Like Jack's beanstalk, home gardening hobby grows to new heights across Western Pa.

The coronavirus pandemic brought a sudden abundance of free time at home last summer, and many people found themselves trying their hands at gardening for the first time.

That provided a record sales boost for many local nurseries, especially with vegetables — and the trend is expected to continue in 2021.

“Last year was the busiest year we’ve ever had,” said Justin Beall, owner of Beall’s Nursery & Landscaping in Plum. “This year is on pace to be just as busy or busier.”

The family-owned nursery and landscaping business has been operating since 1994, and Beall said the recent influx of gardening is following a gap of disinterest in the pastime. Baby boomers were the last generation prioritizing gardening and landscaping, but the interest has been piqued in the younger generation.

“People’s lifestyles have changed now that they’re spending more time at home,” Beall said.

The number of people planting this spring hasn’t slowed since the pandemic’s onset, Beall said. One trend he has seen is more people buying raised planter boxes for vegetables, herbs and flowers, especially those living in urban areas with no gardening plots.

“With a lot of people at home, they want to enjoy their outdoor space,” Beall said.

People tend to research what they want before arriving at the nursery, said Megan Fialkovich, an assistant greenhouse attendant at Beall’s. Lately, some even arrived with ideas stemming from TikTok and other social media platforms.

“People came in with wish lists,” Fialkovich said. “They came in ready to go.”

In addition to raised planter boxes, Beall said customers are buying market packs of vegetables, such as tomatoes, peppers or zucchini, in lieu of seed packs, to produce faster results.

A market pack is a set of four plants at least three inches tall, according to Beall.

Jennifer Pribanic, co-manager of Chelse’s Greenhouse in Monroeville, said the greenhouse is busy every year but nothing like what she witnessed last year during the lockdown.

The trend has continued, even at a higher level this year, she said.

“We’ve always had regulars, but now we have people coming in saying, ‘So and so told me to come,’ ” Pribanic said. “We’ve doubled the business in the last year.”

According to Pribanic, more people started their own vegetable and flower gardens with the increased free time they had last spring and summer.

“They figured if they’re going to be at home all the time, they might as well make their home look beautiful,” she said.

Christy Bradley, a customer at Chelse’s Greenhouse, said she has always maintained vegetable and flower gardens, but she bolstered her gardening last year when she was furloughed for seven and a half months.

“That’s where I spent my mornings — with my flower boxes around my deck,” Bradley said.

Bradley anticipates a drop in the amount of gardening she will do this year now that she has returned to work, but she still plans to maintain what she has.

With so many stuck at home, Jason Wilkinson Nursery in Armbrust also has seen an increase in business.

“We’ve seen an enormous increase in residential customers coming to the nursery,” said Angela Kay, landscape designer at Wilkinson’s. “(There’s a) much higher volume of residential sales than we’ve had in years (prior to the pandemic).”

Mary Beth Pcolar, a lifelong gardener, said she did not make any significant changes during the pandemic.

“I’ve always been out there (in the garden) and that didn’t stop me (last year) because I was outdoors and nobody else was around but my family and myself,” Pcolar said as she shopped at Mosside Greenhouse in North Versailles.

One thing she said she has noticed since the pandemic started is a shortage of certain plants and products in stores. She said she believes more people picked up gardening last year and are now maintaining the hobby, which has contributed to continued shortages.

Mandy Smith, master gardener coordinator in Westmoreland County for Penn State Extension, said she “definitely noticed an increase” in calls to their garden hotline at 724-858-4045, a free service where master gardeners answer questions.

In April, the hotline received 88 calls, a large increase from last year.

“People are out there gardening,” Smith said. “I know I got all my seeds in the fall because I anticipated seed companies would be trying to constantly restock.”

Smith said gardening “cultivates joy” in people’s lives, and she believes people will continue to see it through even after the pandemic.

With vegetable plant sales up this year compared to last, Beall said the nursery’s vendors are “selling out of product quickly” due to high demand.

“We tried to be prepared, and we preordered a lot of plants,” Beall said. “(We) have to order early — large quantities — to have enough supply to meet demand for customers.”

Fialkovich said certain varieties of tomatoes like supersonic were supposed to be a “no-go” this year.

“Our problem is a lot of the distributors and other nurseries… pre-sold a lot of items so they didn’t have the stock to send us, or on the other hand, they don’t have the truck drivers to give it to us,” Fialkovich said.

Country Farms Garden Center and Landscape Service in Hempfield is facing a similar dilemma.

“We’re having problems with getting supplies in this year,” said manager Lynda Ridge. “We ship in nursery stock from all over the United States, (and) they are sold out of a lot of the items we’re looking for.”

Country Farms also has seen increased sales since the pandemic’s onset — sales that have continued this year.

“We’re having trouble keeping vegetables in stock,” Ridge said. “That’s how popular it’s been.”

While vendors continue to sell out of products, Country Farms still has a “full stock” and the Garden Center is “overflowing,” according to Ridge.

“We ordered a lot more plants because we ran out real early last year,” Ridge said. “It’s hard to get restocked because people are running out of everything.”

Despite the challenges at Country Farms, Ridge said she believes the rest of this year will be a “good one.”

At Harrison City Lawn & Garden along Route 130 in Penn Township, longtime employee Kay Hopkinson said she has noticed more young adults are buying vegetables to grow. It was a trend she saw last year, and it is continuing this year, even as pandemic-related restrictions are loosening.

It’s been so busy that their lawn and garden center can’t get their orders filled in a timely manner, or only partially filled. Hopkinson said she believes some of the problem may stem from the greenhouses having a difficult time finding labor in this job market.

Shannon Basa-Sabol, an employee and daughter of the owners of Mosside Greenhouse in North Versailles, has seen a similar trend.

Basa-Sabol said the store will remain open until its plant supply is depleted, which usually happens in mid-June. Last year, the greenhouse sold out by May 23.

Now in its 62nd year, the greenhouse will close for the season before the end of May, Basa-Sabol estimates.

Because of the heightened business last year, Basa-Sabol said they increased orders of certain plants, especially vegetables and tomatoes.

The greenhouse saw new customers taking on vegetable gardens last season, and now they are hooked, Basa-Sabol said. One reason for the popularity, she said, is because it is an activity families can do together.

“A lot of people are doing vegetable gardens because if anyone knows what it’s like to buy from a store and to pick from your own garden out back, it’s definitely more rewarding to pick your own fruit, your own veggies,” Basa-Sabol said.

Wilkinson’s did not order more plants in preparation for the 2021 season, despite a spike in sales last year.

“We couldn’t count on (the volume of sales) continuing this year,” Kay said, noting the business did order more in April and May to keep up with demand.

Chelse’s Greenhouse has required a higher frequency of deliveries to keep up this year, Pribanic said. Where the business used to receive deliveries every few days, now it relies on daily restocking.

Pribanic said it is exciting to see the new faces from last season return this year and hear about the enjoyment people have taken from gardening since the pandemic began.

Fialkovich said the environment also has benefited from increased interest in gardening.

“I’ve actually seen a lot of people get more eco-conscious and more conscious of what’s not just good for them and for their aesthetics but what’s good for the environment,” Fialkovich said.

Pribanic hopes the excitement for gardening continues to grow.

“We always try to push (customers) toward perennials … so that they’ll always have that joy,” she said. “They’ll have something to look back on: ‘This is what got me through the pandemic — planting these flowers.’”