As food prices rise, more people grow their own

GRDN, a shop in the New York City borough of Brooklyn, is getting a lot of questions about which edible plants can be grown on a fire escape, said staffer Cindy Birkhead. “There’s lots of interest in herbs, blueberry bushes, tomato plants, any transplants or shrubs that bear edible fruit.”

People too busy to plant their own gardens are hiring specialists like Colin McCrate, owner of two-year-old Seattle Urban Farm Co., whose business has doubled since last year. Urban Farm’s projects range from building and planting one or two raised beds to ripping out a customer’s front lawn, installing drip irrigation and planting a crop. Most of his gardens cost $1,000 to $2,000; two customers this year have told him they’re putting their stimulus checks into their gardens.

McCrate said he’s been working 16-hour days; the company’s staff has grown from two last year to six. “We can almost not keep up with the demand there is for services now,” he said.

The last few years of vegetable garden sales were “a yawner,” said Mike Skillin, owner of Skillins Greenhouses. “People might plant a few things here and there, but they’re much more interested in patio planting. ...This year, people are taking these big patio planters they have and they’re planting vegetables in them.”

Eva Burmeister, a professional violinist who lives in New York City, began planting vegetables at her family’s home on Long Island after returning from seven years in Germany. “I was shocked at food prices in the city, including the farmer’s market,” she said. “A few things that are quite popular in Europe are difficult to find here.” She’s starting tomatoes, eggplants and peppers indoors under grow lights and plans to transplant them around Memorial Day.

Onions, shallots and leeks have been especially strong sellers. Wholesale sales rose one-quarter this year at Dixondale Farms, a family-owned farm in Carrizo Springs, Texas that ships onion and leek transplants to individual customers and sells wholesale to Wal-Mart Stores Inc., Lowe’s Cos. and Home Depot Inc., said Bruce Fraiser, the company’s president.

But Fraiser repeats the old farming joke that the way to make a small fortune farming is to start off with a large one.

“We’ll get it while we can,” he said. “The next hailstorm might be around the corner.”

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