BERRY EARLY START.

Byline: Karen McCowan The Register-Guard

Promised 80-degree temperatures skipped over Eugene-Springfield on Monday - but don't tell that to our area's early-ripening strawberries.

The high at the Eugene Airport was 79 degrees, as opposed to 84 in Corvallis, 86 in Portland and 91 in Roseburg. But the day was summery enough for Junction City farmer Gabe Cox to work up a good sweat as he shoveled away soil to reach and repair a ruptured irrigation line. With more sun forecast for the next five days, he needs to be ready to irrigate strawberry fields already boasting clumps of fat, red berries.

He and partner Sophie Bello stagger five types of strawberries - including the early-bearing Seascapes variety - in hopes of creating a steady, six-month supply to sell at farmer's markets in Eugene, Bend and Portland.

But this year's unusually warm spring has helped their Groundworks Organics greenhouses and soil-warming plastic mulch jump-start the strawberry season.

"The plants are just a lot bigger and there's a lot more fruit out there this year," Cox said.

While they usually shoot for harvesting their first berries in May, they were already selling deep red berries April 24 at the Lane County Farmer's Market in Eugene.

Growers of conventional Oregon strawberry varieties - such as Bentons and Hoods - also expect to see an early start to their season.

Lance Winger of Cupp's Berry Farm in Springfield expects a first picking around June 1 - about 10 days earlier than his typical start date.

This spring in the Southern Willamette Valley has been significantly warmer than average, said state climatologist George Taylor. The average high temperature in March was 5.7 degrees above normal, and the average high in April has been 3.6 degrees above normal.

And the weather feels particularly balmy when compared to last spring, when March and April were "very cool and extremely wet," Taylor said.

The National Weather Service predicts a cooling trend but sunny skies for the next five days.

Strawberries

Groundworks Organics Strawberries: Available at the Lane County Farmer's Market in Eugene, Saturdays and Tuesdays (beginning next week) in the downtown parks blocks. Also available to the farm's Community Supported Agriculture shareholders - call 998-0900 for information.

CAPTION(S):

Sophie Bello and Gabe Cox (right) tend to a row of plump strawberries, one of five varieties grown on their farm off River Road in Junction City. Chris Pietsch / The Register-Guard Sophie Bello savors a rare early ripe strawberry as she and her partner Gabe Cox prepare their fields for irrigation.