Survey Says … New Customers Will Keep on Gardening!

Chris Beytes

This good news is from horticultural broker and distributor Griffin, which recently conducted a survey (sponsored by Bonide, Dramm and Premier Tech Horticulture) in which they asked questions of 1,000 respondents who say they had just begun gardening in the last six months.

The biggest finding? That four out of five (80%) respondents say they will “probably” or “absolutely” continue gardening in 2021.

Other key findings from the survey:

• 87% of respondents age 18 to 24 and 85% of respondents age 35 to 44 indicated that they intend to continue gardening after the pandemic. Of those aged 55 to 65, a somewhat lower percentage (74%) said they intend to continue gardening. Still, that’s three out of four of that age group!

• The West saw the highest intent (83%) of users who indicated they would probably or absolutely continue gardening, while the lowest intent came out of the Northeast (78%).

• Geographically, all regions of the United States saw a relatively even breakdown of those that intended to continue to garden and those that did not.

“Pandemic gardening has become a ‘thing,’” said Jim Rottenberg, Vice President of Retail Sales and Marketing for Griffin. “Our customers have been experiencing an influx of new customers, particularly with new home gardeners. While gardening may not seem like an ‘essential’ activity, many are turning to home gardening as a new way to cope during this pandemic. We are also finding that new home gardeners are ready to put their green thumbs to the test, are enjoying it, and will continue to garden past the pandemic.” GT