Tough season for Maine tomatoes

From The Portland Press-Herald:

The loss of Backyard Farms' greenhouse tomato crop and a wetter-than-normal June that doused the crops of more traditional farmers have combined to create a later and leaner season for locally grown tomatoes in Maine.

"It's been one of the slowest and most ridiculous seasons. Demand is very high because of that," said Amy LeBlanc, who owns Whitehill Farms in East Wilton. "We're going to start pruning to tell the plants to hurry up. ... We're about 10 days later, maybe two weeks later than normal."

The growing season for tomatoes runs from May to October in southern and midcoast Maine, and can be shorter in northern parts of the state. The beginning of August is the typical start of the tomato harvest, but this season has been a few weeks behind.

Some farmers say they have done well with tomatoes grown in greenhouses or hoop houses, but struggled with tomatoes grown outdoors.

"Tomatoes inside hoop houses -- or grown inside -- did well but we're just about out of those," said Bob Spear, who owns Spear's Vegetable Farm in Nobleboro. "We're still waiting for outside tomatoes to come up."

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