VINELAND, NJ — How each new spring produce season begins in New Jersey depends on the weather during the previous winter and early-spring months. That’s just mother nature.

For example, the 2012 New Jersey spring produce season started earlier than in many, many decades, thanks to an unusually warm winter and early spring.

With a return to more normal temperatures during the most recent winter and early spring, the 2013 New Jersey spring produce season started with “fairly regular timing,” according to Skip Consalo, president at The Fresh Wave.

Scott Wulderk of The Fresh Wave with Georgia blueberries in mid-May. “Last year kind of threw us off,” Consalo told The Produce News May 14 at the company’s headquarters here in the southern part of New Jersey. “You always compare to the last few years. Last year was very, very strange.”

The company was seeing “a pretty good number of items” in mid-May, such as “all the herbs: parsley, cilantro, dill, mint, basil,” he noted.

“We’re into the Jersey lettuces: Romaine, red leaf, green leaf, Boston, escarole, endive. Also, just about all the cooking greens.”

The asparagus deal, one of the state’s very popular spring items, has also been good this spring, he added.

The volume and quality of spring items have been quite good so far this spring, thanks to another element of the weather. “There haven’t been extreme peaks and valleys” in temperatures this spring, said Consalo, “so supply has been steady, which is good. And with that steady weather pattern, quality has been good.” He added, “This year it’s nice to have steady supplies, which is good for the retailers.”

As always, Consalo was starting in mid-May to hear from those retailers, who were inquiring about the Jersey deal, as they planned to offer locally grown product to shoppers. And this year, the Jersey deal could prove especially advantageous to retailers interested in participating in the local deal.

“Freight rates from the West Coast are so high that we’re getting more interest from retailers on local product — lettuce in particular,” said Consalo.

The Fresh Wave executive did acknowledge that in years past, some retailers were hesitant to jump into New Jersey produce because it had a reputation as being “sandy,” but he stated firmly that this was no longer the case.

“Over the last few years, we’ve been able to combat [that perception] as quality has improved,” he said. Today, “the product is as good as California — and we think sometimes better,” he said with pride. “And fresher.”

While The Fresh Wave was concentrating on spring vegetables in mid-May, it was also looking ahead a few weeks to the start of one of the state’s signature summer items: blueberries. They also happen to be company’s number one item in terms of volume.

“New Jersey blueberries will be later than last year,” said Consalo. But as the popularity of blueberries with consumers has continued to grow, The Fresh Wave has continued to strengthen its blueberry program to the point where it offers the popular berries virtually all year long.

Consalo outlined the company’s worldwide blueberry deal by calendar year. It offers Chilean blueberries generally during January, February and March, moving to Georgia from around April 20 to the end of May.

North Carolina usually has berries from around May 18 to mid-June. New Jersey is producing generally from mid-June to late August, with Michigan and British Columbia shipping from mid-August to mid-September. Argentina completes the cycle from around October into mid-December.