Sales up at most seed stores this year

Barbara Melera, who has owned D. Landreth Seed Co. in New Freedom, Pa., the oldest in the country, since 2003, told The Washington Post sales are up 75 percent over last year. Sales at Wal-Mart are up 30 percent.

Deana Demichelis, coordinator of the community gardens in Reston, Va., said there are 140 names on the waiting list for a total of 250 plots. If turnover is normal, those at the bottom of the list have a three-year wait.

"New gardeners are begging to get in because of the recession and the fact they can save money growing their own food," she said.

Seed merchants point to other reasons for the trend, including anxieties about commercial food safety, the local food movement and even Michelle Obama's organic garden at the White House -- something just copied by Queen Elizabeth II at Buckingham Palace. But they say economic anxiety appears to be the bid factor driving U.S. residents to the vegetable patch.

Copyright 2009 by United Press International.