2 million acres

When you add it all up - the backyard and community garden plots; the boxes, tubs, and pots on balconies, patios, rooftops, and even the back steps - the total acreage given over to family food growing in the United States comes to nearly 2 million acres.

It's an impressive figure, one of a host of interesting statistics to come to light in the 1982 Gallup survey on home gardening recently released by Gardens for All, in Burlington, Vt.

Most important, the survey indicates that the record number of families growing food for their own tables last year remained constant in 1982, at 44 million (38 million in garden plots, 6 million in containers). These included 53 percent of the 82.4 million American households.

The Midwest is the leading home gardening region, with 58 percent (up 3 points over 1981) of households growing some of their own food, followed by the West (also up 3 points), with 44 percent. The East, with 41 percent (down 1 point), is in third place followed, by the South (second in 1981), with 39 percent.

A fact sheet on the current survey is available by sending $1 to cover postage and handling to Gardens for All, Dept. P156, 180 Flynn Avenue, Burlington, Vt. 05401.