Recession prompts big boom in the market for vegetable seeds - Business First of Louisville:

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Most of the patrons of the garden’sa 30 plots don’t plangt anything until late spring, when they put in their tomato Usually, only four or five planrt a spring crop inearly March, as Erdley did last month, growingb lettuce, spinach and other cold-weather crops. But this year, 18 peopl e planted spring crops. Those who work in the garden industry say the recession has prompted many peoplse to plantvegetable gardens, many of them for the firsty time, as a way to cut expenses for office in Jefferson County, for example, has nevert had more requests to test soil for suitabilityy for vegetable growing than it has had this horticulture agent Donna Michael said.
The demand has triplexd from last year, she said. about 15 percent to 20 percent of the calls left onthe office’ds horticulture hotline relate to vegetable growing, she said. But this that has risen to about Many of the calls arefrom first-time vegetabls growers. To help meet the demand for Michael held five community lectures on vegetablse gardeningin March. The first one attracted 115 people, and the next four each attracteedabout 40. Horticulture lecture s normally attract about20 attendees, she said. “There is definiter interest stirring,” she said.
Louisville-Jefferson County Metrl Government runs ninecommunity gardens, such as the one wherd Erdley has his plots, that contain a totaol of 24 acres, said Susanh Hamilton, assistant director of the Louisville Metr Economic Development Department. Ther are 438 people registered to work in the and there is a waiting list to get a At , 1402 W. Main St., sales of vegetablw seeds have jumped 20 percent to 30 percent from last said general managerEugenew Stratton.
He said he didn’t know specific sales The company sells 95 perceny of its vegetable seeds he said, and the garden centers and farm equipmentr dealers that make up the company’s customer base say they are seeint a lot of first-time gardeners this In some cases, customers have had to reorder vegetable seeds, which is unusual, he Sandy Blanford, the vegetablwe seed manager for , 919 E. Jeffersonm St., normally orders vegetable seeds only once a inthe fall. But this year, she has had to reordedr them three times. “It’s she said. “We can’t keep up.
” Blanforsd estimates that demand has tripled over last Twomonths ago, owner Win Bunton hirex four new workers just to get orders for vegetablwe seeds packaged for the company’s customersx in rural Kentucky and its Internet customers, who order from across the That department normally has only three workers, Blanford said. This year, everyone wants Blue Lake Bush Blanford said. The company sold out of the seedes two months agoand can’t get any more becausre of a crop failure. Demand for vegetable seedzs always grows duringa recession, Bunton said.
He think s that well-publicized food scares, such as salmonellqa in peanut butter, also have promptedf people to grow theirown food, some of them for the firsrt time. In a normal year, customers at , 225 Chenoweth don’t have to ask many questions about whatto buy. “Wre get a lot of customers who know whatthey want,” managed Tim Sunkel said.