Gardening: Why It’s Booming

admin — Thu, 10 Jun 2021 12:26:26 +0000

Gardening: Why It's Booming

8 in 10 Americans Have Grown Their Own Produce Over the Past Year.*

Since the beginning of last year, more Americans than ever are trying their hand gardening. Whether it’s a new hobby, a way to cut back on food costs or reduce food waste, or simply an incentive to live a healthier lifestyle, there’s been a huge increase in gardening at home.

In addition to all these positive benefits, gardening can help reduce stress and provide an opportunity to connect with nature, giving you a break from working from home or being indoors all day.

History of Gardening During Times of Uncertainty

As history shows, Americans turn to gardening in times of uncertainty. During World War I, a severe food crisis in Europe motivated the United States to form the National War Garden Commission, encouraging Americans to plant, harvest, and store their own fruits and vegetables. This allowed the export of more food to those in Europe as a way to support the war effort.

Similarly, in WWII, “victory gardens'' emerged as commercial crops were rerouted to troops overseas. These gardens served as a way to boost morale, show patriotism, and combat food shortages.

Gardening Today

In 2020, people worldwide not only wanted to find ways to pass the time and reduce stress, but they also found that gardening was a necessity given food shortages at the grocery store. So people began looking at vertical gardening as an easy way to grow healthy, nutritious food right at home.

Earlier this year, with the growing interest in gardening, we polled over 2,000 Americans about their food buying habits. Based on those results, we learned that 8 in 10 Americans started to grow their own produce over the past year, and another 76% noted that gardening was their new hobby. Our survey respondents reported that they most enjoyed growing tomatoes (71%), herbs (52%), flowers (49%), and cucumbers (47%).

We also wanted to hear from our Instagram followers about gardening, so we took another poll, discovering that 55% of respondents have taken up gardening within the past year, and 66% have shared their extra produce with neighbors and the community. Our followers like gardening so much, 76% of them want to expand the gardening footprint in their home!

And what were our followers' favorite parts of growing this year? We received a variety of responses from “having produce available during times where the supermarkets are low on stock” to “getting my kids involved” to “noticing the difference in quality when food is homegrown.”

How You Can Get Started

There are many things to consider when starting a garden; where it should go, when to plant, time required to maintain and grow produce, environmental and sustainability concerns. With Tower Garden, you can grow fresh, delicious produce indoors OR outdoors year-round. You don’t have to wait until spring or summer to get started, and all you need is 3 square feet of space. Vertical gardening also uses 98% less water than traditional gardening. The best part, though? Growing homegrown produce with Tower Garden is super easy–no green thumb required!

You may be new to gardening or just need a little motivation. Either way, you can find many tools and resources through Tower Garden.

Click here for more information on our versatile indoor and outdoor gardening systems.

*72Point Research, poll of 2,000 respondents, United States, May 2021.