Scared straight . . . to gardening? There’s been a run on seeds at local nurseries

Last year, Cathy Brady of Brady Nursery in west Wichita had to throw away about 400 pounds of seed potatoes that didn’t sell.

“One of my suppliers told me they threw away 4,000 pounds,” she said.

This year, the spring planting season has barely begun, and Brady said, “I am almost sold out of seed potatoes.”

That’s not all that’s selling, she said.

“Peas, beans, onions. Whatever they can get,” Brady said. “So many people are scared there won’t be enough food in the stores. They’re just deciding to plant it themselves.”

Brady said it might also be to “give the kids something to do.”

Jerry DeRee, who owns Dutch’s Greenhouse with his brother, Frank, said, “We’ve had a lot of new gardeners come in this year, which is kind of exciting for us.”

Part of it, he said, is people are “worried about being on a lockdown” and wondering if food will be available.

Also, he said, “They just want to be outdoors.”

DeRee said people told him, “I’m in my happy place. I just need a lift. I just needed to see flowers, see some green and smell some earth.”

He said “everything is going right now.”

That includes tomatoes, peppers, onions, broccoli and cauliflower.

“Although, honestly, it’s a little early to be planting all this stuff.”

DeRee said mid-April is the average final frost date.

“By that time it should be safe.”

He said early vegetables that are safe to plant now include lettuce, kale, broccoli, cauliflower, cabbage, Brussels sprouts, onions and potatoes.

Also, by seed, he said growers can plant peas, beets and radishes.

DeRee said it’s too early for tomatoes, peppers, squash and cucumbers.

“I would definitely wait on those.”

March, April and May are the busiest months of business for most nurseries and landscapers. While owners have concern over the coronavirus outbreak and how it will affect their businesses, it isn’t necessarily their top issue.

“A lot of our industry is obviously based on the weather, and it’s been wet, cold, gray, dreary,” said Hillside Nursery owner Mark McHenry.

“Early March was very good, very promising,” he said. “It was warm. It was sunny. People were ready to get out and get started.”

McHenry said he believes they will be ready to again.

“People are going to be tired of being cooped up. They’re going to want to work in the yard, be outdoors, beautify their surroundings.”

He said he’s feeling “cautiously optimistic for our industry.”

So is Marty Johnson of Johnson’s Garden Centers.

“A week ago, our numbers were equal to a year ago,” he said.

It was slower over the weekend, which Johnson attributed to the weather.

“Still, when the sun came out, people were in shopping.”

The big sellers for him also were vegetable seeds.

Johnson anticipates weekends won’t be the same, nor will events such as flat sales and ladies nights.

He and most other nurseries are now expanding their online and call-ahead shopping and offering curbside load-ins.

That means a lot of call-in shoppers have been letting his staff pick the varieties of the vegetables they request.

“I guess at that point, the varieties weren’t that critical,” Johnson said.

Though nurseries and landscapers are deemed essential businesses that are allowed to remain open during the current stay-home order, owners still have concerns about what business will be like.

Johnson said he’s “a little nervous” and is filling out SBA disaster loan paperwork to be ready.

“We need a good spring to pay off . . . a line of credit with the bank,” he said.

McHenry said nurseries might be the ideal businesses for shoppers to visit right now. He notes that his business sits on eight acres.

“They can maintain not just six feet, they can maintain 60 feet or far more.”

Landscaping is the main part of his part of his business.

“Since its’ been cold, a lot of that has been on hold anyway.”

He said he hasn’t had any landscaping cancellations. McHenry said he hasn’t encountered anyone “that’s been complete doom and gloom” about the virus scare.

“And God bless Wichita for it.”

Brady said, “You just don’t know what to expect. We’ve never been in anything like this. No one in the world knows what to expect.”

Pat Randleas, who sells produce mostly to restaurants through Home Grown Kansas, recommends that first-time gardeners not make their gardens bigger than what they can or will maintain.

She said there a lot of benefits that she finds in gardening.

“I like being outside. I like the beauty of nature. I like the silence. I like being alone. I like to eat. I like food that tastes good, and I like to share with other people.”

Randleas said there’s one more reason that it could especially good to garden during a pandemic.

“It’s great, great mental therapy as well. It really is.”

This story was originally published March 24, 2020 at 4:47 AM.