In the UK it is a similar picture at the Seed Co-operative, a business that is owned and run by its members.

Due to what it says is “exceptional demand”, at a time when staffing numbers are lower, it is having to limit the time its website is open for online sales to a window of just two hours every Sunday evening.

David Price, the Seed Co-operative’s managing director, says that orders had been as much as six times higher than a year ago.

“We’ve had good levels of stock, but lots of others are now running out,” says Mr Price.

He is concerned that current demand for seeds could mean that supplies are limited in the coming years.

“We’re running on multi-annual production schedules, so it could become a real issue in a few years, when seed supply hasn’t had time to replenish.”

While the UK historically had hundreds of farming companies that specialised in seed production, the industry has dwindled. As a result, Mr Price says UK firms like his have to source most of their supplies from the Netherlands and Germany.

The Netherlands is, in fact, the world’s largest exporter of seeds for cultivation, followed by the US, France and Germany.

While people who have their own gardens obviously have an advantage when it comes to growing their own crops, windowsills can work fine for smaller plants and vegetables.

In Berlin, Alica Ferrer and her friend Lena Müller launched their indoor gardening box business Gruneo just two weeks before coronavirus hit Europe.