Your Home Your Way

2 THE BRANDON SUN • YOUR HOME YOUR WAY • THURSDAY, APRIL 28, 2022 Backyard gardening improves homes, fights inflation woes BY DREW MAY While the pandemic turned people's attention to building up their backyard and shaping it into their own oasis, the lit- tle slice of green can also be a way to help fend off inflation. The popularity of backyard gardens took off during the two summers of the pandem- ic as people had more time on their hands to explore their green thumbs, said Green Spot owner Bernie Whetter. Now, that's likely to contin- ue as inflation drives prices higher at the grocery store and other backyard staples become more difficult to buy. Vegetable plants and gar- dening supplies are easier to get ahold of than other larger pieces of backyard furniture, he said, which in the current state of the supply chain can take months to arrive. Many plants are grown from seeds, and with seed companies lo- cal to Brandon they are in healthy supply. As a result, some people are turning to their gardens as a way to improve their backyard. "They're finding ways to plant on their balcony or on their patio or carve a little hunk of land from their back- yard, so they're being very creative. We'll see an increase for sure in the vegetables," Whetter said. A wide range of vegetables such as tomatoes, herbs, pep- pers, cabbage and pumpkins grow well in Brandon, he said. "Once people get hooked on gardening, I mean you're hooked… If you find that you love it you're just going to stay with it and keep getting better and better," he said. The land in Brandon is so well suited to growing food there is almost no reason not to give it a try, said Poonam Singh, a researcher in the Horticultural Production and Sustainable Food Sys- tems programs at Assiniboine Community College. "Having space to garden is such a scarce entity… and here we have it. It's really a no-brainer," she said. » Continued on Page 3

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