Home gardeners cultivating own food

Whether with a plot in the yard, a few pots on the patio or a windowsill herb garden, more Americans are choosing to forgo the supermarket in favor of growing their own vegetables and other edibles.

Part culinary adventure, part environmentalism and a great deal of penny pinching, the motivations behind the trend vary. Regardless, increased sales of seeds and plants are offering local nurseries and garden centers a shot in the arm during otherwise troubled economic times.

"Any kind of edible - vegetables and herbs, both in seed sales of people starting their own and plant sales - were up 25 percent last year," said Wayne Fisher, owner of Good Earth Garden Center at 1330 N. Walnut St. In fact, had their suppliers not run out of product last season because of an underestimation of demand, Fisher said he believes that number could easily have been higher.

"We expect at least that increase again this year," he said. "It's not even comparable. It is so far outpacing other products."

"We've dropped a lot of our annual color and dropped our numbers in trees and shrubs, with the exception of fruit trees, which we've increased," said Mark Phelan, co-owner of Phelan Gardens at 4955 Austin Bluffs Parkway, who noted that vegetable sales were up over last year for April and said he expects May's numbers to be even higher. "As far as tomatoes go, we've almost doubled the number of tomatoes we'll sell this year."

Popularity has been such that Sharon Harding-Shaw, co-owner of Harding Nursery at 721 N. Powers Blvd., is holding a contest, offering prizes for customers who bring back the largest vegetable at the end of the season, with categories including tomatoes, summer squash, cucumbers and winter squash.

While she appreciates the excitement of vegetable growers, many of them first-time gardeners, the economic silver lining of such customers can't completely offset the effects of the current financial crisis on business.

"The landscaping is the final thing to go in (a new home project), so that's where we're seeing issues, big contractors not being able to get the funding to finish their projects," she said. "It feels like you're trading a 98-cent packet of seeds for a $58 bush."

While the effect of increased vegetable gardening varies from business to business, none will deny the economic impact on the consumer who, if successful, will save money versus buying herbs and produce at the grocery store.

"The cost of a little package of herbs in the supermarket is becoming cost-prohibitive when there is an opportunity for the home gardener to grow those herbs in their own yard," Phelan said. "We sell the whole plant for that price."

Despite its function as a money saver, most nursery and garden centers say the other forces driving the shift toward edible gardening - taste, nutrition, the organic and local food movements, and the popularity of TV's Food Network - will outlast the economic downturn.

"I would guess that it's a trend that's going to continue," Phelan said. "There is a resurgence in people being a little more in touch with our planet. I think it goes hand in hand with gardening."