CLEVELAND — Growing produce at home can be done through a few simple steps, which Noelle Akin has mastered and is now teaching to other garden enthusiasts who are hoping to save some cash.
Akin is the manager of training and education at Petitti Garden Center in Akron, where she is encouraging customers to pick out a few pots and grow food from home. Creating personal gardens has beome a popular hobby in recent years, Akin said, but now could also help people save some cash as grocery prices rise across the U.S.
“Growing your own plants at home– one of the easiest and economical ways to do that is seed starting,” she said.
The United States Department of Agriculture estimates that the price for all food will increase by 3.4% this year.
With around 60% of U.S. produce coming in from abroad, experts predict tariffs could take be a significant blow on already-inflated prices.
“And so even things like vegetables and other fresh fruits have become more expensive. And now, with new tariffs being layered on, we might see that, it's harder and more expensive to get avocado in Ohio, if it's more expensive to bring it in from Mexico,” said Jonathan Ernest.
Ernest is an assistant professor in the Department of Economics at Case Western Reserve University’s Weatherhead School of Management.
He said the cost effectiveness of home gardening depends on several factors.
"Growing one stalk of corn, with a few ears on it probably isn't worth all of the effort of of getting the soil right and maintaining it throughout the season," he said.
In many cases, personal gardens can yield food at a comparatively lower cost, Ernest said, especially small-scale products like fresh herbs.
“You can grow them fairly easily in a small amount of space at home with limited material,” Ernest said.
As prices in store remain high, interest in home-grown food is also hitting a high point, Akin said.
“Gardening for your own vegetables, for your herbs, and edibles and those types of things, that has stayed very high in the interest level," Akin said. "So, a lot customers come through and they are growing their own fruits, vegetables, herbs that they use everyday."
