QUINCY (WGEM) – As you get ready to prep your garden for flowers and produce this spring, be prepared to pay a little more to exercise your green thumb.
The cost of fertilizer and other gardening chemicals are up amidst the conflict in Ukraine, inflation and rising transportation and fuel costs.
Farm and Home Supply manager Leon Obert said he’s seen fertilizer prices have go up by about 30 percent.
But he said he doesn’t think that will stop people from planting their gardens this year.
“People know that the price has increased but it’s not that far out of reach,” he said. “I think people, and the love of gardening and keeping their lawns beautiful is so most important to most folks.”
Obert said there’s been an increased demand for gardening supplies over the past couple of years, as more people have taken up the hobby.
Wellman Florist manager Karen Wellman said market forces are also having an affect on their prices.
She said the increased costs of fertilizer, transportation and fuel are being passed on to their customers as the prices of some of their plants have gone up by 10 percent.
Wellman said when it comes to fertilizer, they have to use it wisely when applying it to plants, and it’s a helpful tip at-home gardeners can use as well.
“Some plants need more fertilizer more often than others,” she said. “Petunias only need it every couple of weeks so as long as you know your base of your plant, then you don’t over-fertilize.”
Wellman said that costs for fertilizer might stay high throughout the spring, since blooming plants that grow during this time tend to take a lot more fertilizer than year-round plants.
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