I’m lucky to live in a county where there have only been 12 diagnosed cases of Covid-19. As our state opens up and our area opens up for tourism, I worry that we’ll see more cases diagnosed in our area. So I’ve decided that the safest spot I can be is in the garden.

Last week I was talking to a friend I met professionally many years ago, catching up on her latest projects and activities and updating her on what we’re doing these days. In the conversation I shared with her that I had concluded that growing up as an only child on a farm where our nearest neighbor was one quarter mile away was perfect preparation for staying quarantined (yes, I’m high risk, so I’m being very careful). It taught me a lot about finding things to do to amuse myself. That’s come in handy since we self-quarantined in early March.

Here are a few of my special projects that are keeping me busy outside this summer:

1. My new border garden that is focused on native plants.

2. Raising food from seed. I’ve always been big on transplants but this year decided to take the plunge… more in a future post as these plants develop.

3. Catching up on the lesson in plant breeding I had from Joseph Tychonievich at Michigan Master Gardener College several years ago and cross breeding some petunias to create some fun colors that are uniquely mine.

Today I’m headed to the garden to weed (perpetual) and move some plants (seems like perpetual) while my husband is in the vineyard. Today he’s digging holes to put in new vines - grapes developed in Minnesota to withstand temperature falls up to -40 degrees. While I hope we don’t experience another polar vortex in the near future, I sure want to be ready if it happens.

Having a number of things to do outside assures us that we won’t be bored during our hibernation. I’m particularly excited to get back to plant breeding, even in a most elementary way. Looking back on my school science projects I think I’ve been headed in this direction for a long, long time.

If you’d like to try something different in gardening, I’d highly recommend some experiments in plant breeding. For my go to book, I rely on Joseph Tychonievich who makes it simple and easy for avid home gardeners like me who don’t have horticulture degrees.

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