Recent survey results show that Russians expect stronger harvests in 2024 compared with 2023, with forty-three percent anticipating improvement. At the same time, about one in three gardeners reports dedicating up to ten hours weekly to their plots, while nearly half spend up to five thousand rubles on purchases and upkeep. The findings come from a study by VseInstruments.ru and were summarized by socialbites.ca.
About one in five Russians harvests more than fifty kilograms from their own plots. Seventeen percent manage thirty to forty kilograms, while sixteen percent collect twenty to thirty kilograms or forty to fifty kilograms of vegetables, fruit, berries, and herbs.
In 2024, many gardeners spent less than ten hours per week tending their plots, a share of thirty-seven percent. Another third, about thirty-three percent, spent between ten and twenty hours weekly.
Most respondents allocated up to five thousand rubles for site maintenance, a share of forty-eight percent. Sixteen percent spent five to ten thousand rubles, while seventeen percent invested more than twenty thousand rubles. Yet nearly half of those surveyed felt their labor paid off in a rich harvest.
During the summer of 2024, the crops most frequently seen in Russian garden beds were potatoes at thirty-one percent, cucumbers at twenty-three percent, tomatoes at twenty-one percent, and cabbage and onions at eighteen percent each. Carrots appeared in fourteen percent, and greens in thirteen percent. The top harvest leaders were potatoes at seventeen percent, with cabbage and carrots each at seven percent, and tomatoes and cucumbers at six percent each.
Fruits and berries were planted less often this year, likely due to frosts in May. For instance, only nine percent of respondents grow fruit on their plots, while six percent plant plums and melons.
More than half of gardeners, sixty-two percent, used fertilizer to boost yields. Respondents say weather conditions, at sixty-three percent, and soil quality, at fifteen percent, significantly aided plant growth.
Seventy percent of Russians want to repeat their summer harvest next year. Plans point to growing potatoes at twenty-eight percent, cucumbers and tomatoes at twenty-one percent each, and onions and carrots at fifteen percent each. To make gardening easier, many plan to install an irrigation system at sixteen percent, rotate crops at twelve percent, and try new plant varieties at ten percent.
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