Dawn Steward was one of many rookie gardeners who tried growing vegetables for the first time last year. But her yields were underwhelming. "I didn't know what I was doing," she said of her attempt to start peppers and shallots from seed in her St. Paul home. "They were fine until I watered them. Then they all died. I think it was my lack of experience."
Still, that didn't dampen her enthusiasm. Homegrown produce has too many benefits not to keep trying, she figures. "It cuts down on buying that kind of stuff from the grocery store. It's healthier -- I don't have to worry about pesticides. And I get the satisfaction of saying, 'Look what I did.'"
Steward won't be alone. All signs point to another bumper year for veggie gardening, an age-old practice that had nearly fallen out of favor. But it flourished last year, fueled by an influx of new gardeners, according to a study by the Garden Writers Association Foundation (GWAF). When asked about their plans for 2010, 37 percent of gardeners said they planned to increase their edible gardens.
"Last year was the tip, when we first saw the resurgence in vegetable gardening," said Susan Bachman West, senior hard-goods buyer for Bachman's. "People were quite successful, and now they're hooked." She's seen more customers perusing seed racks, and seed companies are reporting brisk early sales, she said. Two seed-starting seminars at Bachman's last month drew bigger-than-usual crowds.
"Everybody was astonished how full the rooms were this year."
Mother Earth Gardens in Minneapolis also hosted a capacity crowd for its seed-starting class earlier this year, according to co-owner Paige Pelini. The "Beginning Urban Vegetable Gardening" class filled up rapidly, and this year, Mother Earth added an advanced class.
"From what I can tell, people got a taste of it and really got into it," Pelini said. "A lot of people who started new last year were encouraged and want to make their gardens bigger and better."
Learning curve