To Beat Covid Blahs,

Victory Gardens Return

By LIBBY CUDMORE • Special To AllOTSEGO.com

MOUNT VISION – ‘V’ for vegetables – or victory.

“A lot of the companies we buy from say the ‘Victory Garden’ is making a comeback,” said Ed Wilms, Mount Vision Garden Center, who opened his family’s 26 greenhouses Friday, May 1.

“People are worried they won’t have enough vegetables, so they’re planting their own. Sales are up across the board.”

“We’re starting a new garden,” said Sarah Jahnke, Schenevus. “We’re mostly buying veggies” – not full grown: vegetable plants.

This past weekend was the first sunny one in a while, so customers came out in force – wearing masks and maintaining social distance, of course – not just here, but at garden centers across the county.

“We’ve got people coming out just to look,” Wilms said. “They want to get out of the house, and they know it’s safe here.”

Victory Gardens were popular in World War II, where families planted vegetables to supplement their menu amid food rationing. It was also a morale booster, helpful during the coronavirus shutdowns even though locally supermarkets haven’t had vegetable shortages so far.

“We’ve tripled our business,” said Debbie Annutto, Annutto’s Farm Stand, Oneonta. “There’s a big movement to buy veggies, especially with younger people. They’ve never planted before, but they want to start growing vegetables.”

“We sold a lot of fruit trees and blueberry bushes,” said added Mary Leonard, proprietor of Carefree Gardens, outside Cooperstown. “There’s a lot of food insecurity, and people want to know where their food is coming from. Growing it yourself is the best way to know that.”

Annutto recommends that garden newbies starting with herb pots, or even broccoli. “Broccoli isn’t hard to grow!” she said. “You can also do lettuce or spinach, or green beans.”

For new victory gardeners, Wilms also recommends tomatoes and peppers, which – if you lack space for a full garden – can be grown in pots. “It’s hard to mess up tomatoes,” he said. “Same with cucumber and zucchini.”

He cautioned about zucchini, which can quickly get out of hand. “You have one and then you have a bunch,” he joked.

In addition to planters and small herb pots, raised beds – dirt-filled wooden boxes on stilts – are also popular with younger gardeners. “We sold out of raised bed soil,” said Annutto. “We’ve been slammed all weekend.”

This doesn’t mean people are skimping on flowers. “Mother’s Day is coming up and a lot of restaurants are closed, so we’re predicting it’s going to be a big flower weekend.”

“We always get hanging baskets for Mother’s Day,” said customer Amanda Hitchcock, Mount Vision, who brought her family to Mount Vision last Sunday. “We live just up the road but we’ve never been here, so we thought today would be a good day.”

At this time of year, garden centers attract a Who’s Who.

Bill Michaels, Fly Creek Cider Mill proprietor, was there, too, buying fresh herbs and palm trees to decorate the mill. At Annutto’s, Jackie Hesse, with husband Buzz in tow, was up from Otego to buy heirloom tomato plants and basil.

“Flowers make people feel better,” said Annuto.

Mount Vision does wholesale business to stores and garden centers downstate, but with the season just starting, he isn’t yet sure how COVID-19 will affect his business. “Planting really doesn’t get started until Memorial Day,” he said. “We won’t know until we get later into the season.”

Many seasoned gardeners are waiting another week before picking up their plants he said, noting, “It’s going to get cold again, and next weekend it’s supposed to snow.”

Said Annuto, “People who are buying flowers are putting them in their sun room or in their garage.”

Or pick out some cold-weather plants to start with. “Kale, broccoli and lettuce can go in when it’s cooler,” said Leonard. “And strawberries too.”

But worry not if you haven’t picked out your plants yet – there are still plenty to pick from.

“We have hundreds of plants,” said Wilms. “People are worried that we won’t have enough, but we have plenty.”