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Produce crops a mixed bag

Some crops look great, some are late and some suffered a soggy fate.The damp start to the 2010 growing season has resulted in a mixed bag for fruit and vegetable growers in Central Alberta.
B03-Business-Produce
Harry Brzak of Eckville samples a saskatoon berry while picking at Hidden Valley Garden north of Sylvan Lake Tuesday.

Some crops look great, some are late and some suffered a soggy fate.

The damp start to the 2010 growing season has resulted in a mixed bag for fruit and vegetable growers in Central Alberta.

“Generally, I think I would describe it that anything that likes it cool and wet — like peas and spinach and lettuce — has done really, really well,” said Jim Hill of Hidden Valley Garden east of Sylvan Lake. “We’ve probably got as good a crop, or better, than we’ve ever had on those three products.

“Anything that likes it hot, though, is late. Beans are just blossoming now.”

Blaine Staples of The Jungle Farm north of Innisfail also has reason to be positive.

“It’s the best raspberry crop I’ve ever had,” said the 14-year U-pick veteran, noting that other growers have complained about damaged raspberry plants.

Pumpkins and squash at The Jungle Farm are also looking good, he added.

“Now we do need four or five days of warm weather with warm nights to get a lot of fruit pollinated,” he said, adding that the same is true of tomato plants.

Although his strawberries suffered some winterkill, other produce like leafy greens have done well.

“It’s been a great year for that kind of stuff.”

Meagan Reid, an employee at Bowden Sun Maze, said the flowers there are good but the vegetables are about a week behind their normal development. The corn maze is open but not quite as tall as it would normally be.

“It’s a little bit behind.”

At Billyco Junction Gardens east of Blackfalds, operator Bill Biel said strawberries have been available for a couple weeks, with raspberries and saskatoons nearly ready. However, the wet conditions wreaked havoc on his cucumbers, pumpkins and squash.

“I seeded several times and they would just rot.”

There are lots of other options at Billyco Junction Gardens, and Biel said recent business has been “exceptionally good.”

“Our best day ever was actually yesterday,” he said on Tuesday.

Customers have come from as far away as Edmonton and Calgary, which Biel speculated might be the result of poor strawberry crops elsewhere.

“It’s almost like someone else’s misfortune becomes your fortune.”

Reid said Bowden Sun Maze’s Lily Festival last weekend attracted a lot of people, and Hill was also pleased with business at his U-pick on the long weekend.

The Jungle Farm was able to counter some of the effects of the cool, damp weather through technology: raised beds, infrared transmissible plastic and other measures.

“We’re so much at the mercy of weather, that’s my focus is to kind of mitigate,” said Staples.

He’s even experimented with netting to protect crops from hail — which looks promising but hasn’t faced a stiff test yet.

“The really big upside for this year so far, knock on wood, we haven’t had any hail.”

There have been plenty of mosquitoes, though.

“If you’re going to show up here in shorts and a sleeveless shirt and no hat, you’re probably in trouble,” said Hill.

But, he noted, experienced U-pickers dress appropriately and use insect repellent.

Biel takes the biting bugs and waterlogged seeds in stride — showing a level of stoicism that reflects his previous farming enterprise.

“I just tell people, ‘If I was able to handle the hogs for 20 years, none of this really fazes me.’”

hrichards@www.reddeeradvocate.com