I was in TSC in Johnstown, Ohio on Monday and the Burpee seed display was up and about 1/2 of last years size, Prices were pretty much MSRP or some 10% off!
I didn't look for canning jars yet, but in Central Ohio, the displays stay pretty small until July, then they are mountainous! Last year there was no shortage locally!
We eat fresh or dry most of the few things we grow in the patio garden.
Last year there seemed to be a shortage of plants for the garden. Because of the shut down, local green houses didn't start anything early. So Mostly they started half as much and charged twice as much! SWMBO is looking at other suppliers!
My experience from the farm days, is that years that were poor garden years were great Blackberry and Apple years and vise versa. Our gardens and trees produced 20 to 25% of out yearly diet. Now it is just a few herbs and fresh salad fixings.
Wild Blackberries produced a few every year but the bumper crops were every 2 or three years depending on late frost. On a bumper crop year, we harvested as much as 20 gallons and froze them. We made Jams and Jellies later from frozen. Nothing like a Thanksgiving feast with Blackberry, Raspberry, Apple, and Cherry pies (2 to 4 of each!) as well as traditional Pumpkin. Christmas gifts for friends and family were fruit jams and jellies along with home made rolls. The week before Christmas the house was for all intents and purposes a bakery! Some years we baked 100 dozen rolls, 25 dozen biscuits and 25 dozen Cinnamon rolls! (My sisters-in-law, in both families had their own bake good specialties too). To give an idea of how much baking we did, I bought 3 to 5 pounds of yeast every year and sometimes needed more!
I sometimes had to shovel snow for 10 to 12 hours at work, I would get home late, and as I walked up the sidewalk, I could smell the woodstove, but in between the wood smoke there were baking smells! I'd open the back door and was greeted with a smile, a fresh cup of coffee and a plate of apple cake. Yes I actually lived in heaven!
Ivan
Told a couple of her friends but they have not got in any since according to the girl that worked that department!
