'We are 500% busier': Nurseries overwhelmed as everyone starts quarantine gardens

Spring is always a busy time for garden centers. But during a nationwide lockdown, the season is a whole different animal.

"We are 500% busier than we normally are this time of year," said Mario DiGrande, owner of Oakland's Thornhill Nursery. "I've already sold as much soil in six weeks that I do in an entire year. It's just crazy."

Considered essential businesses by California's stay-at-home order, many garden centers have opted to stay open for the past few months - albeit with reduced staff and social-distancing measures such as curbside pickup or appointment-only shopping.

Herbs, tomatoes, cucumbers, citrus trees, soils and fertilizers are all especially popular items. At Thornhill Nursery, DiGrande, who is currently running the whole operation by himself, says they’ve had to limit customers to one basil plant per person. (And if people aren’t buying edible plants, they’re at least stocking up on houseplants, he added.)

From stockpiling canned and dry goods at grocery stores, to cultivating sourdough starters and baking bread, growing vegetable gardens seems like the natural progression of quarantine clichés.

“It’s survivalist, first and foremost,” explained Melissa Smith, who recently started a garden in her San Leandro home with her family. “People have gone generations without knowing where food comes from and how to provide for themselves.”

There’s even a bit of a history behind this urge to start a garden. During World War I and World War II, various countries, including the United States, were encouraged to plant victory gardens: vegetable, fruit, and herb gardens planted at private residences and public parks to supplement rations and boost morale.

*APPLAUSE* Good for you!

I had an older, established farm where I lived for 25 years and of course, had it planted VERY productively on the land I had, which was only an acre and a smidge. ;) It was part of a bigger farm, so it looked like I lived on Southfork, but it was nice only paying taxes on that acre. ;)

Then I fell in love with a REAL farmer and moved up to 160 acres. The house and 48 are ours and we rent out the rest for crops to the Dairy over the hill from us and we rent him our pasture for his spring Heifers. We raise a beef steer every few years.

Beau is VERY accommodating and has built me a greenhouse and I have 14 raised beds, plus we have about 1/4 acre down below for crops that need room like sweet corn, popcorn and melons and taters.

So, four years in and I’ve pretty much started all over again! I’ve added fruit trees (apples, plums, cherries, peaches, pears) and raspberries and asparagus. Beau is an awesome hunter, (we’re having bear ribs for supper!) so between the two of us, we should be ahead of the curve, somewhat. I grocery shop as locally as I can and I put up a lot of produce for the winter months.

It’s a glamorous life, but someone has to live it, LOL!

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