Heat, sunshine, rain equal early start to sweet corn season

Tim Beirnes has grown sweet corn and other summertime favourites at his Cambridge farm for decades and lists the current growing season as one for the ages.

And that’s a good thing for consumers awaiting next week’s official opening of T.J.‘s Farm Fresh, a popular roadside market at 3010 Kossuth Rd.

Potatoes, garlic and beans, green and yellow, are expected to be on the opening day roster, with corn to follow a few days later.

“It’s as good as I’ve ever seen with lots of heat, sunshine and rain … so we’re smiling,” said Beirnes, the owner-operator at T.J.‘s Farm Fresh since 1973.

“An outstanding season, especially for corn. My biggest concern is that we’ll have more than we can sell.”

Fear not, it will not go to waste. All corn — harvested daily — not sold by closing time is donated to the Cambridge Food Bank.

Credit the weather for the season to remember.

May and June provided ideal growing conditions for local farmers with above-average temperatures and average amounts of rainfall, the E.D. Soulis Memorial Weather Station at the University of Waterloo reports.

The Soulis station has provided monthly reports since 1998 and lists last month as the third-warmest June since the first year of reporting. Six days of extreme heat raised the daily high temperature to 25.3 C, or 1.2 C warmer than average.