Plenty of watermelons, produce to go around
Published 12:00 am Saturday, June 26, 2010
As temperatures soar outside, there’s nothing better than the taste of fresh homegrown produce – and from all indications, there is plenty to be found locally.
Tonya Harrell and son, Tyler, were selling a truckload of watermelons parked at the Giddy-Up-N-Go on Hwy. 55.
“This year’s crop has produced some of the biggest watermelons we’ve had,” Harrell said. “We usually have 40 or 50 pound watermelons, but this year we’ve had 60 pounders.”
“They taste great,”Tyler said. “I helped plant these watermelons, and now we’re selling them.”
Harrell said her family has sold three truckloads so far and have been selling them in Andalusia and at the Penny Mart in Florala.
“We’ll be selling them until after July 4,” she said.
Down the road, Pleasant Home’s Ricky Lassiter had his own produce stand set up, selling everything from watermelons to peas, butter beans, peanuts, tomatoes and peaches.
Lassiter said this has been a good year for his crops.
“It’s picking up,” he said. “My watermelons are about the same, but Jubilees run about the same every year. They have a really good, sweet taste to them. They are good, sweet watermelons. My biggest one has been about 55 pounds.”
Lassiter said he plans to have his produce stand set up all summer long across the road from Covington Pediatrics.
“We also have a lot of peas people can come out and pick on halves or pick and pay,” he said.
Lassiter said anyone interested can call him at 222-4598 or 488-6726.
Near Opp on Hwy 331, Arthur Davis had a produce stand set up complete with watermelons and other produce such as squash and tomatoes.
“We’ve had a good crop for the dry weather,” he said. “Our watermelons are about average size and they are about as ripe as usual, and they are good.”