With the full story of the coronavirus pandemic written down in the history books, the surge in home gardening is sure to deserve a prominent mention.
Over the past year, people have planted seeds, plants, shrubs and trees like never before as they have been home most of the time. Often their children had gone to school far more than usual, and gardening was a means of employment and an educational opportunity.
Gardening companies and educators received numerous inquiries from beginners who wanted to open their gardens, even when communication was limited to zoom and phone calls. The rush to buy seeds and plants in the first month or two of the pandemic created shortages in many places.
“It was pretty extreme because people were planning the end of the world,” said Aubrey Delone, who works for Southern Exposure Seed Exchange in Cuckoo. “Some people literally ordered one of everything we had to have our own sperm bank.”
Richard Hinde, who serves as president of the Master Gardeners Chapter of Louisa County, heard of the shortages among its members. He tried to help people find replacements and did his best to help new gardeners, although he couldn’t do it in person as in normal times.
Earlier this month, the master gardeners reopened their help desk at the Virginia Cooperative Extension office in the town of Louisa for the first time in more than a year. The group will be back at the Mineral Farmers Market in May and the Agriculture Fair in July.
“There has been an increase in home gardening … people are trying to be healthier with what they eat,” noted Hinde. “Many of them practice organic horticulture. Maybe they made their garden a little bigger. “
At Hottinger on Louisa Road, owners Michelle and Eddie Hottinger noticed an increasing interest in gardening as families felt “homely”. They spend time explaining to people who come into the store the different growing zones and other aspects of growing the right things in the right seasons.
“Some talked about becoming full-time gardeners,” said Michelle. “We want them to be and continue to be successful.”
Some of these gardeners donated a portion of their harvest to the Louisa County Resource Council. The council dealt with a wave of new faces in need of food aid during the height of the pandemic as jobs were lost or vacations.
“We were blessed with this last fall. Our customers were very grateful, ”said Lloyd Runnett, Executive Director of the Council.
He said the situation reminded him of how his grandfather survived the Great Depression when a home garden could be vital. Because he went through this, his grandfather always had a big garden, as did Runnett’s parents.
Runnett remembers how his grandfather brandished a hoe in his direction and whipped his tongue after asking why the family couldn’t just buy everything in the supermarket.
“The topic [of his grandfather’s lecture] was that you have to be self-sufficient, ”said Runnett.
This is part of the motivation for Jackie Robinson Brock and her family who moved to Louisa County in April 2020 when the pandemic hit full throttle. The Brocks’ relocation plans meant they didn’t have as much time to plant as they wanted, but this spring is a different story. Both Jackie and her husband worked full-time from home in order to have a lot more time to focus on their 30 by 80 foot garden.
“It allowed us to do more outside, and our four-year-old loves being out there too,” Brock said.
Since the master gardeners started holding evening classes online during the pandemic, Brock was able to attend. She said the classes taught her a lot about new planting, garden placement, and pollinators.
The Brocks strive to not only grow food for themselves, but also to sell it at farmers’ markets in the area.
As Don Kinzler recently noted in an article in the online publication Ag Week, moving towards more food and gardening in general is not just about eating enough. For many people, it has been a means of coping when the world seems to be upside down.
“In difficult times, people often turned to the ground,” wrote Kinzler. “Since COVID-19 created a need for social distancing, gardening brought you in touch with something real. The smell of earth and flowers, the taste of herbs and fresh products and the feeling of warm sunshine ensured stability in an otherwise unreal world. “
