Provided
Ezra Hall, son of Chad Hall ’09 and his wife Jill (Bebee) Hall ’09, waters their backyard garden. Cornellians have green thumbs
April 19, 2021
In honor of Earth Day, we asked Cornellians to tell us about their experiences over this past year growing gardens.
Since the start of the pandemic, a record number of people have taken advantage of their time at home to get their hands dirty and plant pandemic gardens. According to Agweek, Burpee Seed Company sold more seeds in March 2020 than in any month in their 144-year history, and Johnny’s Selected Seed recorded a 270 percent increase in spring 2020 over pre-pandemic seed sales. According to Axiom’s 2021 Gardening Insights Survey, 86 percent of last year’s home gardeners plan to continue gardening this year, and 47 percent of them said they plan to expand their gardens in the 2021 growing season.
Co-op produce manager says now is a good time to experiment with different lettuces.
Written By:
Holly Ebel | ×
People s Food Co-op in downtown Rochester offers a wide variety of greens. (Ken Klotzbach / kklotzbach@postbulletin.com)
With snow on the ground and temps below freezing, it seems a little odd to focus on greens. On the other hand, dietitians emphasize the importance of greens in our diet, particularly since they are chock-full of vitamins and antioxidants.
With that in mind, I decided to see which greens were available midwinter in Rochester. That took me to People s Food Co-op downtown, and what a surprise! The variety on display appeared as fresh and vibrant as you see midsummer at the farmers market.