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Maybe it's the recession driving residents to cut grocery costs. Or maybe it's the influence of luminaries such as first ladies Michelle Obama and Katie O'Malley, who are growing peas, lettuce and other vegetables at their official residences.

Whatever it is, home gardens of vegetables, fruits and herbs for extremely local consumption are sprouting like cucumber plants on a sunny day in May.

"It has been a phenomenon. I haven't seen anything like it in 35 years," said Jon Traunfeld, coordinator of the state Master Garden program run by the Maryland Cooperative Extension.

This year has been "better than any other year in recent memory," said Alex Dencker, store manager of Behnke Nurseries in Beltsville.

Together with its Potomac branch, Behnke is the largest gardening supplier in Prince George's and Montgomery counties. This year, vegetable garden sales at Behnke surged 24 percent in April and May from the same period in 2008, growth that Dencker said he finds "amazing, considering the economy being so bad."

Nationally, 7 million new gardeners are expected in 2009, a 19 percent increase from 2008, following a 10 percent rise last year from 2007, according to the National Gardening Association.

A well-maintained food garden will save an average of $500 a year, according to the association, but rookie gardeners should expect to work several summers to attain significant savings.

Sales ‘through the roof'

Several Maryland gardening stores are seeing unprecedented sales of food garden supplies.

"Last year it started to pick up," said Jim Hamilton, marketing director of Homestead Gardens in Davidsonville, but this year, "sales have been through the roof." Although Homestead Gardens stocked 25 percent more vegetable garden supplies than usual, it has not been able to keep up with demand.

Valley View Farms of Cockeysville, the largest garden center and nursery in the Baltimore area, has also seen a sales burst. Last year at this time it had sold 300 flats of lettuce; this year it has sold more than 400, according to Carrie Engel, retail greenhouse manager. Pea sales have risen from 54 to 80 flats. Engel said she has heard stories of quadrupling sales at some stores, although this has not happened for the older, stable Valley View Farms.

Valley View Farms has also sold more fruits, especially blueberries, said Engel, and it has sold out of strawberry plants and dwarf fruit trees. Dencker also is seeing significant fruit sales, especially for blueberries, which he says are a native fruit that offer "fantastic fall colors."

Engel said container gardening has also burgeoned. However, harsh weather has slowed tomato and pepper sales.

Food gardening is making up for sagging sales among other products. Behnke is having "no problem with anything edible — vegetables, plants, seeds," plus soil and other products for produce, Dencker said. This sales spike especially "stands out because everything else is so lean," he said.

Hamilton said sales are below normal for bigger ticket items, such as patio furniture, plus trees and shrubs. Still, it's "full steam ahead for small items," particularly vegetables and herbs. Overall, it adds up to sales being "up a couple of points." Because it is only the middle of summer and because Homestead Gardens does not inventory separate categories, Hamilton said he could not give specific sales figures.

Despite recent strong food garden sales, Homestead Gardens, which typically employs 350 workers during its peak season, has trimmed its work force by close to 4 percent, Hamilton said, as the store does "more with less."

Only slight impact on grocery sales

Unless the average American starts growing bushels of carrots, onions, tomatoes, squashes and other fruits and vegetables, grocery stores won't feel much of a sales pinch.

Buzz Morrissey, vice president of sales at food service distributor Hearn Kirkwood in Hanover, expects virtually no effect on grocery sales because "the sheer volume of retail is so big." Although Hearn Kirkwood buys and sells as much locally raised food as it can, with consumers demanding fresh produce throughout the year, the bulk of the company's produce comes from such places as California, Mexico and Chile.

For food gardens, one measure of increased interest is the number of phone calls and e-mails from new gardeners received by the state master gardeners, volunteer horticultural educators for Maryland Cooperative Extension, the main outreach unit of the University of Maryland, according to university information. In the first three months of this year, Traunfeld said, calls and e-mails from first-time food gardeners doubled to 300 apiece to his office alone — and there are 23 county extension offices plus one in Baltimore city.

To accommodate the new interest in home gardening, the Maryland master gardeners started the Grow It Eat It program this year, offering classes around the state. Currently 20 master gardeners are involved in the teaching program, according to Erica Smith, the program coordinator, and they've taught 235 people at the first 10 events.

Some question how long the boom will last.

"Americans are notoriously faddist," Traunfeld said. "We don't stick with things. Still, with a strong youth movement, environmental concerns and economic and food anxieties, today's home gardening trend may mark the start of a permanent change in the way Marylanders think about food."

To help spur Marylanders to buy locally grown produce, Gov. Martin O'Malley has planned a cookout Thursday at the Governor's mansion to kick off the state's Buy Local Challenge Week, which runs Saturday through July 26. The promotion challenges Marylanders to eat at least one locally grown, produced or harvested product each day next week. Information: www.marylandsbest.net.