Hollie Niblett, who lives near Kansas City, Kansas,
hopes the victory gardens come back. Niblett,
who has a degree in horticultural therapy, tends
to a kitchen garden near her backdoor, perennial
flowers, flowering trees and shrubs, and upper
and lower grassy yards connected by a path
through an area left in its natural condition.
“There are so many things about it that feed
my soul,” she said. “Right now, more than
anything, my garden gives me hope, gives me
purpose and provides a sense of connection to
something bigger than myself.”
For beginners, wonderment awaits. Just south
of Atlanta, 10-year-old Ezra Gandy’s love for
playing baseball has been paused. He and his
grandmother, Melanie Nunnally, recently started
an outdoor garden, planting strawberries,
cabbage, broccoli, kale and asparagus.
“I like digging in the dirt because I like to see all
the bugs and stuff that’s in the ground,” he said.
The nonprofit group KidsGardening.org
suggests that children grow their own salads or
do other activities.
The virus scare could even usher in a new crop
of gardeners who start from seed rather than
risk the crowds buying starter plants.
Kendra Schilling of Scott Depot, West Virginia,
doesn’t have space for a sprawling garden, so
she’s planting potatoes in a bucket and trying to
figure out with her teenage daughter what to do
with other vegetable seeds.
“I usually go buy the plants and stick them in
the dirt. But this year we’re going to try to do the
seeds,” she says. “Thank God for YouTube.”