Food self-provisioning is a widespread practice, yet, until recently, overlooked by researchers and policy makers. Conceptualising home gardening as a progressive and important part of diverse food economies, the objective of the paper is to provide understanding of demographic and socioeconomic factors and motivations behind current trends in gardening. There are indications that some gardeners deemphasise the market economy in favour of enhanced food self-provisioning to increase their households' food security. The second objective is to compare such 'new productionists' in Austria and Czechia as countries with the history of different economic systems in the second half of the 20th century.