A growing trend
Economic, health, and environmental concerns are prodding more people to grow their own vegetables
Given the hard times, high food prices, and a growing awareness of the peril of global warming, more people are strapping on gloves, taking up spades, and digging in on the home front.
The goal? Something to eat - and something that satisfies to other hungers as well.
“People are discovering the joy of gardening,’’ said Deborah Swanson, the extension services educator for Plymouth County.
Along with the intangibles, vegetable gardeners say they are looking to take a bite out of the price of fresh produce, eat healthy, reduce the energy costs of bringing food from the field to the kitchen, lower their carbon footprint, and eat as locally as possible.
“I think we’re kind of representative of a trend you see all around the country,’’ said Jim Savicki of Duxbury, who put in his first vegetable garden last year. “Kind of on the idea of the victory gardens they had in World War II.’’
Regional seed companies, garden centers, and educators confirm the trend. Sales are up 35 to 40 percent this year, seed sellers say, on top of a 20 percent increase last year. Garden centers reported more queries about vegetable gardening this spring, strong sales, and strong response to organic gardening classes held before the season started. The town of Hanson set up its first community garden, giving residents space on public land, last year.
And Swanson’s office, which gives advice to people on “backyard agriculture,’’ fielding calls on what to plant, how to do it, and when, has sent out more than 500 forms to residents seeking inexpensive soil tests from the state university in Amherst - a recommended first step.
“I can’t recall a year this busy,’’ said Warren Shepard of Brockton, who feeds New England Seed Co. seed packets into display racks in supermarkets and garden centers such as Page’s Market in Stoughton and That Bloomin’ Place in Pembroke. “The seed racks are just, like, empty.’’ Volume was up by 35 to 40 percent this spring, he said.
Joseph Raffaele of Plantation Products of Norton reports similar increases for his seeds. “A lot more people are putting in vegetable gardens than ever before,’’ he said. “Walk through the supermarket, see how expensive produce is, and realize the advantages of putting in your own garden.’’ A single seed packet costing $1.29 can produce 60 pounds of tomatoes, he said.
Growing vegetables feeds other hungers as well, Raffaele said. “It’s a lot of fun. It’s the miracle of nature.’’
First-timers are catching the gardening bug, according to garden centers. “We set up a lot of people for new vegetable gardens,’’ said Ross Prentice of Morrison’s Home and Garden in Plymouth recently. “A lot of younger couples are getting into it for the first time.’’
The “green’’ movement’s emphasis on energy efficiency and eating local and organic food is part of the push, said Chris Kennedy of Kennedy’s Country Gardens in Scituate. A presentation on organic vegetable gardening, a program he would not have bothered to offer a few years ago, drew 25 people earlier this year. Another sign of traction is a big increase in sales of compost, the fertilizer of choice for organic gardeners. “Compost is a big thing this year,’’ Kennedy said. “We sell it by the bag or in bulk.’’
Educators are harnessing youthful environmental enthusiasm as well. The South Shore YMCA in Hanover created a garden education program this year involving a greenhouse, outdoor classrooms, and growing plants in box gardens. The Y’s after-school care program and a teen group called the Earth Service Corps both took part, and the program held a public kickoff event on June 6 offering plants and movable box gardens for sale.
A little garden education will go a long way, experienced gardeners say, because growing dinner is not as easy as it may look when your neighbor is harvesting tomatoes in August.
Digging his own first garden last year produced enough rocks, Savicki said, to add 10 feet to his stone wall - though he persevered and got good results.
Swanson said when first attempts fail to produce much worth eating, the reason is usually location: Plants like tomatoes, basil, green pepper, and eggplant need eight hours of sunlight, she said.
Carver gardener Claire DeLoid led a class in organic gardening at the Carver library in May and found that most of the questions came from people who were “trying, but not succeeding,’’ in growing veggies. Based on her experience with an expansive garden in North Carver, DeLoid is a firm believer in organic practices.
“I mow the lawn, picking up the lawn clippings and spreading them over the garden,’’ she said. “I don’t have any weeds. I use hardly any fertilizer. I have thousands and thousands of earth worms’’ - a sure sign of fertility, since worms break down nutrients in the soil.
DeLoid not only grows her own vegetables, she also has organically grown fruit trees and flowering dogwood, both in bloom last month. “I live in heaven,’’ she said.
Robert Knox can be contacted at rc.knox2@gmail.com. 