As alarming as it has been to see bare shelves in the supermarket, food producers and reports confirm there’s plenty of food to go around. Unfortunately, news of the coronavirus has scared us into panic-buying and hoarding. Sometimes we can’t find the basic foods we want, such as pantry staples like flour and rice. Then again, some of us are avoiding going into the stores at all, unsure how to protect ourselves from this invisible enemy.

All this has led to a bump in buying seeds and plants and searching for gardening tips online, so we can grow our own foods at home. The good news is that many fruits and veggies are easy to grow, even for beginners, and they’ll thrive whether you’re gardening in a backyard plot or in containers on your patio, porch or apartment balcony.