Seed sales soar as more of us become budding gardeners
Jere Gettle's garden seeds company hadn't seen anything like it before.
"The biggest day we've had in our 22-year history was Monday, 30 March," says the owner of Bake r C re e k Heirloom Seeds in Mansfield, Missouri. "We had over 10,000 orders, up 10 times on what our normal would be. It was totally overwhelming."
When most of the world went into lockdown in March, in response to the coronavirus pandemic, the fear of food shortages was an immediate concern for many of us.
You suddenly had to queue to get into supermarkets, and when you finally got inside it was only to find that shelves had been stripped bare by panic buyers.
For a great many people it appears that their reaction was to decide to start growing their own vegetables. Helpfully, it was the start of spring planting season in the northern hemisphere
Mr Gettle's company, the largest seller of heritage variety vegetable and flower seeds in the US, ran out of half of its stock, as buyers rushed to its website so they could grow everything from tomatoes to potatoes, and spinach to corn.
"The whole seed industry hasn't seen anything like this since the Great Depression," he explains.
He says that the last time his business saw a similar, but smaller, spike in sales was after the 2008 recession, and following the 1999 "millennium bug" fears.
"And it's not just food [ this time]. It's flowers, herbs, everything is selling at unbelievable rates."
Perhaps people stuck at home simply have more time on their hands, and are therefore focusing more on their gardens. Or maybe the continuing pandemic is making people appreciate the simple joys of nature more.
(Courtesy BBC)