Summer Crops Are Abundant After Stretch Of Heat, Tropical Weather

CONCORD (CBS) -- The summer heat rolls on and two big crops from local farms are ready to harvest. Verrill Farm in Concord, Massachusetts is celebrating 100 years and has abundant crops of tomatoes and corn.

"It's a very good year. Growing season for the most part. This warm weather is bringing things along quite rapidly," says Steve Verrill of Verrill Farms.

The summer started out very dry, then in the last few weeks, it switched to tropical. The heat has been great for the plants. The increased humidity did trigger more weeds and diseases but at this point, the farm has a handle on that. They have many techniques to make sure Mother Nature doesn't win the battle on the rows of tomato plants during the early summer dry spell.

"This is an aerometer. It's what we use to measure the moisture content of the soil and root zones so we know when to irrigate," says Verrill. "This is a drip irrigation system we run from a well that's a little ways from here. It's all well water. Runs on low pressure. You can see here a little drip line runs under each bin."

It may be tempting to pick your crop at home once the fruit is close to being ripe. But experts say to leave your tomatoes on the vine as long as possible. When they turn their specific color then it's time to pick! Corn crops are also booming across Massachusetts with the ideal weather conditions.

"Yep, that's been doing very well and again, that's been coming in a little faster than usual," says Verrill. "We started planting corn in the middle of April and we plant it every week until late July. we harvest from mid-July until early October."

Soon it will be time for the pumpkin and apple crops, but for now, we will enjoy the summer bounty.