Gardens grow in popularity

Southern Tier residents this year are growing vegetables like they're going out of style and even more gardeners are going organic.

Garden centers and growing experts report rapidly rising interest in vegetable gardens over the past few years. Agriculture experts point to a deep recession, rising food costs and the green movement to explain the surging interest in home grown vegetables.

"It's huge right now," said Renee M. Schloupt, a horticulture educator at Cornell Cooperative Extension-Broome County and Cutler Botanic Garden in Dickinson. "A lot of it is economics. They go looking for their fresh produce in the store and people get sticker shock every week."

Vegetable gardens are so hot right now they're sprouting in some of the most famous lawns in the world for the first time since World War II, including the White House and Buckingham Palace. Nationwide, 7 million more households planned to grow fruits, vegetables and herbs this year, a 19 percent jump from last year, the National Gardening Association says.

"I hope it's a lasting fad," said Laylla Forsyth, a Whitney Point resident who's tending her first vegetable garden in the community garden at Otsiningo Park.
Getting outside

A recent trip to Ireland inspired Eithne Almy, 30, to start growing her own vegetables. There she met organic farmers who prepared meals with locally grown foods.

Back at home on Twist Run Road in Endwell, she's been growing herbs for several years and this summer decided to plant fruits and vegetables at a friend's home in Vestal where there's better sun exposure. They share gardening duties, tending to the tomato, pepper, berry, beans and cabbage plants. In all, she spends up to 10 hours a week maintaining that garden and the herbs and other items she grows at home.

"Once you actually start looking at it as a hobby or a way to relax, I think that kind of called to people," she said.

Now, the first buds are blooming on her tomato plants. Almy is looking forward to a harvest this month.

The output of money and labor getting the garden set up, including building raised beds, was somewhat daunting, she said. In future years she's expecting the savings on grocery bills will start adding up.




Individuals like Almy aren't alone in getting their hands dirty. Schools, senior centers, nursing homes and nonprofits are planting in growing numbers. Groups see the exercise as a learning experience, hobby and a way to bring fresh foods to the needy, experts said.

"It gets people outside. It gets people connected to the people around them," Almy said. "There's something to be said for being connected to your space and the food you're putting into your mouth."
Saving money

Gardening has taken off again largely due to rising food costs. When price tags climbed last summer, growing food at home was a way to save money. Since then, the recession has meant lost jobs for many, and households are tightening belts even further.

While first-timers do have to pay start-up costs for soil, plants and tools, one plant can yield enough produce to eventually off-set the initial outlay. Many gardeners now don't seem concerned with having the latest and most expensive equipment and supplies. Instead, they're looking for ways to save money and recycle even when it comes to growing food, Schloupt said.

"What can I get by with?" she recalls new gardeners asking. "Can I use old milk jugs to cover my plants?"

Gardening experts are also seeing a younger generation picking up the trowel. New growing mechanisms - including upside down tomato planters and Earth Boxes, self-watering patio garden containers - have made gardening accessible to people who don't have yards, said Ron Conroy, garden center manager at Agway Farm and Home store on Broad Street in Binghamton.

Sales at the garden center peaked last summer, when its supply of vegetable plants were nearly wiped out. This year business has tapered off slightly but remains strong, he said.

"We've sold more herbs this year than we ever have before," Conroy said.

Going organic

A growing demand for organic and local produce has also fueled the gardening craze. People want control over what goes into their food and more gardeners are shying away from using chemicals to maintain their gardens.




"We've been shopping at the farmers market for years," said Forsyth. "This is something that has interested us for a while and having a garden is just the next step of that."

An added incentive is that home-growing organic produce can mean big savings since the chemical-free fruits and vegetables for sale at grocery stores are often more pricey, experts said.

Gardeners looking to go organic and reduce their carbon footprints are turning to compost, nutrient-rich organic matter created from food scraps and yard waste.

Orders for composting bins available at the Broome County landfill have shot up this year and the landfill's supply of compost - offered for free - has been completely exhausted, something that's never happened before. Workers estimated demand is up 50 percent over last year.

A new batch won't be available until mid-August, said Daniel Schofield, deputy commissioner of the landfill.

from http://www.pressconnects.com/