'Almost therapeutic': COVID-19 pandemic has many people turning to their gardens

COVID-19 has shuttered thousands of businesses both big and small throughout the Toronto area, but with the pandemic forcing almost everyoneto stay at home and the warmer weather approaching, firms likethe Ontario Seed Company and garden centres are busier than ever.

Teenager Remmell Farrell is just one of many peopleturning to their gardens in the wake of all the social distancing and stay-at-home orders. He considers himself lucky to have beaten the rush on seeds, having ordered some online before the March break.

"After COVID-19, everyonewanted seeds," Farrell told CBC Toronto during a Skype interview from his home in Ajax.

Farrell, 16, has beenproviding his mother with fresh fruits and vegetables,including tomatoes, herbs and salad greens from agreenhouse he built in their apartment.

"It'svery satisfying when you can grow something from scratch and pick it. It gets you into a spot where our ancestors would have been and I think that's almosttherapeutic," he said.

Outdoor education

Phil Pothen is growing kale seedlings, which he plans tosharewith his neighbours, who don't have yards they can cultivate.

"The kalegrows very easily and people can put them on their balconies or on a windowsill and it keeps producing," Pothen told CBC Toronto.

He is also growing a variety of herbs and vegetables in hisbackyard garden, which he says has provided some wholesome home-schooling.

"One of our math lessons was calculating our planting schedule for these plants," he said.

"We'vecalculated how many days until we can eat the kale and then the tomatoesand soon we'll be able to start digging in the ground for some exercise turning the soil."

In the First and Second World Wars, people in neighbourhoods across the world cultivated what would eventually be called "victory gardens."

Whilefood was rationed, someplantedlarge-scale gardens, whichbecame a way to provide food security,not just for the gardeners but forthe community, as well.

"People used their front lawns,wherever they could, to grow food," saidPaul Zammit, the director of horticulture at Toronto Botanical Gardens and a CBC Radio contributor.

He said he's not surprised that while the COVID-19 crisis still looms, people are busying themselves in the garden.

"This is not something that's totally new for us," said Zammit.

"I think there is a great deal of opportunity. The circumstances are, of course, unfortunatebut I think in the end we will see somepositive results on the other side of it."