Quarantine Plant Care

There is an incredible amount of activities offered on line, home exercise, yoga, self care, and home cooking, the list goes on.

Acorn soli

Coffee grind

Garlic

Ilex studio vase

Caring for plants can be a creative activity that helps us to get by this trying time. What is nice about growing plants is that it takes time and its slow and fascinating evolution can be closely witnessed while we are home. Seeing a seed sprouting will be a new learning experience and can heal our relationship with nature.

As a landscape designer I would like give a few advice on how to grow something in your apartment even in times where it’s not easy to retrieve garden material and tools. 

The easiest and most obvious option is to buy all sorts of seeds if you can find them or your next run to the grocery store.

If you can't find seeds, there are many alternative ways to find something to grow without purchasing seeds.

If you are able to go for a walk at the park (keeping the social distancing rule, 6' away from anybody) look around the ground and try to find Oak tree acorn, If you look closely you should find those acorn that are slightly open and might have already sent out a root. That means that the acorn is about to sprout.

You can collect a few of those. Once at home wash them and place them at the top of a glass filled with water. I used a rectangular vase where with a tape I created a grid to place the acorn with the root immersed in the water. With time and patience you'll slowly see the cotyledon (embryotic leaves come out).

The result is very beautiful and can be then displayed in your apartment. You can also purchase a special glass vase that was designed for exactly this purpose >>

Fun fact: squirrel are nature's gardeners, because before the winter they collect and hide acorns often forgetting their locations, therefor the acorn hidden underground will in spring sprout into a new oak tree.

You can also collect seeds from common fruits you consume at home; the best seeds are the one from organic produce.

Seeds can be collected from for example lemons, apples, oranges, bell peppers, tomatoes, and avocado. For the avocado use the same technique of the acorn.

It is also possible to plant a garlic clove, which will give a beautiful flower later in the season, you can plant a few of them in the same pot, it will grow into a nice lush bunch.

Remember to keep the soil moist at all time when planting the seeds. You can mist the soil surface every six hours or so.

If you don’t have soil you can start collecting coffee grind after you brewed your coffee, the only down side is that seeds have a lower probability of sprouting because of the acidity of the coffee, but it’s worth the try. For small container you can use eggshells or their paper or plastic containers.

Growing life can be a very therapeutic experience that helps calming our nerves and relax our thoughts. Wishing all to stay safe and get through these harsh times in the best mental and physical conditions.

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