‘Unprecedented’ increase in growing vegetables at home
Growing food at home is a response to food security concerns, and gives people something to do as they wait at home for the danger from COVID-19 to pass
WATERLOO REGION — First toilet paper and hand sanitizer, then flour and yeast.
Now, it seems vegetable seeds are among the products in high demand as more and more people take up growing food at home.
“We’re seeing a lot more people interested in gardening — vegetable gardening and food container gardening,” said Mike Teeter, the VP of finance at Kitchener-based Ontario Seed Company.
The seed company head office put a halt on taking online seed orders earlier this month due to a growing backlog. The team is working with a smaller staff to keep in line with physical distancing measures and is trying to meet the increased demand.
Gary Lake, the manager of the Ontario Seed retail store, said the demand for vegetable seeds is way more than previous years.
“It’s unprecedented,” he said. “There’s been a huge influx of people planting vegetables for the first time.”
Seeds are still available for backyard gardeners, but the OSC retail store asks that people call in so they can receive an order form so they can make their selection online. The seed company supplies retailers around the province and restocking those stores will likely be delayed, Lake said.
Perry Grobe, co-owner of Grobe’s Nursery and Garden Centre in Breslau, said he’s seen an increased demand for seeds. People are growing concerned about their food supply in the summertime and many who have never grown food before are planting at home for the first time, he said.
“The supply of seeds and the availability to get them will become more difficult as time goes on this spring.”
The nursery has been taking seed orders online, but can’t keep up with the demand. In response to COVID-19, no parttime workers were hired this spring and this has impacted their ability to take orders.
“We have excessive demand and nowhere near enough hands to fulfil seed orders for folks,” he said, adding people may have to come to the store and shop for themselves.
Steffanie Scott is a sustainable food systems researcher at the University of Waterloo. She said the recent push for seeds isn’t surprising as the spread of COVID-19 has the potential to disrupt food supplies around the world.
“In the same way that maybe the first wave was to buy all the flour and yeast in stores and start cooking at home, the one step further is to be thinking about growing your own food.”
Also, people are spending more time at home, so why not do some gardening, she said.
Last week, the City of Brampton launched a Backyard Garden Program in support of food security in the city. Residents can get free soil and seeds to grow produce for local food banks and community organizations.
Scott said she’s been contacted by the City of Kitchener to help implement a similar program locally. A City of Kitchener spokesperson said staff are in the process of working on a backyard gardening program but that details were not yet available.
Every year, Maryam Latifpoor-Keparoutis, the director of advancement in the U of Waterloo’s faculty of environment, plants veggie seedlings for her friends and family. This year, in light of the increased interest in backyard or windowsill gardening, she decided to invite orders from people on social media.
When people pick their orders up in the coming weeks, they’ll be asked to donate food or money to the food bank. She’s taken orders from dozens of people already.
“The response is amazing,” she said, adding she was happy she bought extra seeds and soil earlier in the year, anticipating a rush.
This seedling project not only brings her joy when she sees the sprouts come out of the soil, but she said it’s also an opportunity to teach her son about where food comes from and what it means to give back to the community.