Gardening Therapy

In this very surreal time, I have to force myself to do some of the ordinary things around the house and yard, just to stay sane.

Yesterday, April 1, it was a chilly day with periods of sunshine as well as rain. I had decided that the first of April would be the day I plant potatoes. In addition to seed potatoes from last fall, I also found a few grocery store potatoes that had sprouted to add to the bunch. I don't know how well grocery store potatoes will do in the home garden, but I thought it was worth a try. My seed potatoes are a purple fingerling variety, which are nice, but sometimes I want just a regular old white potato. If the store potatoes work, then I'll count myself lucky. I planted 2 of the 3 rows of potatoes yesterday.

In addition, I moved blueberry bush number 3 (out of 4) to its new, much sunnier spot. I'm hoping it will be much happier and produce lots more berries in this new location.

As I was finishing with the potatoes, a rain cloud burst upon me and watered everything in well.

Over the weekend, I started winter and summer squash indoors. They've yet to sprout, but I'm hopeful. My garden is only so big, so I've been eyeing other sunny spots for some of these vegetable plants. A bush zucchini or two will blend into a bed of perennials. And the vining squash will cover a bare spot near the lawn. A bit of an edible landscape idea going on, here.

What are you doing to distract yourself these days?

Do you use the "Notify Me" option when an item you need is out of stock?

For those of us shopping online right now, a significant frustration has erupted everywhere. You go to a website that you assume "has it all," only to find out that they did "have it all" but now no longer have any.

Many retail websites offer a notification service to their shoppers. When a desired item comes back in stock, the website will send out a quick email to alert a customer of new stock. The box to select this option is often found alongside the "out of stock" notice for the item. You fill in your email and wait to be notified. (You might want to check your spam folder every day, too, just in case.)

In addition to email notification, some websites are also posting what date they expect new stock to arrive. Savvy customers can jot this date down in their calendar, then on that date, check the website for stock of that item. 

There's a lot of competition for some items right now, so it is best to respond to an alert email or check a website on a specified restock-date as quickly as you can.

I'm using these two strategies to fill out my supplies as I run low going into month 2. I wanted you to know this in case you're encountering the same frustration of those out-of-stock necessities online.

Good luck to you as you search for those items that you are most needing right now!