People are rushing to plant 'pandemic gardens' and seed companies say they can't keep up with the surge in demand
- Seed companies have reported an "unprecedented" surge in business as people rush to plant "pandemic gardens."
- A number of American seed companies have posted notices online either warning of delayed shipping, or suspensions of orders altogether.
- It's not the first time Americans have sought to grow their own food amid an economic downturn — 60% of food gardeners in 2009 said their decision to grow food was at least partly motivated by the economy.
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People across the United States are planting "pandemic gardens" to grow their own food and pass the time, and seed companies say business has shot up so fast they can barely keep up.
Pennsylvania-based Burpee Seeds posted a notice online saying the business won't accept new orders until April 15 at 12 p.m. "due to unprecedented order volume and correspondence."
Seed Savers Exchange, an Iowa-based nonprofit, also announced it suspended new orders due to "unprecedented high demand" while it restocks and ships out existing orders.
The company said it's struggling with an inventory shortage and warned customers that some items might be missing from their orders and they would grant refunds in those instances.
"We have seen an unparalleled surge in seed orders and are doing our best to process and fill these orders as quickly as possible while enacting social distancing and other measures to keep our staff and community as safe as possible," the company wrote.
Kitchen Garden Seeds in Connecticut also updated its website to note that orders might encounter a "brief delay" in shipping because of the skyrocketing volume.
"Kitchen Garden Seeds orders have soared in the past month due to the COVID-19 pandemic," the note said. "We are shipping seed orders all over the country at a phenomenal rate, but not as quickly as we usually do because of the increased volume."
CBS News reported Tuesday that the bottleneck stems not from a nationwide lack of seeds, but from a shortage of pre-packaged packets — seeds sold in stores must first be weighed and packaged.
There was a surge in home gardening during the Great Recession as well
It's not the first time economic crises have led Americans to grow their own food. One food historian told HuffPost that the trend began during WWI and WWII.
"Crisis-gardening is not new," Rose Hayden-Smith, the author of "Sowing the Seeds of Victory," told the outlet.
One National Gardening Association report also cited by HuffPost even revealed that 60% of food gardeners in 2009 said their decision to grow food was at least somewhat motivated by economic conditions, and 14% said it was "very much" motivated by economic conditions.
A whopping 8 million food gardeners even revealed that 2009 was the first year they grew their own food, the NGA said.
Gardening has become so popular in recent weeks that Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer was met with intense backlash when she ordered some stores to cordon off sections that sold gardening products. The state's dedicated retail garden centers and greenhouses were also deemed non-essential in an earlier order and forced to shutter.
Whitmer's new order was intended to help prevent overcrowding in businesses but instead quickly sparked anger. Michigan residents took to Twitter, posting photos of seed sections sectioned off with police tape.
"I recognize that there are a lot of passionate gardeners in Michigan, and I've heard from a lot of you," Whitmer said in a news conference Monday, adding that plant nurseries and greenhouses would be able to secure small-business loans and disaster relief dollars. "Right now, my immediate concern is trying to keep everyone in Michigan safe."