Bristina Jones gets her hands dirty in the community garden along Glenham Avenue in South Providence. For a closer look go to projo.com/video

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The Providence Journal John Freidah

PROVIDENCE –– “Oh wow, look at this,” says Bristina Jones, kneeling beside her first vegetable garden and lifting the cap off a bulging dirt clod. From within the erupting earth the coiled sprout of a green bean braces to unfurl beneath the sun. “Here we go!”

Last month when workers from the Southside Community Land Trust arrived to expand their community garden off Prairie Avenue, they found themselves without electricity to power their drills. A worker knocked at the door of the closest neighbor — Jones — and asked if they could run an extension cord to build some raised garden beds.

Jones was happy to oblige and asked if she could get involved. “I said I had never grown anything; I didn’t know too much. But [the worker] said I could save money growing my own food.”

And with that Jones, 45, a single mother of three who was laid off from her second job in January, became one of the growing numbers of Americans this spring poking green thumbs at the recession.

A survey conducted for the National Gardening Association this year found that 43 million U.S. households planned to grow their own vegetables, fruits, berries and herbs this season — up 19 percent from 2008. And of those surveyed, about two-thirds said the recession had influenced them in some way.

Seed companies have been besieged with customers’ orders. Many have had to hire new workers to meet the demand.

“We’ve never seen anything like this in our industry,” said George Ball, chairman of W. Atlee Burpee Seed Co., the world’s largest seed company, headquartered in Warminster, Pa.

Burpee has seen a 30-percent increase in seed orders this spring, Ball said. And that’s on top of a 20-percent increase in 2008. “It’s probably going to be the biggest season I’ve ever seen and I’ve been in this business for 30 years.”

Nonprofit organizations that run several community gardens in Greater Providence report long waiting lists for vegetable plots.

Last month at a plant sale fundraiser for the Southside Community Land Trust, more than 2,000 people went home with vegetable and herb plants — 600 more customers than last year.

The urge to grow food “is spreading like wildfire, said Rosanne Sherry, state master gardener coordinator at the University of Rhode Island, which runs a gardening hotline. “We’re getting loads of new people who are calling that just simply have never done it before.”

Like a rich compost, a mix of factors have fed this new desire to get down and dirty, say many in the field:

•New growers hope to save money or, if nothing else, harvest a healthy sense of resolve against the bad times of a deep recession.

•Others are joining the growing trend of eating only fresh produce, particularly after last year’s scares of tainted grocery produce.

•And finally the cool, extended spring has granted newcomers, many who may not vacation away this year, more time to get their crops into the ground.

“It’s chaos here,” said Donna Meiners, of Pinetree Seeds, in New Gloucester, Maine, which had to hire about 25 new employees this spring to meet the seed demand, topping out its work force at about 65.

Dick Meiners, Donna’s husband, said seed sales are up about 40 percent since 2007. This year’s 15 percent increase has been “virtually all in vegetable seeds. Flowers are flat.”

“If people are spending the summer at home, they’re more inclined to garden,” Dick Meiners said. “That may be part of the increase.”

Meiners instructs growers, however, to concentrate on reaping enjoyment and relaxation from their gardens because the jury is still out on whether they will actually save much money.

Bruce Butterfield, research director for the National Gardening Association, based in South Burlington, Vt., says he commissioned this year’s survey after sensing a growing movement last fall.

Like the “victory gardens” popular during World War II, interest in gardening has historically spiked during hard times, he said, and subsided during prosperous times.

“It’s a little different this year,” Butterfield said. “In previous recessions, there was more food gardening anyway. But with the electronic age and stuff like that, fewer people have been interested in gardening.”

For instance, in 1975, during the oil crisis, Butterfield said, 49 percent of American households already gardened compared with 31 percent last spring.

According to the gardening association’s study, there is money to be saved gardening.

The survey contends that a gardener who invests $70 to run a well-maintained food garden of 600 square feet (30 feet by 20 feet) can harvest 300 pounds’ worth of fresh produce this year worth $600. That’s based on each square foot of garden producing a half-pound of produce and in-season market prices of $2 a pound.

The survey ranked the most popular vegetables to be grown this year: tomatoes (86 percent), cucumbers (47 percent), sweet peppers (46 percent), beans (39 percent), carrots (34 percent), and summer squash (32 percent).

Bristina Jones stands over her 12-foot by 4-foot plot off Prairie Avenue, planted with all those same vegetables, minus the carrots. “This is my first time gardening and, really, I’m trying to do it because of the recession.”

Jones works as a group home counselor. Up until January, she worked at two group homes, tallying 80 hours a week. Then she lost one of her jobs. “You need two jobs these days to make it.”

In her free time now, Jones joins dozens of other gardeners, many from different cultures, caring for their plots. “We kind of don’t understand each others’ languages but somehow we connect” when it comes time to share the watering hose. “It’s a joyful experience for me.”

Checking her line of beans, Jones says: “prosper and grow. That’s what I tell my group home kids and that’s what I want to see happen right here in front of my eyes.”

21-century Victory Gardens

Some 43 million U.S. households plan to grow their own fruit and vegetables this year — up 19 percent from last year. Of those households, 21 percent will be new gardeners.

The National Gardening Association asked gardeners this spring how much of a motivating factor is the recession having on their gardening plans:

Somewhat — 28 percent

Fair amount — 20 percent

Very much — 14 percent

Not at all — 36 percent

Don’t know — 3 percent.

The four top reasons for food gardening:

To grow better-tasting food — 58 percent

To save money on food bills — 54 percent

To grow better quality food — 51 percent

To grow food I know is safe — 48 percent

The most popular vegetables to be grown this year:

Tomatoes — 86 percent

Cucumbers — 47 percent

Sweet peppers — 46 percent

Bean — 39 percent

Carrots — 34 percent

Summer squash — 32 percent

Source: The National Gardening Association

tmooney@projo.com