Entering the year 2020, Mud Hub Greenhouses was in its 3rd full year of operation. With continuing growth, we experienced interest from multiple sources, including schools, pueblos and community groups. With the reality of CoVid19, scheduled conferences, workshops and seminars, pertaining to gardening and crops in general, have been postponed or canceled. We wondered what effect on gardening this would have during these hard times. However, it has not stopped inquiries and greenhouse purchases by homeowners.
Social distancing is new to our life experience. It has forced us to reorder priorities on how we spend our time. We stay at home more, dividing time between family and work. We are aware of the importance of being in a safe environment and containing the spread of the virus.
Gardening is experiencing a resurgence.
At the same time, nurseries are experiences more traffic. We know there have been shortages of some household products. But when shopping landscaping departments, we see empty racks and shelves that once carried rolls of weed barrier, hardware cloth, and packets of seeds. The unexpected increase in demand continues to diminish the supply of those products. Gardeners are now seeking outlets for plastic film, frost cloth and organic soil in hopes of building raised beds or make-shift hoop houses. Mud Hub Greenhouses has fielded its share of these calls. Homeowners are also transforming front lawns into raised beds, as you can see on social media outlets.
And no wonder…..
With time otherwise spent on travel or eating out, people are gardening with a chance to reflect, relax, learn, be entertained and exercise. Sharing surplus food from hardy crops with friends and neighbors offers a chance for others to benefit from work in the garden.
An article, “Russian Dacha Gardens” by Stephen Scott, https://smallfarmersjournal.com/russian-dacha-gardens/, speaks of dacha gardening, a small scale gardening model that has provided food for people of Russia for over 1000 years. Through hard times, it has fed Russia with more food than any other industrialized nation.
In an article “Why Germany’s Little Gardens Are A Way of Life”, Mary Jo DiLonardo discusses Schrebergarten, Dr. Moritz Schreber’s allotment gardens, https://www.treehugger.com/german-allotment-gardens-kleingarten-4859448. Schreber encouraged people to have more outdoor experiences & interactions in community gardens. Some are located on lots owned by gardeners away from home. Others are in more communal areas in otherwise unused parcels, like ones adjacent to railroad yards for example.
Mud Hub Greenhouses is fortunate that gardening interest has grown. We derive pleasure in providing a socially distanced refuge and blank slate for experienced and novice growers alike.
