EU: European consumers grow own vegetables enmass
'The credit crisis is making the European consumer ingenious. More and more people are growing their own vegetables. Shown in research done by eBay, where the distribution pattern of vegetable seeds from January- March 2009 was compared with the previous year. In Germany sales rose by 40%, but also other Europeans seem to be growing their own veg.
In Austria the sales of seeds rose by 17%, in Italy 30% and the French bought 32% more vegetable seeds. In Great Britain sales increased by 37%. The biggest risers have not yet been mentioned. In Ireland, Poland and Spain the sale of vegetable seeds rose respectively 125, 103 and 71%.'
Certainly we have had a good year, but I don't think it was that good! Too busy to do the numbers.
I wonder how many are like me -- made redundant and turned it into early retirement so as to rebuild the vegetable garden of my youth. A lot of old cultivars such as Senator pea seem to have faded away and a lot of the replacements look distinctly commercial, but God is good.
ReplyDeleteYes a lot of old varieties have disappeared, but some are still around and there are also lots of good new ones. I hope you enjoy your retirement - although gardening isn't really retirement, its hard work!
ReplyDeleteI had a quick search for Senator peas and they are available from http://www.bulgariansmallholder.com/