LEHIGHTON, Pa. — It's still too early to plant outside, but buds are popping inside at Nev & Nise Produce Greenhouse in Mahoning Township, near Lehighton—a welcome sign as they get ready for the upcoming season.
"We started in December ordering the seeds, getting all the supplies in here. Then we started seeding middle of January. February now comes and goes. We're putting them into bigger pots and now was seeding for the midseason stuff," said Nevin Frey, a co-owner of Nev & Nise Produce Greenhouse.
Nevin and Denise Frey own the greenhouse, which offers flowers, vegetables, and produce. The biggest challenge is knowing how much to grow and what people want after so many turned to gardening during the pandemic.
"That's the million-dollar question. You can never predict," Nevin Frey said. "Every year is totally different. What you knew last year isn't going to work this year, so you just try to come up with basically the varieties people want, and you just grow and hope you can sell it."
This is the busiest time of the year for the greenhouse. Tuesday night, they seeded 600 pepper plants, and they expect to seed 12,000 more.
The growers say with the rising prices of vegetables and other food items, starting a garden could save you tons.
"You take one of our hanging cherry tomato baskets, you can keep that alive all season, and you're only going to pay one price for that, but you can pick cherry tomatoes off of that through fall, as long as you keep that alive," said Denise Frey.
"A lot of times they come in here they pick them, I want that head of lettuce, and they watch us cut it, so they know where it's coming from," Nevin Frey said. "They know whose growing it. It's fresh, and most of the time, we are cheaper because of transportation cost and warehouses."
The greenhouse is accepting SNAP benefits, which owners say will help people create more healthy food choices.
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