Strawberry season in full swing at Ziegler's U-Pick

It's almost summertime, and that means strawberry season is in full swing. To see how the berries are growing, ABC57 stopped by Ziegler's U-Pick in North Liberty.

We had a late season frost. You can see this in some of the plants, but it wasn't enough to cancel the season. Joe Ziegler, the owner of the farm, talked about the freeze.

"You see the browning of the leaves, at the tips of most of the plants out there," Ziegler said. "That was from the four days we had of freezing every morning, even though we did frost protection."

Even though the leaves browned, the berries were resilient and are now ripe and ready to be picked.

The first weekend was successful -- so successful, Ziegler's had to close for a day to let the berries catch up with the flow of people.

"There's still a lot of good berries in here that are yet to come, that are green, that will get much bigger."

Going forward, Ziegler says the weather needs to continue to cooperate to keep the berries going.

"Really hoping for the rain to get them to the size that people like," he said.

More rain means larger berries before they turn red. Small red berries indicate that it has been too dry. If weather cooperates, the season could last up to five weeks.

Check out Ziegler's Facebook page for their hours, location, and days of operation. They will post updates about whether they are picking for a day or not, based on the availability of ripe berries. On rainy days like today, you are still encouraged to pick if they are open.

If you plan to visit in the coming weeks, Ziegler's will provide you with a picking pail. Each bucket holds about five pounds of strawberries and costs $15, which can be paid with cash or check.

"It's a wonderful activity for families to get close," Ziegler mentioned. "I love watching the kids come back with red fingers, and red lips. Trying a berry is definitely encouraged while you're here."