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China put the entire world behind the 8 ball on this thing. And, before someone throws out South Korea's 'success;, I encourage them to look deeper into the numbers.

Figured I'd start a thread for this topic. What type of gardener are you? Do you have the best looking lawn on the block? What are your projects for this year? My wife loves her flowers. I take care of the grass and the manual labor (digging, mulching) for her projects. She will prune and I use the chainsaw. I love relaxing on the tractor with a beer. We moved to a new house last year so there was a lot to do. Planted 3 trees, put in two beds for bushes/flowers and built a firepit. This year's spring project is to completely redo the front landscaping on 1 side of the front of the house. Personally, I prefer Menards for all my supplies but do shop Home Depot, Lowe's and Stock and Field.

First of all, thank you to @Reacher for starting this thread. As far as peppers and tomatoes in containers, in my experience they do really well. We have a pretty large south-facing fourth floor terrace and I grow tomatoes and peppers, with tons of herbs and flowers. The one thing to keep in mind with growing tomatoes in containers is they need a LOT more water than tomatoes growing in the ground. During the height of summer, if it wasn't raining I would water each tomato plant every morning. You can stick your finger in the soil and see if it's dry, but they almost are always ready for more water each morning. For peppers, I put 2-3 in a big pot. Tomatoes start out small, but I would advise only one plant per pot - even if it's a large container. They get huge! Also, put up tomato cages when you plant, rather than trying to do it when they start to need it. We harvested tons of tomatoes and peppers form containers last year. I was giving them away to neighbors and bringing sacks full into work.

Hope everybody and their families are doing well and healthy. I needed to take a break from news because I was feeling a bit overwhelmed. Really trying to watch less news, and not fixate on stuff I can’t control for my own sanity. So, I watched a lot of Netflix yesterday and played some guitar and feel better mentally. Just a tip if your anxiety is on overdrive. I also realize how fortunate I am to be able to do that right now and can’t tell you how appreciative I am for the front line workers. Especially nurses - you are amazing people.

I'm a big fan of gardening. Actually ordered a bunch of seeds this morning, and probably going to start planting inside next week. I have a couple grow lights set up in my basement. At least I live in Illinois, so that isn't as suspicious anymore! I start in the little 1 inch pots that have 6 of them together. Get a handful of them in a large tray, so I can start 30-40 different seeds at a time. What I do is plant 3 seeds per cell, so about 100 seeds total. All kinds of different things. 4-5 kinds of tomatoes, a few different peppers, red cabbage, sauerkraut cabbage, broccoli, some herbs for early cuttings, and a few more things. If it is a seed that I need a lot of, when the plants are about 2 inches tall, I separate them into 4 inch pots. If I only need 1 or 2, I get rid of the worst looking ones. I give some plants to family and friends too, so I end up not throwing away many of the shoots. I set a fan up that blows on them at low speed to help give them stronger stems. A couple weeks before I'm planning on planting them outside, I start setting them outside. I grow them by my egress window in my basement, so it is easy to take them in and out each day. First for a couple hours, then for the whole day. I have a handful of things I only plant outside. Most herbs, lettuce, kale, peas, beans. There is definitely something fulfilling about growing plants from seeds and eating the final product. Looking forward to getting my garden going again this year!

Took a trip to the Humble, Tx Costco this morning...lots of people in line, but store management had it under control...no BS (line jumping, hoarding) permitted...1 package of TP of other paper products allowed...I did get the essentials...

Was just wondering if Menards/ Home Depot / Lowes will stay open and be getting their deliveries of Mulch / Flowers on time this year. I'm hoping that after the snow expected tomorrow that we will be done with winter and looking forward to sprucing up the yard. Already aerated and fertilized earlier this week. I think those are essential stores. People need to be able to maintain their homes.

Thank you, and yeah we're taking it seriously but no one is really freaking out about anything other than bed and protective gear shortages. Also, there are MANY parts of NYC that are definitely"not for me." I get that. My wife has to drag me to Midtown/Times Square area kicking and screaming. It's literally one of my least favorite places in the world. So many people crowded together shopping at crappy stores. It's definitely cheaper to live up in Wash. Heights, but I can see why they want to move further south on west side. I have had two international staff go back to their countries (India and Netherlands) since this started. Our Netherlands person just got here on a paid summer internship two weeks before this all blew up. It had been her lifelong dream to live and work in NYC for a summer. She was here for 8 days, before her university recalled her. Told her it was too dangerous in the US. We are up over 5,100 cases now in NYC. Watching the positive results come in has been pretty discouraging, but everyone knows this is a long slog with many people recovering. Another positive, much more time hanging out with the dogs. They don't seem to mind having us home all the time! I'm also about to place a huge order of annuals for our terrace. We'll be spending a lot of time out there this Spring/Summer. Normally, my wife tries to limit me to 50 pots/containers for flowers and veggies. This year, she said "Go crazy, let's make it into a jungle since we'll be out here all the time." Challenge accepted! One last bit of positive news, liquor stores have been deemed "essential stores" that may remain open during shelter in place. And here's an article about bars adapting to the new reality of to go drinks: https://gothamist.com/food/heres-how-nyc-bars-are-adapting-new-alcohol-go-rule

Dakich maybe the clown now..😂

I'm open...still in the initial stages of trying to figure which kind are best. All at once or otherwise. Thanks for all the input...very much appreciated!

I usually plant mine outside in early-mid May. By then, they're usually 8-10 inches tall. They say a couple weeks after the last frost for planting outside, and for Indy, it shows the last frost is on average around April 25th. If you're planting just seeds outside, I'm not sure for that. It has to be pretty warm for them to germinate. Roughly 70-80 degrees is optimal. If it is too cold, they won't germinate. I've seen things online for making mini greenhouses out of things like milk jugs to help keep the seeds warmer. That should help you get them planted earlier. I would guess by mid to late April you could probably get them going. Worst case, plant them early, give them about 10 days, and if you don't have any growth you know it was too early. Then just try it again with new seeds. If you're looking to have tomatoes by the 4th of July, planning on a mid April plant date, you probably want a fairly quick maturing tomato. Something under 70 days, and you'll be close to having them by the 4th. Something like a Brandywine probably wouldn't be ready by then. A lot of it depends on the weather. A 70 day maturity time would be under optimal conditions, and usually in warmer climates than where we are. If it is a cool spring/summer, it will be cutting it close. If it is a warm spring/summer, it will mature quicker, and you should be able to get some by the 4th. A ton of different varieties out there based on size of the tomato, maturity, flavor, color, etc. Do you know what kind you're looking to plant?

Now that looks like some advanced horticultural phenom type of deal. I'm just praying I can actually go to Walmart....buy some pots, potting soil....and already started tomato plants and throw them in the dirt and pray by the 4th I have something. Haha.

Saw this( something similar to it) demonstrated the other day on TV.. https://www.newsprepper.com/grow-tomatoes-straw-bales-2-easy-cheap-creative-diy-project/

Gotcha. I would plant a few seeds in each pot, and once they are about 2-3 inches tall, leave the best looking one and cut/pull out the other ones. One per pot is good for tomatoes and peppers. I haven't done them like that, so I'm no help for pot size.

Radishes need to have about 3" between them.

Yes. The data is flawed. Countries such as China (probably), Russia (most likely), and North Korea (LOL) are not reporting accurately. And, other countries, the U.S. being one of those, have not tested enough of the population. All that said, for countries that at least try to report accurate information, there is one statistic that you can look at and gain valuable information. That statistic is the number of deaths. In Europe, that number indicates to me that Germany has a better handle on this than Italy, Spain, or France. And, despite all of the concern about how prepared the U.S. was/is, our rate of death is significantly below most other countries that have been hard hit. I know things can shift as our overall number of cases gets exponentially larger each day, but I hold out hope that our current death rate is an indicator that the precautions that have been taken in the U.S. are working. For comparative purposes, The U.S. has roughly 7 times the population of Spain. At the beginning of March, both countries were reporting about 100 Covid 19 cases. Both are reporting around 25,000 now. Spain has had approximately 1,400 deaths. The U.S. currently sitting at 288.

SIAP...long article with a ton of referenced studies, graphs, bell curves, and statistical analysis. I think it is well worth the time, although you can feel free to skip the political diatribe at the end. The statistical and medical analysis leading up to that is very solid. Although I'm fine with maintaining social distancing, lots of hand washing and other common sense precautions, I felt better and more informed after I finished it. https://medium.com/six-four-six-nine/evidence-over-hysteria-covid-19-1b767def5894 EDIT: Nevermind...host took it down. What a shame. It had a lot of good analysis. Probably got knocked for turning political at the end of it, which really didn't add anything as far as I was concerned. He should have let the facts speak for themselves and let people draw their own conclusions.

Just started it! Back to virus news here.

I would imagine they will stay open. At least I hope so. I'll need some potting soil. @Seeking6 I would be down with a gardening thread, b/c I think it will keep us sane!

Funny you mentioned. With so much extra time on hand I've been studying all morning about type of potted plants, potting soil,etc...because I'm to looking into starting in next week or two. Figure by April we should be in the clear in terms of cold (fingers crossed). Probably should talk about in another thread. This coronavirus has me searching for a hobby.

Thanks guys for the replies. Yes I did forget about deflate-gate...... And, at my advancing age, I don't remember when it was that I read about the Colts being super bowl contenders. But I would think it probably was before Luck announced he was through with football.

I think a couple of major egos were at work there.

With no people around, The Penguins' were allowed to go on a field trip at Chicago Aquarium At the end of the video.

I just want to interject. Thanks to all that are willing to share what is going on in their daily lives. I have always said that Hoosier Sports Nation is more than just a sports forum. It's a community that has come together over the years in times of joy and less. No further proof of that, than this thread, IMHO

October 2007. Cancer/Coaches breakfast. My table was my wife, Senderoff, Dakich, and 3 others. RS was fidgety....hindsight 20/20 he knew that was the day the story was going to break so I guess I understand. Second part to the story...Dakich is all smiles with Sampson and the whole crew for the sake of himself. He sold himself out at that time for $ and he's still doing it today. I don't get Dakich lately. He's picking a fight with a crew (IU fans, IU alumni, IU itself...as well as countless others) that he has zero chance of winning. We're undefeated in the Indy market. I have a couple of theories about DD and his behavior but don't want to turn this into something. He's a guy who has spent his entire life living with an inferiority complex and still at age 50 whatever he still hasn't gotten comfortable in his own skin. Sad for him. Hate it when I see people who love and know a sport.....just destroy their lives in the name of arrogance.

And sued for liable, threats of physical violence, etc.

I read somewhere that he was good friends with Zion Harmon and Louisville basically axed him from their list. They speculated this would turn Aminu off from Louisville...but who knows

It is not accurate to say that IU is at the top of his list. IU has been pushing the hardest, but that is much different than being at the top of the list. IU is in a top tier with UL and Maryland.

How about...Kaufman, Mohammed, Duncomb and Barnhizer