North Texas farmers call this year one of the most difficult growing seasons in decades. They're feeling the heat as high winds and dry conditions cripple their crops, following a spring of unpredictable weather.
"Sometimes, it's kind of frustrating. But that's the way life is. Some days you win, some days you don't," farmer Tom Earl Beck said.
"In my 30 years, this has been the most extraordinary set of circumstances," Garden Ridge Farmer's Market operator Keith Copp said.
Copp said the poor growing conditions began at the start of the year. Freezing temperatures came just in time for his first planting season.
"The onions froze out. Onions never freeze out," Copp said.
Copp said the spring was unusually cool, causing his crops to grow slowly.
"And when the plants got big enough to start doing some good, then the winds started," Copp said.
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High winds and heat are leaving their mark, but perhaps the most damaging weather came in the form of hail.
"Once a hail ball hits one of the tomatoes, it will cause an indention, and then cause the tomato to rot," Copp said.
"My tomatoes got hailed out twice, so we had to replant them three times. This is the first time they've been wiped out," Earl Beck said.
Earl Beck was one of the few vendors at the Denton County Farmer's Market on Tuesday.
"There was 25 that signed up to sell this year, we have only had four or five that have enough to come and sell at the market," Copp said.
"They don't look so great, but they still taste really good," shopper Pat Devereaux said.
There's still a high demand for the homegrown favorites, despite the low supply.
