Home Grown Tomatoes
We’ve been following stories in Idaho for some time about the movement towards home grown vegetables and organic gardening. Boise’s Capital City Public Market bustles with activity every Saturday in- season, the University of Idaho is teaching classes on how to garden and actually teaching farmers about organic foods. Nursery operators report a major increase in sales of vegetable garden plants as well as vegetable seeds. Even the nation’s first lady has planted a garden at the White House. It’s Victory Gardens all over again. Thus, the demand for seeds and young plants has jumped. Nursery operators expect demand for tomato plants to remain strong until mid-May when time for the plants to develop fruit runs short. Steve McShane, Nursery owner and former American Farm Bureau official. “I’ve seen more movement in the home-grown vegetable and vegetable garden category than I’ve seen ever. Our sales show about a 25% increase over last year. Seeds have moved as well, we’ve seen a 10% increase there. You can get tomatoes going all the way to the middle of May and still be fine because we’ll be able to produce through September and in many cases you’re looking at a maturity that’s gonna be in 60 days. Folks will still be able to plant through the end of the spring.
