By Emma Bouthillette 

Staff Writer

Despite the mist and fog, Harris Farm of Dayton and Snell’s Farm of Buxton set up shop for the Saco Farmer’s Market July 1 with a spread of produce undercover of two large tents.

“There is no perfect seed growing season in Maine,” Harris Farm owner Ruth Harris said. “You’ve got to roll with the punches when you’re a farmer.”

During the fifth wettest June since 1871, Maine received more than three times the average rainfall. With a total of more than 8.5 inches of rain last month, National Weather Service Meteorologist Steve Capriola said “it’s been a wet and cold one, for sure.”

The wet weather continued into the first week of July, and as customers mulled over baskets of strawberries, potatoes and other greens, Snell’s Farm owner Ramona Snell said the warm spring, with some days in April topping 80 degrees, boosted the earlier crops and in comparison to last year their crop has been “remarkably the same.” 

What is setting the farm back a bit is “swampy” fields. She said while they can get out and pick crops, it is impossible to plant in saturated soil. 

“We should be planting, but we just can’t get on the ground,” Snell said. “There will probably be gaps in things coming in.”

Harris echoed Snell’s concern and said crops relying on pollination, such as cucumbers, are also running a little behind due to rain.

“Last year, I remember picking four bushels of cukes on July 4^th. It won’t happen this year, but that was kind of unusual anyway,” Harris said.

The muddy grounds and rain haven’t deterred workers from harvesting strawberries and other produce, Snell said, but it has slowed business at Dole’s Orchard in Limington. Owner Earl Bunting said on a normal clear morning he’d have a parking lot and a half full of cars with customers picking their own strawberries. Last Wednesday morning he only had five cars.

Dole’s Orchard is strictly “pick-your-own strawberries,” Bunting said, and because people aren’t out picking the berries are spoiling on the vines.

“There’s a lot more rot than normal,” Bunting said. “Hopefully the weather straightens out and we can salvage one crop we haven’t begun to pick yet.”

In Scarborough, Deep Roots Farmer owner Judy Bullard said in comparison to last year, things are growing slowly. Members of the farm’s community-supported agriculture group are receiving smaller amounts of produce, but she said later season crops will help balance it out.

“Peas are seeming to do well. Tomatoes are doing OK and the greens are growing slowly,” Bullard said. “We lost some early carrots, but crops like onions and kale we were able to put in before all the rain and they were able to get roots started, so they are also doing well.”

She’s hoping to see some sunshine and the ground dry out soon enough to plant a second crop because planting seeds in saturated soil would risk seed rot, she said. In the meantime, she has been trying to grow seedlings in the green house to ready them for planting when the sun eventually does return.

Back at the farmer’s market, Harris and Snell hope the rain slows.

“With wet weather, people don’t come out in the same numbers,” Harris said. “But you can’t do a thing about it.”

Staff writer Emma Bouthillette can be reached at 282-4337 ext. 237. Staff writer Nate Jones contributed to this article.