It’s my favorite time of the year. It is getting cooler and the humidity levels are dropping from somewhere around the surface of the sun to about bearable. But that’s not why it’s my favorite season. It’s because, as I drive around Plant City, I see fields being prepared for succulent strawberries.
This season, I decided to find out for myself exactly what goes in to getting those strawberries to grow in the field. I teamed up with Amber Jurgensen, managing editor of the Plant City Times & Observer, to see firsthand what it takes to prepare the fields.
What we discovered was hard work.
For our adventure we visited Fancy Farms, owned by Plant City grower Carl Grooms. After a drive around several fields we found the correct spot and Grooms welcomed us with open arms.
Immediately we noticed the workers in the field were split into groups. How do we know? They were wearing different colored shirts. The crew members had job assignments, as there were a variety of things going on in the field at the same time.
There were also three tractors turning the field from flat as a pancake to rows covered in plastic.
I got to ride in the tractor that was pulling the machine laying the plastic. It’s known as the raised bed mulch layer. I climbed next to Dustin Grooms, Carl Grooms’ son, and he quickly maneuvered the tractor in place for the next trip down the field.
This particular tractor had the back window of its cab open so Dustin Grooms could communicate with the guys riding on the machine laying the plastic. If something goes wrong he needs to be able to stop immediately. Plastic may need to be changed mid row, and he needs to know when everything is ready so he can take off again.
No back window meant one hot ride.
Once we learned about the tractors, it was time to even out the end of the rows. There is no machine to do this, So Carl Grooms found us some shovels and showed us how to move the dirt from one location to another.
Most of my day-to-day shoveling comes from filling in the holes my dogs dig in my backyard, but I think we did a respectable job on our one row. Although I did notice someone finishing our work after we had moved on.
The last process we saw was actually the first in preparing the fields for berry season. In another field we got to see how the ground is “fluffed” and then leveled out so the beds can be made.
It was enlightening to see the work that goes into preparing the ground for the strawberry plants that are set to arrive soon. I look forward to going back for the next step in the strawberry growing process.
Sarah Holt is the senior managing editor and associate publisher at In the Field, a Plant City-based agriculture magazine.