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Tenn. Produce Arriving Early Due to Warm Spring

photo courtesy State of Tennessee

MURFREESBORO, Tenn. (WMOT)  --  Tennessee’s strawberry season is quickly coming to a close. This spring’s mild weather resulted in an early and unusually rich harvest.

State Agriculture’s Tammy Algood says you can expect other summer produce to arrive ahead of schedule as well because the early spring allowed farmers to get their crops in quickly.

“They can look for lettuce to continue, green onions to continue, early Yellow Neck and Crook Neck squash and zucchinis, as well as some smaller, like pickling cucumbers.”

Algood says the mild winter and early spring did have a down side. She says some crops bloomed early and were badly damaged by hard frosts in April. Algood says blueberries and peaches were especially hard hit.

“So we’re going to see spotty conditions this summer. You may be in one part of the state and may not be able to find very many peaches at all. Then you may head to another part of the state and find plenty of them.”

Tennessee provides an online tool that may help as you search for locally grown fruit and produce this summer. The website picktnproducts.orgprovides contact information for local growers, along with a “grow chart” to give you an idea when the various products should be available.