More than 17 million colorful seed packets will find their owners this season

Due to the favorable spring weather, work in hobby gardens picked up at the beginning of March. At the same time, demand for colorful bagged seeds, which can be purchased mainly in farm and garden stores, multinational food chains and DIY stores, also increased. The domestic hobby garden seed supply on the market consists of approximately 1,000 types of vegetables and 500 types of flowers from all over the world, but registered in Europe. Based on these estimates, approximately 17.3 million will be sold this season, which is 4 percent less than the turnover of 18 million units last year. Customers should expect a price increase of approximately 5-7 percent in terms of products sold on the market in 2025. The average consumer basket is estimated to be 3,000 forints, and each gardener buys 10 colored bags of seeds on average. The total domestic turnover in the field of hobby garden seeds is approximately 5.2 billion forints.

In Hungary, kitchen garden cultivation has declined in the past two decades, and our country ranks in the middle of Europe. Further east, home gardening is even more popular, while further west, there are countries where this type of activity has completely disappeared. In Europe, hobby gardening is particularly popular in the Netherlands and Italy, which are considered the leading countries in vegetable production, said Árpád Pavelka, a member of the Vegetable Section of the Hungarian Seed Association’s Interprofessional Organization and Product Council.

As Árpád Pavelka explained: in addition to popular flower varieties, domestic buyers mostly add classic vegetables – root parsley, carrots, and cucumbers – to their baskets, but there is also significant interest in herbs. In addition to tomatoes, there is also a growing demand for chili peppers. Experts consider zucchini and patisson varieties to be the plants that promise the most success for beginner gardeners.

In Hungary, in addition to classic home gardening, a trend can be observed in the cultivation of plants for pleasure and recreational purposes. Raised beds, balcony gardens are increasingly common, and community gardens have also appeared in cities. In these cases, in addition to growing plants, gardening itself provides the experience as a useful physical activity. Successful gardening is also made more difficult by the climate change experienced in our country; for example, last year, the great heat and atmospheric drought caused serious crop losses in most parts of the country, which irrigation did not help, said Árpád Pavelka.