Fed Up by Costs, Many Grow It Alone

In the East New York section of Brooklyn, Marsha King, 29, a management consultant for churches, began to plant seeds for food a few months ago.

"I watched the prices go up when I went to the supermarket. I'd say: Wow! This is $3?" she said. "You put a little seed in, and it comes to maturity like a child. I take pictures, and e-mail them around to my friends. They say, 'You're kidding! You did what?' "

Deborah Greig, the urban agriculture coordinator for East New York Farms, said, "I have a 30-person waiting list for a new garden."

In the past few months, the plant hotline at the Queens Botanical Garden, which is known for its flowers, has been fielding questions from inexperienced gardeners planting vegetables, said Tim Heimerle, director of development.

At the Chelsea Garden Center, which has stores in Brooklyn and Manhattan, "there's been more interest than ever in culinary herbs," said David Protell, the owner. "We've carried more tomatoes, more lettuce, than ever before."

The city is taking steps to support urban food production. The Department of Housing Preservation and Development last year helped farmers gain access to two half-acre parcels of city land to grow food.

And the winning entry in the city's first juried design competition for affordable and sustainable housing in the Bronx includes roof gardens for vegetables and fruit.

Scott Stringer, president of the Manhattan borough, is even proposing a high-rise farm with food growing on each floor.

Nationally, people are growing more vegetables and fruits than flowers for the first time in at least a decade, said Scott Meyer, editor of Organic Gardening magazine.

"This year, it's really exploded," he said. "It's not only the high cost of food, but the high cost of every other activity. People are staying around their homes and looking to do things they find rewarding."

George Ball, chairman of W. Atlee Burpee, the country's largest seed company, said he has seen a 30 to 40 percent increase in vegetable seed sales this year.

"I think the thing that tipped the scale was the fuel and food costs," he said. "This is a big deal for middle-class people." He estimates that every dollar invested in seeds can become $20 worth of produce.