Concerned about food safety, Saigonese find solution in home-grown vegetables
Concerned about food safety, Saigonese find solution in home-grown vegetables
Concerned about the safety of vegetables sold at markets and supermarkets, many Saigonese are now growing their own greens at home.
Cultivating a plant, however, requires techniques that most amateurs find difficult. This is where bonsai shop owners step in.
Taking advantage of the new trend, bonsai shop owners have been selling saplings of high-demand vegetables, which come handily in pots filled with sophisticated, carefully-chosen mixtures of soil and fertilizer.
Prices for slow-maturing plants, such as zucchini, squash, and gourd, are around VND50,000 (US$2.27) to VND100,000 ($4.55) per pot, whereas quick-maturing plants, such as cilantro, basil, and chili pepper, fetch about VND15,000 (68 U.S. cents) per pot.
“Before this, I sold only a handful of pots a day. Now I’m selling 50-70 daily, and even that’s not enough to meet demand,” a shop owner said.
Eighty percent of customers are mothers raising young children, another shop owner said.
In order to ensure that their children’s food is safe, these mothers have been quick to bring such saplings home.
The appeal lies in the fact that these saplings are grown without chemicals involved.
Furthermore, the ready-made saplings do not require much effort to be taken care of. The difficult parts of the process, such as choosing the right seeds, preparing soil, and picking fertilizers, have already been done by shop owners.
The young vegetables can be harvested 10 to 15 days after they are bought. Many of them can be harvested multiple times.
“These plants not only provide clean food, but also create a green space for my family,” a happy customer said.
