Who can resist a patch of happy-looking velvety yellow pansies or the joyous, vivid red of geraniums set in a white tub on a walkway or deck?

Flowers and shrubs are as popular as ever, but this year has seen an increase in those considering a vegetable garden, say nursery managers and co-operative extension officials.

“There seems to be a lot of interest,” said Ginny Moody, who owns Moody’s Nursery and Garden Center in Saco with her son, Rob. Historically, she said, people turn to home vegetable gardening when there’s a downturn in the economy. Moody’s has been in business since 1935.

Frank Wertheim of York County Co-operative Extension Service and Kelly Tarbox of Springvale Nurseries Garden Center, agreed and say that those deciding to growing their own vegetables often have another motive.

“There’s a genuine interest in where our food comes from,” said Tarbox, whose business has been located on Shaw’s Ridge for nine years and Emery’s Mills for 16 years before.

“It’s not a good use of our resources to have tomatoes trucked in from California.”

And if you don’t grow your own, she said, there are plenty of farmers in the county who sell their produce at roadside stands and farmer’s markets.

“There’s tremendous interest in the value of local foods bought from farms or that you grow yourself,” said Wertheim, who added that the telephone at the extension agency has been ringing steadily from people seeking gardening advice.

Besides higher food prices brought on by the faltering economy, vegetables are also being homegrown for health and environmental reasons, he said.

Food scares over packaged spinach and lettuce in recent years have increased awareness that food grown closer to home is of higher quality, Wertheim said. And there’s less transportation involved, resulting in less fuel being used.

The rocky economy is also prompting some to think about spending more time at home.

“Maybe they won’t spend $5,000 to travel but are thinking about what they can do to beautify their yard,” said Tarbox. Gardening, she added, is called “an affordable luxury.”

“It’s something you can do for yourself,” she said.

Homeowners can beautify yards with annuals, perennials, shrubs and trees. Relatively new, and of note this year is a perennial geranium called “Roseanne,” which promises to be violet blue, said Moody.

The trick with perennials, said the longtime nursery woman, is to plant so they’ll bloom in succession, so when one plant stops flowering for the year, another is blooming, and so on.

Moody said she tries to counsel and advise new gardeners, and has plenty of printed information to hand out, as well as seedlings for sale – leeks, tomatoes, peppers, cucumbers and squash, plus seeds for those who prefer to start from scratch. There are also strawberry plants, raspberries, and other berries.

While Moody, like Tarbox, buys tiny flower “plugs” which they transplant into flats to grow to the perfect size for planting, each greenhouse starts their vegetable seedlings themselves.

What gardening takes, said Moody on a walk through the greenhouses and grounds Thursday, is good soil – and it is the most difficult aspect of gardening to get through to would-be gardeners she said.

“In our own industry we talk about a $10 plant in a $5 bag of soil,” she said. “Plants don’t grow in fill and gravel.”

Poor soil can be cured, Moody said, with loam, compost, peat moss and manure.

Both Moody and Tarbox said the season is starting off well and indications are that will continue.

“The (good) weather brings out people,” said Tarbox. “We’ve seen a lot of interest – it’s cabin fever.”

Moody agreed it was the long winter that brought in the crowds.

“The first few days of good weather, we were mobbed,” Moody said.

— Contact Tammy Wells by calling 324-4444, or via e-mail at twells@gwi.net.