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2 • April 2020 Spring Home & Garden 10 ways to bond with your houseplants By LISA BOONE add life to your interiors while vorite houseplants. Simply cut mioides, known as “the friend- time comes to socialize again). Los Angeles Times (TNS) calming your nerves. Many re- the vine just below the node ship plant” is another popular 5. START AN INDOOR Now that we’ve been or- tailers offer creative and inex- (where the leaf joins the stem), houseplant that is easy to prop- HERB GARDEN dered to stay home, the surre- pensive ways to display plants leaving two to three leafs at the agate. Cut the “babies” that alness of the global pandemic such as the Satsumas bamboo top, and place several stems pop up at the base of the plant Now that you’re spending has set in. While many people and powder-coated metal in water, or around the rim of with a clean, sharp knife and a lot more time cooking, why are coming together virtually, stands from Ikea, an assort- a 3-inch pot. Allow the stems place them in water. When new not plant some of your favorite now is a good time to tend to ment that works well in small to stand in a warm area of the roots and leaves materialize, culinary herbs, such as parsley, your houseplants. Does your spaces and allows you to dis- house and, eventually, rooting transfer the cutting to a small thyme and basil? Plant them in Dracaena “lemon lime” need play multiple plants at once. will occur. After three months, pot with well-drained potting pots that are at least 8 inches dusting? Is your Chinese ever- (Remember, humidity-loving move each individual plant to soil. (These make great home- green getting too much sun? plants do better in groups.) a 3- or 4-inch pot. Pilea pepero- made hostess gifts when the See HOUSEPLANTS 10 Are you watering your plants Etsy also offers a variety of fun too much? Or not enough? plant shelves and if you’re feel- Below, we offer some ways to ing inspired, you can use this cultivate your indoor garden, time to build your own. SHOP ONLINE while helping you stay sane in 4. PROPAGATE the process. (Note: We know it’s hard, but try to resist the Propagating houseplants, urge to overwater your plants such as Epipremnum aure- www.shopfl emings.com while you are stuck at home). um, or pothos, is one of the easiest ways to clone your fa- 1. START STYLING WITH PLANTS You know that table next to your bed? The one littered with bills, change and receipts for your income taxes? The first thing you see when you wake up in the morning and won- der what day it is in this ongo- ing pandemic? Put a plant on it. Trust us, it’ll make you feel better. Take this time to tap in- to your inner Justina Blakeney We’re Open or Hilton Carter. Try hanging We’re & Open plants from a curtain rod. Cre- ate a lush vignette on a bench Blooming! ! or table top. Add a plant to your • Hanging Baskets home office, whatever that • Annuals • SHOP ONLINE might be right now. Plants add warmth and beauty to our inte- • Perennials 24/7 riors and can soothe our spirits • Potting Soil as we ride out this quarantine. • Mulch • SHOP BY PHONE and 2. RESEARCH A NEW • Peat Moss LIVE CHAT PLANT • Veget able During regular Treat yourself to a new ... & Herb Plants houseplant. You deserve it. But business hours. before you do, make the most Trees! of your newfound time at home Maple, Spruce, Fruit, More Mon.-Fri. 9am-5pm by doing some research to find • Lilacs & Shrubs • the plant that’s right for you. Sat. 10am-3pm What kind of lighting condi- tions do you have at home? Do 12 MONTH NO INTEREST FINANCING you normally travel, or do you spend a lot of time at home? FREE DELIVERY & SET-UP You may need a low-mainte- nance houseplant. We’ll arrange your planters , urns, window boxes. 3. BUILD A PLANTSHELF LANDSCAPING SERVICES! Look it up on Instagram and Pinterest and you’ll get 189 Ft. Covington Street the idea. Plant shelves are an Malone • 483-9452 424 East Main Street, Malone NY • 518-483-0114 aesthetically pleasing way to At the edge of the village Spring Home & Garden April 2020 • 3 Seed companies face onslaught of orders amid virus By ADRIAN HIGGINS racks. Its owner, Renee Shepherd, cluding seed distributors and Washington Post specializes in varieties developed brokers and directly from con- The best place to keep vegeta- for novices, the cook-gardener tract growers. The seed farmers ble seed packets is in the refrig- and urban dwellers — many are might be in a nearby field, the erator, where they are preserved designed for container growing. other side of North America or and stored away from rodents The normal spring peak is around somewhere around the world, and insects. But this habit comes 350 orders daily; now, it’s up to depending on the variety. Shep- at a price. I have several dozen 2,000, she said. herd offers almost 1,000 varieties half-used packets in the crisper, “We are swamped. It’s taking of vegetable, herb and flowers and there’s no place for the salad us four or five days” to fill or- sourced from 50 companies. “It’s greens. ders, she said. “And normally, more complicated for a company Never mind, because this we would have more warehouse like Renee’s, because we get a lot spring my pack-rat nature is re- Sales of seed of lettuce and other leafy greens are brisk as staff and have double shifts, but of seed from Europe,” she said. warded. Buying fresh seed, while consumers turn to growing their own food amid the coronavirus because of the [employee] safety not impossible, is more com- emergency. Rob Cardillo/W. Atlee Burpee & Co Some suppliers have reserves measures, we can only do what for immediate use, but some va- plicated this year because of the we can do.” coronavirus emergency. and stopped taking phone orders scarce or unavailable, she said. rieties will need another growing to allow staff to catch up with the “At this point, we are just keeping Seed companies obtain their In sum, there is a rush on seed stock from a web of sources, in- See SEED 10 buying as overnight homestead- backlog. He may have to do so up with it.” ers are either seeing the value of again if the volume persists, he Such sales increases histori- growing their own food or feel said. cally follow recessions as people 20 Years they are in a dystopia where their His family-owned seed com- seek to reduce grocery bills by Experience very existence depends on get- pany is known for its unusual growing their own food — seed ting some beans to germinate. Or heirloom vegetable varieties and sales jumped in 2009 after the both. has emphasized Asian vegetable Great Recession. Sudden un- The owners of seed compa- varieties in recent years. More employment is part of a new re- nies I’ve talked to are a bit shell- than a quarter of the offerings ality for millions of Americans as shocked by the consumer fren- have been sold out. “In some communities and states across zy, though they admit there are cases, we can get more seed” for the country have closed down to worse problems to have. They the current sales season, he said, check the contagion. anticipate delays in filling online “and in others, we cannot.” An- Renee’s Garden, a seed com- orders and the sellout of some va- other challenge is the ability to get pany in Felton, Calif., also sells rieties, but no across-the-board fresh seed packets printed as well online and through retail seed shortage. For those venturing as mailing supplies — such things out, retail seed racks may be de- as bubble wrap — now that the pleted. world has shifted to online order- “It’s the largest volume of or- ing and home delivery. ders we have seen,” said Jere Get- “We are definitely seeing an in- tle of Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds crease in sales,” said Jamie Mat- in Mansfield, Mo. Peak seed-buy- tikow, chief executive and presi- ing season for home gardeners is dent of W. Atlee Burpee & Co. in January to March, but the normal Warminster, Pa. As with other re- end-of-season decline in orders tail seed companies, Burpee sells isn’t happening. seed for herbs and annual flowers Customers are gravitating to in addition to vegetables. “Online vegetables high in nutrients, such we are getting many more cus- as kale, spinach and other quick- tomers coming to us, and interest to-grow leafy greens. “Spinach is is skewed toward vegetables,” he off the charts,” said Jo-Anne van said. den Berg-Ohms of Kitchen Gar- Van den Berg-Ohms, of Kitch- den Seeds in Bantam, Connecti- en Garden Seeds, said sales are up cut. 40%. “More people are planting The other top seller is the bean more varieties,” she said. Variet- in all its forms. This is because ies of vegetables and herbs that beans are not only a healthy are directly sown into the garden, source of protein, but are also as opposed to started indoors easy to grow and versatile. In the first, “are really going crazy,” she green stage, the pods and seeds said. are tasty.