Growers Planting Late After Waiting For Snow To Melt
Today is the first day of spring but many growers in the valley are just starting crops because of the late winter. Growers like Seth Krueger at Krueger Pepper Gardens in Wapato says on a normal year they're working the ground and feeding early crops by the first of March but that didn't happen this year. "We have stuff in the greenhouse going now. We have a lot yet to plant. But not being able to get out in the field and get it ready that's the bad part."
Like many growers in the Yakima Valley Krueger says that late planting means he won't have the same early crop as he did the year before. Growers up and down the valley say they're being pushed into a shorter season because of the snow. Krueger is hoping for a mild summer and fall and no early freeze in the fall that could shorten the season even further.