Back in 2020 in the midst of the early part of the pandemic, Montgomery resident Crystal Cornele bought her own house and decided to put in a flower garden that summer for the first time.
“I really didn’t do gardening before, but I had just purchased a house and that was my first summer of getting something going,” said Cornele while looking over plants at Schaefer Greenhouses in Montgomery. “I have an investment in and have my own yard and can do whatever I chose to. When you rent you can’t do that.”
Like Cornele, many took up gardening in the past two years as the pandemic forced people to stay home and find new, productive ways to fill their time.
But as interest surged, local greenhouses faced supply chain challenges with farms going under, labor issues impacting trucking and shipping, and weather-related conditions decreasing the number of products available. Happily, the 2022 growing season appears to be primed for a big year, local gardening experts said.
At Schaefer Greenhouses, co-owner Mary Ann Kutkick, of Bristol, said in her opinion, the outlook for gardening this year remains very high.
“We’re expecting this year to be a really good spring. People are excited. They’re still spending time in their homes and their gardens, and there’s been a refocus on plants these past few years which was a trend that is probably from the ‘70s or ‘80s,” Kutnick said.
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