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By Lisa Tindell

Home gardening has always been popular and important in the south, but the past few weeks have turned some bored residents into new and returning gardeners.

Paula Billingsley, manager of Marvin’s in Brewton, said the upswing of garden related items has been evident in the past few weeks.

“We have seen more flower plants sold in the last three weeks than we have in a while,” Billingnsley said. “And our Bonnie line has been doing really well with all of their vegetable plants.”

Although this is the time of year when these types of sales usually take place, Billingsley said there has certainly been a big change in buying habits.

“We have sold more landscaping and vegetable gardening items than is typical for this time of year,” Billingsley said. “We are usually busy this time of year with these kinds of sales, but we are even busier this year with these items. We have even sold a mini-greenhouse that we carry which is something new this year.”

There may be a logical explanation for the sales since the planting season is in full swing, but other reasons may have people looking at gardening for the first time.

“After talking to some of our customers, I believe that doing some gardening is being used as a way of coping with the pandemic that we’re going through right now,” Billingsley said. “Some of our customers have talked about having the time now to take care of their flower beds and landscaping. They have the time and need something to do during their time at home.”

Not only are experienced gardeners buying supplies for larger gardens, Billingsley said there are a number of customers who are growing plants in smaller numbers.

“We have people who are buying plants for pots and gardening that way,” Billingsley said. “We are selling potting soil and garden soil, so there are several different kinds of gardeners that we are serving this season.”

Billingsley said the store is doing their part to help meet the needs of their customers all while keeping themselves and those who shop at the store as safe as possible.

“We want to help our customers with whatever they need and we want to make sure everyone is safe,” Billingsley said. “We have social distancing guidelines that we are all following and we are making sure to clean and sanitize everything so that we keep our customers and our staff safe. We have even implemented curbside service for customers who don’t want to be in the store. We can gather items for them and have them ready for pickup curbside when our store is open.”

Billingsley said that store hours have changed somewhat over the past few weeks and new hours will be observed until the store can fully reopen. Store hours are currently 7 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday through Saturday and 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. on Sunday.

“We will be closed until noon on Sunday, April 19th,” Billingsley said. “We are taking that time to restock, clean and make sure that we are ready to serve our customers’ needs. We are constantly cleaning and want to make shopping in our store safe for everyone.”

Marvin’s is located at 1804 Douglas Avenue and curbside pickup requests can be made by calling the store at 867-9998.