

Sage will overwinter and survive a few years.

Mint, scallions, cilantro will last 10 years and self-seed.

(I am in zone 8a)

Level 1 Vegetables:

Zucchini and other squashes
Sunflowers
Beans
I think radishes are easy and appropriate for this weather but I’ve never tried.

Be careful with mint. Saying that it self-seeds is like saying kudzu likes the SE US.

Mint will take over your whole garden if you aren’t careful.

Maybe? I’ve tried mint 4-5 times and can’t keep it alive, in Raleigh. It’s the only thing I’ve had trouble with other than squirrels.

Hmm, I wonder if you have really acidic or alkaline soil or something. I’ve always found that mint spreads rapidly, and it will go anywhere–sun, shade, damp, dry, doesn’t seem to really care. Catnip is the worst, but other mints do the same thing.

That’s true, I have high clay, moist environment, zone 8a. I am close to Wheeljack so I figure what works for me works for him.

Maybe it is the temperature then. All of my planting has been done in zone 6–Michigan and now upstate NY.

Yeah, mint and sage do fine here with minimal care (we had some potted plants outside for a while). I’ve also seen cilantro / coriander totally take over gardens here.

My father-in-law is a bit upstate, but he does a whole range of things, and carrots and radishes grow pretty well, so I think they’d do fine here also. My kids are actually huge fans of fresh carrots just pulled from the ground.

Mint is like a weed in my yard. Leave it alone and it multiples. If you don’t cut it down, it gets pretty damn big, too.

Once I wanted to make fresh mojitos and all I got was this stinking mint forest!

Sage seems to grow anywhere, and as noted, will winter and come back. Cilantro is also pretty hardy and grows well. I’ve never tried coriander. We do a lot of various basil types, and thyme. I occasionally try other things. My tomatoes and peppers did well last summer. Onions didn’t do as well, they just never got big.

I’m really considering doing just herbs this year, and turning the rest of the garden over to flowers.

Wrong Thread

No doubt to prop up the hotel industry.

My friend. Those are the same thing. :p

But at different stages, right? I thought the leaves look slightly different. Frankly, cilantro and parsley look and taste much alike to me.

Usually the ground seeds are called coriander and the leaves are cilantro.

Okay, that makes sense then.

I just bought that! I’ll install it this afternoon.

And I bought it (mostly) unrelated to the TP situation. I was at my SIL’s house over the weekend. She had purchased a BB-600 for her husband for Christmas, but there was no nearby outlet. My FIL was going to install one for her, and I had no idea how to do that so I shadowed and helped him. Once it was installed I went and installed the bidet. I got to be the first to test it. It was pretty incredible.

That is basically every American.

Eh, not me. I’m an introvert who loves playing videogames. I have to be forced to socialise at the best of times. I could happily self quarantine for weeks (and am effectively doing so while being made to WFH).