Growing tomatoes in a cold, wet climate

Question from Sally:
I live in Vermont and I am thinking of you guys out there in sunny California growing tomatoes. This thought is driving me crazy with envy. Here in Vermont we are having a cold rainy summer here in Vermont so far and my plants are barely out of the ground. My corn only a foot or two tall. HELP!… Any ideas?

Answer from Pat:
Yes! Other than moving to California, I have a suggestion: Next year why not try building a wind tunnel of plastic, a new type of plastic “range house” for your tomatoes? Imagine a sort of quonset-hut-shape tall enough to walk through and open at both ends with one end facing the prevailing breeze and the other away from it.

There is a guy here in Southern California who has built a sort of green house like that and is growing delicious organic heirloom tomatoes year-round commercially. That’s how he does it. His farm is on a slope facing the ocean and there is an almost 24-hour a day coastal breeze. He arranges his rows from east to west and then plants his rows of tomatoes and irrigated by a drip system. The tomatoes are on stakes or inside cages. Next, this farmer puts hoops of heavy wire over the plants in each row and covers the hoops with clear plastic. He leaves both ends open to create a sort of wind tunnel. In his case the end facing the sea is smaller than the other end and the breeze does a lot to hold up the plastic, but in some situations it might be necessary to add a couple of reinforcing posts to hold up the hoops as well, though the cages and stakes may do the job. Both of sides of the plastic quonset hut are weighted down at the bottom with soil and staked down as well so that it cannot blow away.

This farmer does not spray, and says his plants have no diseases or pests. He releases lady bugs and other beneficials into the windward end of the tube and they work their way through the tube. Also he believes the wind that courses through the tube tends to blow away pests, such as while spotted butterflies that would lay eggs for caterpillars. He says they get blown right through the wind tunnel and out the other side without doing any damage to his crop. And, despite the breeze, the sunny warmth inside the tube makes tomatoes ripen extremely well. The effects of damp foggy weather are also lessened by this growing system since the climate inside the tube is pleasantly warm even on overcast days.

By the way, I was near you a couple of weeks ago. I went on a painting trip, called “The Publisher’s Invitational Adirondacks Plein Air Paint Out”, in northern New York State. It rained a bit every day, but between rain showers the sun came out and it was lovely. Despite the rain, we had great fun and were glad of the chance to paint the lakes, rivers, streams, waterfalls, and super-green hills just as the Hudson River Valley painters were doing a hundred and fifty years ago.