Charlotte Freeman was standing in the aisle of a fruit and vegetable store in Flemington, an inner suburb of Melbourne, when she was faced with the unthinkable.
A bunch of coriander for $11.
Some 3,000km north, Bob Galwey ventured out to the shops in Darwin to buy some mint and parsley. But the prices were so high, he was forced to make some tough decisions.
“I only got mint, because it seemed too bizarre to spend $14 on herbs when I was getting 500g of organic beef for $11,” he said.
Record rainfall in New South Wales has caused major supply shortages for popular herb varieties around Australia, exacerbated by three major floods within months.
Shaun Lindhe, the national communications manager at AusVeg, said market gardens in Queensland and NSW had been hit by weeks of floods, cold weather and rain, pushing up the price of many herbs.
“It’s the same issues we’re seeing with other vegetables, [and] there’s still issues around increased cost production impacting growers across the board,” he said.
“Even when availability increases with cheaper prices, costs for growers will still remain quite high … herbs aren’t easy to grow [commercially] and not cheap to grow.”
Lindhe said prices should fall once other growing regions “kicked into gear” in spring.
A Coles spokesperson said the supermarket chain had not put up prices, but supplies of most of the herbs it stocked had diminished in recent months, although things were now starting to improve.
“Due to recent flooding and unseasonably cold weather in our growing regions, we are seeing an impact to fresh herb availability along the east coast across most lines, including tarragon, lemon thyme, sage, oregano, parsley, coriander, mint, chives and basil,” they told Guardian Australia.
In a supply update released at the end of June, Woolworths warned limited herb availability was likely to last until August. A spokesperson said the supermarket expected the herb crisis would ease soon.
“We’re working closely with our growers and expect the supply of herbs to start improving … after an extended period of poor growing conditions.”
Bart Nanka, the manager of Mudbrick Herb Cottage, which sells organic herb plants grown at its Mudgeeraba nursery in the Gold Coast hinterland, said demand for some varieties had increased tenfold since the cost of living crisis hit this year.
“Since the lettuce shortage there’s been hype, we’ve got a huge list of customers waiting for herbs as alternatives to lettuce,” he said.
“We grow all our own cuttings, so we haven’t had a problem [with supply], but it’s hard to keep our stock up because of the demand.”
The family business sells 500 different herb seedlings online, and Nanka said interest had been bubbling away since Covid.
“It’s gone crazy, the biggest rise was in lockdowns when demand increased by double or triple,” he said. “There’s always a silver lining. Situations like this encourage people to slow down … and gardening is very meditative.”
Mat Pember is the co-founder of The Little Veggie Patch, which encompasses an online seed store, nursery and line of gardening books on growing in small spaces.
He said despite working in the industry, he had been “pretty shocked” by the prices of common herb varieties at supermarkets.
“My basil and coriander finally went to seed, so I went to the supermarket and it was $4.30 for a little sprig,” he said.
“Even though it’s a quiet time of the year traditionally … I have noticed a greater interest [in our products], in leafy greens in particular,” Pember said.
“The initial drive during Covid was because we were stuck in our homes … but there’s no bigger drive than the hip pocket, and the fact things are so expensive now.”
Pember said he hoped the one benefit of shoestring budgets was a “more long-term connection” to gardening and produce.
“People are looking more inwards again,” he said. “Amid the troubles we’ve had with food, we’re looking at supply in a more meaningful way.”
The Little Veggie Patch’s top tips for growing herbs
The good news is leafy greens and herbs are two of the easiest things to start growing, and the perfect time of year is approaching, whether you have a garden bed or just space on a balcony or window sill for pots.
1. Make sure the weather has stabilised before planting. Look to plant around early September, when there is enough warmth and moisture.
2. Quality potting mix is always correlated to price – there’s no such thing as a bargain. It will pay itself in the long run.
3. If you’re growing in a small space, buy the biggest pot you can fit. It has to be big enough that the soil doesn’t constantly dry out and holds enough fertility to push seedlings along.
4. Once you start growing, remember you have to pick your food to help the plant regenerate and become more productive. Pick leaf by leaf or sprig by sprig, and give it a clip to help regenerate or it will go to seed.
5. In spring, things will grow so quickly, it’s a matter of putting the reins on plants by cutting back rather than allowing them to get as big as possible.
