As many Island farmers grumble about the recent poor weather and struggle to grow their regular crops, at least one Islander is having success in the garden. 

Bob Norton, a retired horticulture professor, says his strawberry field recently produced the best berries he’s ever seen. And as a researcher who has spent more than 40 years studying fruit, he’s seen a lot of berries. 

Standing in his small Maury Island fruit farm on a sunny afternoon last Friday, Norton and a few members of the Vashon Island Fruit Club — which Norton founded half a dozen years ago — picked the ripest berries to sell at the Farmers Market the next day.

Norton, who only began growing strawberries on Maury last year, said this year’s crop of 1,000 plants was everything strawberries should be. 

“They’re big, bright, shiny, and they taste good, too,” he said.

Norton credited the success of all 13 varieties of his strawberries to the raised beds the plants grow in, the trickle irrigation he created and the virgin soil at his farm. Before he planted there, he said, the land had been nothing but a pasture for 20 years.

Norton said he was excited to take his bright red berries to the Farmers Market. He will sell them at the market again this Saturday, from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. at the Village Green.