COVID-19 will once again have an impact on area garden centers

SHARON, Conn. — There will still be snow again (possibly on Friday, April 16), but spring is officially here and with it has come the opening of area garden centers — many of whom opened for business on the first day of spring, Saturday, March 20.

Some of the markets and garden centers, such as Freund’s in East Canaan and McEnroe Organic in Millerton, stayed open through the winter. 

Kent Greenhouse and Salisbury Garden Center and Paley’s in Sharon both opened March 20.

The plan for Paley’s this year was to open a little later than normal, on March 27 (although the fine weather encouraged them to have an early “soft” opening). 

They could have been forgiven for wanting a slow start this year, after an unusually rough year in 2020 for owners Sarah and Chris Coon (who begin their third year running the market this year; Sarah is the younger sister of founder Charlie Paley, and she’s been working with him since they were both teens).

As much as we hate to look back at 2020, it’s worth remembering the odd squeeze that all our garden centers experienced in the early months of COVID-19: There was an influx of new residents to the area; and everyone was nesting heavily and wanted not only to spruce up their interiors but also to plant a garden. Edibles were especially in demand, as there were concerns about the safety of the food supply system.

Garden centers order their seeds in the prior autumn, and most were unprepared for the boom in their business. But too many customers can be a good problem — if it’s possible to get supplies.

Which was not possible. Seed companies were also hit by unusually high demand at a time when they had to reduce production so their workers could safely social distance.

Sarah and Chris Coon were at their garden center on Thursday morning, March 18, to talk about the completion of their new greenhouses, and during the conversation they summarized some of the challenges that will be facing all Tri-state garden centers in the coming weeks.

Once again, there probably won’t be enough seed packets for everyone who wants to grow at home. In addition to the expected increase in demand, many of the seed companies were working under COVID-19 restrictions and didn’t have enough workers to properly save and dry the seeds in large quantities. 

“We put in our order with Burpee last November and when the packets arrived, we were like, Where is everything?” Sarah said. “They sent us 75% fewer seeds than we ordered. And we’ve been doing business with them for 38 years! There were hardly any cucumbers or tomato varieties in what they sent us. We got a lot of beans and peas.”

Which are a little drab compared to tomatoes, of course. But those are the retail seed packets (Sarah promised that she was able to secure a shipment of some particularly nice seeds from the Hudson Valley for home gardeners). 

Chris said the companies seemed to have put commercial growers at the head of the priority list. As a result, his wife and partner said, Paley’s this year is planning to sell more vegetable “starts” (many of which are already growing in the new greenhouses).

It isn’t only the seeds that are coming in limited quantities, though. What happens in the rest of the world does still impact this little rural region. Deliveries of soil have been delayed, not because there isn’t enough dirt on the planet but because there isn’t enough plastic. The reason for that is open to speculation but Chris has heard one theory that the sturdy plastic used for soil bags is made with a byproduct of airline fuel and people are flying less so there’s less fuel … It all eventually comes back to COVID.

Plastic sacks,
seedling pots

A similar problem is holding up the production of plastic plant pots.

Some solutions are available in the region. McEnroe Organic, for example, makes its own soils and composts. Even if there aren’t enough bags to sell them in at retail, it’s possible there and at some other garden centers to purchase soil and compost by the truckload.

At Freund’s in East Canaan, it’s possible to buy the farm’s famous CowpPots plant starting containers, made from the manure of the dairy cows on the farm.

And of course Freund’s and McEnroe’s also will have their famous tomato starts, as well as herbs, vegetables and fruits.

Business is very good
(and busy)

And back to the flip side of the supply problem, the Coons at Paley’s anticipate that most of their employees from last year will return. Farm markets and orchards have traditionally been a popular spot for young people to get first jobs. 

Those who started last year certainly got a taste of what it means to work very, very hard. 

“We normally have a lull in the middle of the week,” Sarah said. “We didn’t get that last year, which made it hard to keep up. But we met a lot of nice new people, too. Overall, 2020 was very good for us, although it was stressful and exhausting.”

Most stressful, of course, was the tornado that hit the Northwest Corner in August, with winds that toppled the weather vane on the farm and took down three of the six greenhouses.

As with everything else farm related last year, there was a delay in getting parts for the rebuild of the greenhouses. The Coons were full of praise for their greenhouse builder, Paul Harrison of Cheshire, Conn. — who was also overwhelmed with orders and new customers last year.

While they were waiting for Harrison to custom bend the metal supports needed to rebuild the greenhouses, the Coons made lemonade from lemons by adding a concrete center strip in the greenhouses and widening the aisles. 

The parts finally arrived around Thanksgiving last year, but Harrison was unable to come and install them, to his chagrin. But he offered detailed instructions and the Coons (with help from family and friends, including farm founder Charlie Paley) were able to build the structures themselves.

“We got the poles back in place and then put the plastic up with almost no problems,” Sarah said. “We got lucky, there wasn’t any wind; because, as we know, this is a windy spot.”

In addition to the six “grow” greenhouses the retail greenhouse is also up and being filled with plant products for shoppers. 

“We’ll be open seven days a week from 9 to 5 through April,” Sarah said, “and then we’ll be open from 8 to 6 starting in May.”

There is always a crush of customers waiting to shop here and at other area garden shops.

Even before the centers opened last month, Sarah said, “Everyone was ready. They were champing at the bit.”