Grow your own as food prices skyrocket

[Guest guest]

The Vegetable Patch Takes Root

By ANNE MARIE CHAKER

June 5, 2008; Page D1

More families are looking right under their feet to ease the problem

of high food prices.

As consumers balk at the rising cost of groceries, homeowners

increasingly are cutting out sections of lawn and retiring flower

beds to grow their own food. They're building raised vegetable beds,

turning their spare time over to gardening, and doing battle with

insect pests.

At Al's Garden Center in Portland, Ore., sales of vegetable plants

this season have jumped an unprecedented 43% from a year earlier,

and sales of fruit-producing trees and shrubs are up 17%. Sales of

flower perennials, on the other hand, are down 16%. It's much the

same story at Williams Nursery, Westfield, N.J., where total sales

are down 4.6% even as herb and vegetable-plant sales have risen 16%.

And in Austin, Texas, Great Outdoors reports sales of flowers

slightly down, while sales of vegetables have risen 20% over last

year.

The grow-your-own trend comes as the price of food has skyrocketed.

The government recently reported that April's 0.9% increase in food

prices from the previous month was the fastest pace in 18 years -- a

reflection of global pressures, from drought in Australia to

increased demand in India and China.

For Michele von Turkovich in South Burlington, Vt., those pressures

hit home when she noticed her average grocery bill hit $800 a

month. " I reached for the organic strawberries the other day and

realized, 'I can't buy organic,' " says the research-lab technician

and mother of three teenage daughters.

After chatting with a neighbor who has a large garden, Ms. von

Turkovich in April decided to dig up a 10-by-12-foot patch of lawn

struggling on the side of her house to plant vegetables. Her

neighbor helped her to think about making the best use of the space

so that there would always be something in the garden to harvest.

So far, the lettuce is an inch high, and she's looking forward to

radishes in about a week. Also sprouting are about a dozen varieties

of greens, including Swiss chard, kale, scallions and endive. A used

soccer net serves as a makeshift trellis for the peas she is

expecting. It's a lot of toil, though. Ms. von Turkovich says she

typically spends at least an hour after work each day on her garden

and about half the weekend. " It takes a significant amount of my

spare time. "

Even before this year's food-price crunch, the vigor for veggies was

already gaining momentum. An annual survey of more than 2,000

households by the National Gardening Association shows the average

amount spent per household on flowers was flat in 2007 compared with

a year earlier. But spending on vegetable plants rose 21% to $58 per

household last year, and spending on herbs gained 45% to $32.

Bruce Butterfield, the association's research director, expects 2008

will be another strong year for vegetable gardening thanks to " the

combination of gas prices, food prices, and people staying at home

because the world's gone crazy, " he says. " At least they can have

some control over their backyard. "

George Ball, chief executive of seed giant W. Atlee Burpee & Co. in

Warminster, Pa., says he thinks the veggie-gardening rage is

prompted by more than just food costs. His business has seen more

baby boomers " entering their prime gardening years, " he says. Now,

this generation has " a lot of time, the rat race is over, a home

that is likely to be their last, and kids past puberty, " he says.

Burpee's sales of vegetables and herbs are up about 40% this year,

twice last year's growth rate. Tomatoes, summer squash, onions,

cucumbers, peas and beans continue to be top sellers. " We're running

out of things like onions, that you think would never be that hot

and raging, " he says.

In West Columbia, S.C., Sarah Rosenbaum ripped up about a quarter of

her family's landscaped yard to install six raised vegetable

beds. " You get a pack of seeds for a dollar or two, and you have got

a whole bed of organic vegetables for a fraction of what you'd pay

at the store. And they taste better. "

The project got under way in early March when Ms. Rosenbaum, her

partner and his 12-year-old twins started seeds indoors for all

their vegetables -- from bok choy to zucchini. " We're out in the

garden after work every day, pretty much " she says. " We love doing

the work, so it doesn't really feel like work. " She hopes the

experience will also inspire the twins to eat more vegetables.

To be sure, a new gardener can find himself plunking down a

significant amount of money to get started. Ms. Rosenbaum says that

the initial investment in her vegetable garden was around $500 for

everything from lumber to wire cages. While that may seem high for

someone trying to save on food costs, she plans on reusing the

materials year after year. " We're even planning to save seeds for

next year, " she says.

In the Garden Grove neighborhood of Portland, Ore., a community

garden got a big makeover. Not only did the 15 participating

households decide to double the garden's size and install a rain-

sensitive sprinkler system; they also set aside a section so that

each family gets its own subplot. " I'm in no way a tie-dye wearing

granola hippie, " says Garden Grove resident Dylan T. Boyd, a vice

president at an email marketing company and father to two small

boys. " But I was looking at the price of blueberries the other day --

$5 for a fistful. I thought, 'Are you kidding me?' "

While it's a time commitment, he says, the payback is far

greater. " It's so much easier to walk to the top of the street and

grab your lettuce and tomatoes for dinner, fresh every day. "

Talk to your local nursery or check the seed packet for instructions

on ideal planting times, which vary depending on what part of the

country you live in. Here are some other things to consider:

Soil Testing

If you live near an industrial plant or even in an old house where

lead-based paint may have seeped into the soil, you should consider

getting the soil checked for contaminants. A cooperative extension

affiliated with a state university can usually do this. For the

office near you go to www.csrees.usda.gov/Extension/.

If you build a separate or raised bed filled with compost and

topsoil, you can forgo testing the soil you're worried about.

You can also buy a soil-testing kit at a garden center which will

tell you the pH and key nutrient levels. Optimum pH for growing

vegetables is generally slightly acidic (between 6.5 and 7). If you

don't have enough nitrogen, phosphorous or potassium you should add

organic matter, such as good compost mixed in with your existing

soil. Also consider organic fertilizers to boost those nutrients,

such as blood meal, alfalfa meal, sea kelp or fish emulsion.

Best Conditions

Most vegetables do best when they get plenty of sun, so pick a spot

that gets optimum sunlight, at least six to eight hours of direct

sun daily. Leafy greens such as lettuce and spinach can tolerate

shadier conditions. Also, those leafy vegetables typically want to

be planted in the cooler part of the season, before average

temperatures go much past 70 degrees. Vegetables that do best in the

hotter months include tomatoes, peppers, cucumbers and squash. To

conserve space, consider planting lettuce underneath tomato vines or

even mixing them in other parts of the garden, where the foliage,

vines and flowers can be captivating in their own right.

" Sometimes people think they have to be in perfect rows, but there's

no reason you can't put them in a little closer and mix them in with

flower gardens, " says Lori Bushway, a gardening outreach specialist

at Cornell University. She adds that doing so is also a good foil

for pests that tend to zero in more rapidly on plants that are

massed together. When distributed around the landscape, " they're

harder to find, " she says.

Think Before You Spray

If you see a pest, find out what it is before reaching for that

scary-sounding spray can. " People are buying sprays without even

knowing what the problem is in the first place, " says John

Traunfeld, director of the home and garden information center at the

University of Maryland's College of Agriculture and Natural

Resources. The local cooperative extension can help identify the

problem and suggest the best remedy. " A lot can be taken care of by

just hand picking, " he says.

Write to Anne Marie Chaker at anne-marie.chaker

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB121262319456246841.html