OTTUMWA — Higher vegetables and fruit prices in the grocery stores are prompting a few southern Iowans to grow their own gardens.

Ostrander’s Flowers & Greenhouses Owner Kristy Ostrander said she has noticed an increase in the number of people buying produce plants and seeds this year.

“It has definitely increased from the past,” she said. “I think people are getting tired of paying supermarket prices.”

She said she has seen more customers buying fresh vegetable plants and she has had several patrons purchasing numerous, peach, apple and cherry trees.

“It cuts down the cost of what you spend in the store and it is healthier for you,” Ostrander said.

“We’ve had an excellent spring selling tomato plants ... ,” said Earl May Manager Jim Bremer.

He said more customers are planting gardens this year than in the past. He said they had a lot of requests for fruit trees and sweet potatoes.

“Those have been big sellers,” he said. “Also a lot of vine crops, like your melons and cucumbers.”

Bremer agrees the increase in gardening could be due in part to the higher prices in the supermarkets, but there may be other reasons.

“This way people can control what they put on their crops, like insecticides and other chemicals. If you grow the stuff yourself, you know how they are being grown.”

Ottumwa Master Gardener Eugene Kromray has been planting his own fruits and vegetables for a number of years.

He offered some tips to those who might be thinking of planting their own gardens.

The first tip, Kromray offers, is to keep all of the crops fenced off from deer or rabbits.

“I have an eight-foot-tall fence for deer and a six-foot-tall wire fence for rabbits,” he said. “That will help keep your crops safe.”

Another suggestion was to mound the soil where you plan to plant your seeds or plants.