It sseems the pandemic brought on a spike in new gardners

[Lupara]

I don't know about Dubois but the greenhouses sold out very early this year in Elk Co. One owner said there were many starting a garden for the first time. He said the food plants sold out weeks earlier than previous years and they couldn't replenish their stock.

[Pappy]

It was that way for many greenhouses, lots of people starting their own gardens which is good in my opinion for both them and the greenhouses who supply plants.

[Lupara]

Seed display racks in the big box and hardware stores were largely wiped out as well. 

Now the question is how many new gardners will continue gardening after life gets back to somewhat normal.  My guess would be around half.

[Petee]

This is why the Federal Government, Pennsylvania and your own counties support Extension and the Master Gardener programs. 

In case of a famine situation, you need to be able to grow your own food successfully and get good healthy and abundant crops without chemicals.  Even today, everything you grow and preserve is less gas, travel, chemically laden, expensive and scarce foods that you have to deal with.

In history, during a famine, people depended on the countryside gardeners to grow the food.  London only survived through the Allotment Gardens which are still used today.  

Master Gardeners are VOLUNTEERS who use their own time and money to teach about gardening. They are not flower gardeners although they do heavily support the protection of pollinators which do make gardens grow.  They try to always do it without chemicals, and the best part is that they are FREE for you.

We knew this time was coming and have trained heavily to answer your questions without resorting to unknown methods that may have worked acceptably, sometimes, in the past.  Sometimes they were sheer poison and ended up poisoning the people or the soil.  

Give the Garden Hotline a call at 849-7361 (508) and let us get you a researched answer to your garden problem.

You can also go to the Pennsylvania Facebook Master Gardener page. It is loaded with answers.