Claiborne said that while he does try to keep the plants producing into fall, he’ s learned to get those first three main crops planted early enough that they can be harvested before the heat becomes too intense. He said his first crop of tomatoes is usually planted in late March.
In spring, the challenge offered by the weather isn’ t heat, but excessive rain.
“ We’ ve learned some cultural practices such as bedding the tomatoes to drain off the water,” Claiborne said.“ Anywhere in East Texas is good for tomatoes – sandy loam, even red land. Some of the farmers like to grow on red land. We like sand because it drains really well. It can take a lot of water and the crop won’ t be damaged.”
When asked his favorite part of tomato growing, Claiborne said,“ Harvest time.”
“ There’ s nothing like seeing the harvest approaching and seeing it start,” he said.“ I take a beating for saying this kind of stuff with some of my relatives, but this is not just a hobby, we do this to provide for our families. It’ s our livelihood. At some point, we have to turn all of this labor that we’ re doing into dollars.
“ That’ s my favorite part. Of course, being able to go out into the crop, pull a few tomatoes, pull a few onions, pull a few squash, pull a few cucumbers, take them back to the house, chop them up and eat the fruit of your labor – that’ s satisfying as well.”
Claiborne’ s tomatoes and vegetables are – first and foremost – sold locally at the Tomato Shed.
“ That’ s where we take our product to grade and pack and we’ re open to the public in the retail operation there,“ he said.“ It starts mid-May.”
Although the tomatoes were graded and packed at the Tomato Shed, Claiborne’ s produce was not always for sale to the public there.
“ In the early years we didn’ t have the trade at the Tomato Shed like now I do,” Claiborne said.“ The way that started was we first had culls. Some folks learned that there are some people over there on Alabama packing tomatoes and so a couple of people stopped by and said,‘ Can we get some of these culls.’”
It was then Claiborne decided to
12 Jacksonville Progress | Summer 2025