The quarantine garden supply guide: 10 essentials
One of the things that makes starting a garden intimidating is not knowing what “stuff” you actually need to make it happen. You can easily drop hundreds of dollars on specialized gardening gear, but knowing what’s necessary versus what’s just nice-to-have can keep you from getting overwhelmed and keep the costs down.
So this guide will share what every garden—no matter how big or how small—needs to efficiently and effectively grow plants. The first half of this list will include the natural materials and then we’ll move into the essential tools you’ll need.
If you’re in a hurry, check out my Amazon list of these garden supplies and more to get your garden going and growing! And if you need any help planning your garden, including the where, what, and when to plant, then check out my post on How to plan a quarantine garden: 6 steps to get started!
1. Seeds and transplants
Before you do anything else, seeds come first! Seeds are a huge money saver for your garden, but they need to be started before your planting season begins. One tiny packet of seeds for $3 can grow 30-60 plants versus vs vegetable transplants that cost $3-5 each!
Not all plants can be grown from seed though, and some vegetables like tomatoes are only recommended to be grown from transplants unless you’ve developed some expertise and know what you’re doing. I don’t grow anything from seeds that’s not recommended for everyday gardeners— not worth the headache! And certain things such as carrots, beets parsnips, and root vegetables can only be grown from seeds
I recommend only buying USDA organic seeds and transplants to avoid GMOs and unnecessary pesticides. Organic plants are bred for optimal performance as well–you don’t need artificial genetic modifications for excellent plants. Plus organic and heirloom varieties maintain more nutrients and better flavor. So it’s a win-win to go 100% organic.
Organic seed brands I recommend include High Mowing Organic Seeds, Seeds of Change, Johnny’s Selected Seeds, Peaceful Valley Farm & Garden Supply, Fedco Seeds, Renee’s Garden Seeds, and Burpee Seeds and Plants. There are more but these are the one’s I’ve run across the most and are most widely available. Check your local stores for these seeds if not available online!
As for transplants, this is trickier. Call your local nurseries and see if they are open for curbside delivery. You can also call your local hardware store and ask them to search for what’s available and set things aside for you—you might even be able to pay over the phone for curbside pickup.
And if you have choices, search for organic and heirloom transplants that are suited to your space. For instance, if you have a smaller garden box, look for cucumber varieties that are more compact. If you have a vertical garden, then a trailing tomato variety is best. Don’t fight against your space–work with it!
2. Soil
Not all soil is created equal, and here’s your crash course. First, you should know that there are two main types of soil: garden soil and potting soil.
Whether you need garden soil or potting soil, you should always choose organic to avoid contaminants and get maximum biodiversity in the soil composition. In my gardening supplies list, I’ve shared two of my favorite brands of organic potting soil, Foxfarm and Happy Frog.
Potting soil is made for pots and containers of all shapes and sizes and is actually “soil-less.” Most varieties are comprised of three basic ingredients: peat moss, pine bark, and perlite (heat-puffed volcanic glass to provide air space).
Garden soil is made to go in the ground or sit in a raised garden bed (with no bottom) on top of the ground. It’s heavy and dense and does not allow for the drainage that’s needed in a container. And you’ll want to look for at minimum Garden Soil for Flowers and Vegetables to make sure the quality is adequate for growing small plants, as they contain a mixture of topsoil and other materials and nutrients which will help the plants develop properly.
Measure your garden in square feet to determine how much soil to buy, and always buy a little more than you think you need!
3. Compost and amendments
Compost and soil amendments are like food and vitamins for your plants. Your plants need varied and vibrant microbial life in the soil, and compost feeds that and helps it grow. Regular bagged potting soil contains peat moss and bark and garden soil mainly topsoil, but neither really not much in the way of “food” unless you buy something like Fox Farm that includes compost. To grow fruits and vegetables, they require complex nutrients that are best and longest-lasting in compost and garden amendments and only secondarily in all-purpose plant food.
If you are beginning a new garden, make sure that your new soil contains compost or that you add compost to the first few inches of soil to ensure that your plants are getting those beneficial microbes and nutrients. If you have existing high-quality garden soil, you can simply add a 3” layer of compost or “soil conditioner” compost mix to your existing soil and mix it into the top layers of soil.
After your soil and compost, you can add in additional soil amendments/fertilizers. Some are beneficial overall for the soil heath and some are meant to directly fertilize the plants themselves.
Worm castings are an excellent overall fertilizer best added at the time of planting new seeds and transplants. If you had to pick one fertilizer I would go with this! Molasses is also excellent to add to garden containers to add additional food (sugar) for those microbes to enrich the soil. But like other fertilizers, it’s quicker-acting and doesn’t last as long as compost.
In addition to worm castings, Multi-purpose fertilizers are often your best value and bet for a beginner garden. Fertilizers are expensive and it’s better to start general and get more specific later. Another great and economic fertilizer is Super Thrive, which has tons of complex nutrients that I’ve used to years when watering new plants to help minimum the shock of being transplanted.
For in-ground garden soil, check in with local resources to find out what’s recommended to amend the soil in your area. When I did sheet mulching for my raised garden beds here in Austin, I added glittering greensand and cottonseed meal to my soil mix (in addition to the garden soil and compost, of course).
4. Mulch
Pine straw mulch is the preferred option by experts for vegetable gardens as it’s much lighter weight than bark mulch, providing good insulation from cold and heat but not suffocating the plants either. This allows for greater percolation of water and is easy to distribute. Once it begins to compost, the nutrient content in soil increases. It’s also very affordable. The only downside is that if you have a small garden it often comes in 1.5-2 cubic foot bales that will last you probably a couple years. But you can split and share with neighbors or use an alternative mulch, just being mindful of trapped moisture especially in containers.
Now that we’ve dug into the organic materials, it’s time to talk about tools to support your work and the plants.
5. Gloves
No matter how small your garden is, you’ll need at least 2-4 pairs of gloves. They will get wet and gross and you’ll want to have at least one spare to rotate in and out. Make sure you get some that are waterproof on the bottom. My favorite gloves are very thin and lightweight. You need a lot of dexterity for certain garden work and you don’t want bulky gloves getting in the way—you’ll just end up taking them off. Get the thinnest gloves you can find!
6. Small set of garden tools
The garden basics are a shovel, spade, and cultivator and that’s where to start! There are great multi-tool sets that do the job, or if you want to invest in high-quality tools I highly recommend the Fiskars and Corona brands (I know, I know). You’ll also use garden scissors for everything so start with that before investing in the 100 types of shears you can buy.
If you have raised garden beds or anything of a significant size, you might do well to also buy a large shovel. Or if the soil near you has a lot of clay (yay, Central Texas!), you might want to invest in a good full-sized spade as well. You can totally go crazy buying all kinds of specialized tools, but it’s really not necessary when getting started.
7. Hose and multi-setting sprayer
You’ll want to use drinking-water safe hoses—this is food you are growing after all. So at minimum all hoses that connect to or water your garden should be lead-free hoses and but definitely aim for drinking-water safe. And you can also add filters to the inside of your hose!
And then you’ll need a garden sprayer attachment with multiple settings, at minimum mist, jet, soak, shower, to meet the needs of your garden. For instance, delicate seedlings should be waters with the mist setting so as not to disturb their delicate roots. But if you have a bunch of bugs taking up residence on your pepper plants, then you might need the jet or stream setting to send them packing.
8. Tub trugs
Tub trugs are flexible plastic buckets that can be used for literally 10,000 things. Gardening is messy and you need buckets and containers for all kinds of things—removing dead plants, digging up gross things, weeding, mixing amendments, pulling out mulch when adding a new plant, and even just holding tools.
These tubs can do it all and I highly suggest starting out with 2-3. They stack inside one another and you’ll be amazed at how much you’ll love them for all the things. We even use tub trugs to mix our super-bubble solution!
9. Adjustable plant supports
Vegetables plants are amazing, but they need our help. Many need to be supported and trained as they grow to help support the weight of the veggies. You can do this a variety of ways and with all kinds of huge, bulky things but I’ve found the best solution out there that’s most cost-effective, time-saving and versatile: Build-as-you-go plant support systems!
You’ll need plant stakes, connectors or strong twine, and plant ties or clips. Your plants will grow quickly and you need to be able to adapt and adjust the supports as needed. I’m not a fan of conventional cages because of their limited height and inability to adapt and ever since I bough my system at a local gardening center I’ve never looked back! Check out the supports and clips
10. Multi-purpose insecticide
One of the biggest mistakes gardeners make is to get lazy about keeping an eye on their plants. Small spots on leaves, tiny spiderwebs, leaves turning brown/black, fruit rot, and more are all signs of potential pest problems. It’s best to have a natural insecticide on hand to deal with problems as they begin to appear. If you wait until a problem becomes critical to even buy insecticide, it may be too late to save the plant.
I think catch-all, natural multi-purpose insecticides are best. They are non-toxic and can be used up to the day of harvest! And I really do recommend against putting soap on plants as it is only effective for certain bugs and not long-lasting at all. Plus soap might stick to the leaves of your plants, suffocating them or causing them to get scotched by the sun. I cursed the times that I tried it. Just trust me when I say that you’ll be doing yourself a huge favor to protect your time and investment with a bottle of a safe insecticide.
I hope this guide has been helpful and will support you in your garden! And don’t forget to check out my Amazon list of garden supplies with these and many more incredible garden helpers!
I will add to this list in the future, but these are really the most critical items to get started. Without all of these you may find yourself with problems not easily solved.
Do have a garden tool or trick that you can’t live without? Please share!
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