Local farmers, gardeners comment on recent bouts of heat, humidity

By Leah Rainwater

The rain on Wednesday was no doubt a nice cool-off between the recent and upcoming hot weather here in St. Joseph.

Not only can heat affect bodily function, pets, health and more, it can also affect produce growth.

Brett Henderson has been a farmer for about 10 years. He said he’s had to compensate for some of the dry weather.

“Well, so we’ve planted all of the stuff in the fields, and it’s pretty dry and it’s hard getting water to fields if you don’t have hydrants hooked up and one of our fields don’t have a hydrant,” Henderson said. “So we’ve been having to water it with a 300-gallon tank and walking behind it with hoses and water. So it’s adding a lot more time and slowing us down a lot and the production of plants aren’t like they should be.”

Penny Dierberger lives at Old Ott Farms as a market gardener. She said despite the heat, she’s appreciated the humidity even more.

“It’s been great, all of this wet weather we’ve been having,” Dierberger said. “I’m having a fantastic year for rhubarb.”

Dierberger said she has noticed the odd weather since the spring. However, as a gardener, it’s just another obstacle to hurdle.

“You just roll with the punches, I mean this whole spring has been unusual. A lot of perennials like the peonies … everything came on early, but your annuals are still tracking with the normal season,” Dierberger said. “When it’s really hot, what are you gonna do, you’re gonna go out and water.”

For Dierberger, she said the humidity is a bigger deal when it comes to working in it.

“It’s not terribly comfortable, but the humidity frankly is really good for most of your produce and vegetable growing,” Dierberger said. “They like the hot and the humid weather, so it’s fine.”

Both Henderson and Dierberger noted that the heat and humidity don’t keep them from a hard day’s work.

“It’s something you just gotta do, there’s no way around it,” Henderson said.

With the extra load of work Henderson said he’s had to become accustomed to, he noticed his water bill has increased.

“It definitely has, with filling tanks, it’s definitely been higher, with how much water we’ve used to transport to the fields and stuff to water,” Henderson said.

Dierberger is able to use well water for her garden.

“We have a well, so our home is on city water, so all of the garden and everything else is on well water,” Dierberger said.

Dierberger encourages those working outside to stay hydrated because of the recent and upcoming heat.

And for those with plants and produce, Henderson said you got to do what you go to do with the heat.

“I just say, if it’s hot, you better water ‘em once or twice a day. If you just, obviously have a small area, water ‘em once or twice a day, but there’s nothing really you can do about it. You just gotta deal with it and get through it,” said Henderson.