Bad Economy and fears of contaminated food spur newcomers to grow their own

[brokenbar]

These quotes are regarding 2008 growing season. I went looking because I was curious about the sudden unavailability of canning jars and the number of questions posted by Newbies on several vegetable gardening forums.

growing number of Americans who, driven by higher grocery costs and a stumbling economy, have taken up vegetable gardening for the first time. Others have increased the size of their existing gardens.
Seed companies and garden shops say that not since the rampant inflation of the 1970s has there been such an uptick in interest in growing food at home. Space in community gardens across the country has been sold out for several months. In Austin, Tex., some of the gardens have a three-year waiting list.

Each spring for the last five years, the Garden Writers Association has had TechnoMetrica Market Intelligence, a polling firm, conduct a national consumer telephone survey asking gardeners what makes up the greatest share of their garden budgets. “The historic priorities are lawns, annuals, perennials, then vegetables, followed by trees and shrubs,” said Robert LaGasse, executive director of the association. This year, vegetables went from fourth place to second, which Mr. LaGasse called “an enormous attitude shift.”

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/06/11/di...pagewanted=all

And here:
http://features.csmonitor.com/garden...table-gardens/

http://www.mlive.com/grpress/busines...yourown_t.html

[Medbury Gardens]

Its the same in other parts of the world also,i grow New Zealand heirloom vegetable seed and the company that buys my seed have increased there seed sales by over 100% in the last two years.
Once a month i have a group of about 35 novices gardeners come around for a demonstration and a decision on how to start a garden.
I find it amazing that there are people out there that have just no idea where to start

[mdvpc]

I only have one thing to say-its about time Americans starting growing as much of their own food as they can.

[montanamato]

Michael...I have been thinking the same....Too bad it takes a failing economy and other factors, but at least people are waking up to the reality of our high priced, unhealthy food supply...

Jeanne

[mdvpc]

Jeanne-Agree completely-hopefully the trend will continue that more and more people will start to realize that they can, and should, garden-its not just a hobby.

[brokenbar]

I belong to a political forum and many, many of them are now asking me how they can grow a garden and especially, those that live in the city are very interested in container gardening. The economy is, of course, a prime reason but they are also very worried about commercial food contamination (the ones that live in the city are REALLY worried about it.) There are also many of them asking about canning, freezing and drying. One hates to paint a picture of "doom and gloom" but the questions I am getting are all asking how they can feed their family in the case of a worsening economic depression and/or civil unrest which they seem to believe is coming. I am not familiar with any forum's solely geared to container growing of vegetables? I have been providing links almost on a daily bases to other gardening forums, harvest, tomatoes (here) etc. Also, when I went looking for this issue on the web, there were NUMEROUS articles about the subject of burgeoning interest in vegetable gardening, canning and freezing. Topic sure seems to be on everyone's minds these days. I will be darned...it appears we all are, for once in our lives "cutting edge"!

[newatthiskat]

I feel like the last three years of gardening has lead up to this season. I really think this year it will help as much as be a hobbie. I hope anyway. We will see how it goes with only 1 working arm for this season.
Kat

[gssgarden]

I just hope I pass my love for gardening off to my children. Dad was a farm boy who took pride in his home garden. I feel I'm the same way and hope my kids find a passion for it too.

Plus, to me, nothing tastes as good as when it comes from your own hard work.


Greg

[spyfferoni]

I recently attended a class on emergency preparedness and home food storage. It was an eye opener for me. Someone mentioned that raw materials will be more expensive so things like aluminum foil would be a good thing to stock up on as well as canning supplies. She also mentioned that we would see a run on seeds. This particular teacher taught her method which is a 2 week supply of portable food she keeps in plastic bins and then a 3 month supply of what your family normally eats and then 9 months of food that you can store long term like grains, legumes, powdered milk and etc. Her system was pretty easy. She identified 7 proteins, 7 fruits, and 7 vegetable and then multiplies by 12 for 3 months, so she would easily know that needs. She takes it as far as planning this way for a year. Say one of her fruits is canned pineapple she knows that for a year she needs 52 cans, so when pineapple goes on sale she sees she has 20 cans left which means she has to buy 32 cans to get to her year mark. I thought it was a good way to simplify everything. I myself have been a bit worried about hard times ahead and am in the preparedness mode. I would like to learn how to be more self-sufficient. I am surprised by how few people garden. I am glad that I have learned what I have over the past few years and feel gardening is a key to surviving in hard times. I planted some fruit trees last spring and can't wait until the trees start producing. It would be so amazing to produce all of the fruit my family needs for the year, and know exactly where our food came, how fresh it is and what was put on it. I think I will look into planting some grapevines this spring. I'm attending a class on sprouting next month and am looking forward to that.

Tyffanie

[veggie babe]

very interesting and useful,keep us posted. i would love to have the opportunity to go to a seminar that would teach so much. my mother has a world of knowledge and i depend on her a lot for information.

neva

[salix]

I agree that it is a 'good thing' (as Martha would say) that more people are growing their own food, but I fear that not nearly enough will have the knowledge or skills (or even ground) if it really came down to the crunch. It is especially concerning in short season areas - barely a chance to get in one crop some years, never mind succession planting. Unfortunately, those same areas require high costs in heating as well, not to mention higher food/fuel transportation costs. In some ways, it has been a benefit to have been a child of parents who went thru' the Great Depression - those stories have inspired me to keep my cold room and pantry full for more years than I care to count.

[Dukerdawg]

Funny, I was reading through this thread yesterday, and I awoke at 3am (to let a dog out), but something popped into my head after driving by a church yesterday with a huge open back yard. You tomato folks know what I was thinking. Anytime I see un-utilized land I think 'garden'. Anyway, I believe in the hereafter and a higher power. Other than that I am not affiliated with any denomination and rarely attend church. But I thought wouldn't it be a great idea for every church with property to start a program, perhaps call it 'Grow with God'? And start a community church garden. It would be a way to get everyone involved in the congregation, feed those less fortunate and anything left over could be donated to Forgotten Harvest or local soup kitchens. Never do I feel closer to God that when I see a seed sprout and turn into a huge harvest! Churches being non-profit could probably get some large donations regarding seeds/tools/supplies etc.

Whatch'all think?

Duane

[tomatoaddict]

If things get as bad as they say, those of us with gardens might have to set up armed guards around them at night.

Great idea Duane!!

[spyfferoni]

Duane,
I think that is a good idea. I know a few churches already do it in the form of donating space to community gardens, but to go a little further and have everyone working together for the common good is a great idea, especially in cities where there isn't much open space left. It would also be a great way for those who know how to garden, to teach the inexperienced. I get excited when I see schools with vegetable gardens that the students plant and care for. More school gardens would be neat to see also. Schools usually have tons of open space as well.

Salix,
You are right that those with shorter seasons have more of a challenge. I guess that is when home food storage would be an important aspect of being prepared. I was amazed when I lived in Puerto Rico that there would be a run on water and canned goods right before a hurricane---every time! I never understood why more people didn't always have on hand the things they would need to survive a couple of weeks. It isn't that difficult to store water, 2 litre bottle from soda work really well and are free. If you are worried about safety you just boil it or add a few drops of bleach to the water. (Now, to run off and check to see how much water I have down in the crawl space and and how old it is. I probably need more.)

Tyffanie

[rxkeith]

excellent idea there duane, about the church gardens.
you have the space, the resources, and the community to tap into. all you need is a catalyst to get it going. plant the seed so to speak. often when i would be walking the dog or bike riding, i would always be checking out gardening spots at other peoples houses where there would just be grass growing. i've never been a green lawn guy. my wife has been exploring some alternative gardening sites that discuss urban gardening. there are people who are gardening on rooftops, and cement. so, gardening is possible even if you live in the asphalt jungle. people just need someone to show them how.
if it was me, i would be spending less money on government bail outs, and more money on establishing urban, and community gardens, and teaching people how to garden with whats available. i think of all the vacant lots in cities like detroit that can be put to use. there could be urban co ops or csas.
there is so much untapped potential there.
when my moms family immigrated from sicily, early 1900s, everyone had gardens out of necessity. they were poor. i have fond memories of visiting my great uncle steve, and exploring his garden. he is the one that got me interested in gardening.

keith