East Texas farmers report unusually big cucumbers, squash
WINONA, Texas (KETK) – Owners of The Farmer’s Garden in Winona, Bethany and Brandon Reynolds, were worried about the season after the wetter-than-normal spring set summer planting off to a shaky start.
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“A little bit slower start,” Brandon said. “Yeah, a slower start for sure,” Bethany said.
After weeks of rain, the Reynolds saw some of their crop washed out but thankfully, after their fields dried out and the weather started to heat up, their crops came in with flying colors.
“I think the zucchini is a little bit behind the yellow squash, but it’s really coming on now too. The yellow zucchini is actually doing better than the green zucchini this year,” Bethany said.
They weren’t sure their squash plants would make it after all the rain but they are finally producing good-quality veggies. Cucumbers, on the other hand, are growing like crazy.
“We’ll get half a basket or more every day and we don’t have very much out here, so it’s pretty impressive how much they’re making,” Bethany said.
They aren’t the only farm in East Texas seeing bigger produce.
“I had small pickling cucumbers that are like this big, it’s just like the rain has made the zucchini and cucumbers huge, huge, really fast,” owner of The Clark’s Family Farm Sharon Clark said.
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Brandon said they try not to let the veggies get too big by harvesting the plants daily.
“The smaller that you get the zucchini and the squash, actually, the more tender it is, so it’s actually a better quality if you’ll pick them smaller than let them get real big,” Brandon said.
Last year they were able to harvest squash for 32 weeks straight and they hope to do the same this season. Farmers like Brandon and Bethany are now preparing for a hot dry summer and hope their crops can make it through.
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