Posted by admin | Posted in Gardening News | Posted on 23-03-2009
May 28, 2008
Alexandra Marks and Patrik Jonsson
Christian Science Monitor
Think of it as a modern-day Victory Garden. With gasoline prices soaring and food costs not far behind, the number of Americans planning to grow their own backyard vegetables this year is up sharply.
Gardening organizations, seed wholesalers and nurseries all are reporting increases in the number of people buying vegetable seeds and starter plants.
The trend started slowly several years ago, spurred by concerns about food safety, food quality and global warming, garden mavens say. This year’s gasoline and food price spikes have had what could be called a “Miracle-Gro” effect on the backyard garden movement.
This year, 39 percent of people with back yards told the Garden Writers Association they planned to grow vegetables this year. That’s up 5 percent from last year, after remaining relatively stable with just small increases for much of the past decade.
“This is evolving into a perfect storm for vegetable gardening,” says Charlie Nardozzi, senior horticulturist at the National Gardening Association in Burlington, Vt. “A lot of the economic things happening, and concerns are rising about global warming and carbon footprints, and so are worries about the quality of food, its price, and freshness – it’s all come to a head.”
