SOAKED GARDENS

Auckland Star, Volume LXXII, Issue 272, 17 November 1941, Page 5

SOAKED GARDENS

GROWERS' TROUBLES

TOMATOES, STRAWBERRIES "The worst season for over 40 years," growled a Mangere tomato grower this morning as he watched the rain pelting down on his soaked garden. His view summed up the opinion of producers of long experience. Some said the long spell of rains and cold winds was the worst in the spring for half a century. Not only growers of sunshineloving plants like tomatoes and strawberries, but market gardeners and farmers engaged in cropping activities declare that a great deal of their work this season has been wasted, and operations are well behind the normal schedule. In some instances they have had to replant two or three times, and the loss of tomatoes in the districts around Auckland through rotting or being wrenched off by heavy winds is estimated at tens of thousands of plants. It is predicted that the area to be harvested will be considerably below normal, although it is still too early to form any estimate of the probable crop.

Strawberry pickers and market gardeners had a busy week-end before the rain, and to-day large quantities came in to the city markets. It was evident that skill and labour were doing much to overcome the handicaps ofi a backward spring, but the ripening of strawberries and glasshouse tomatoes is affected by lack of sufficient sunshine. The only local fruit, apart from strawberries, now being marketed, consists of gooseberries and plums. At Pukekohe the digging of potatoes was brought to a standstill to-day, and nearly all field operations were held up. ,