Clint Brown, 17, prunes tomato plants in one of his high tunnel structures Wednesday. The structure protects his tomatoes from wind and extends their production life. Brown will sell those and other vegetables throughout the growing season at the farmer's market. The market's opening day is from 8 a.m. to noon Saturday at the Olson Cultural Event Center in Le Mars. [Click to enlarge]

His then babysitter, a retired gentlemen with an interest in gardening, got him started.

Now 17, Clint has his own gardening business -- a venture that began four years ago with a bumper green bean crop and success at the Le Mars farmer's market.

"He sold them so fast,"said Audrey Brown, Clint's mom. "I think that's what got him hooked."

Clint's gardens are on his parent's Audrey and Steve Brown's farm west of Merrill.

In April 2006 Clint got serious about his gardening business by building his first high tunnel structure, which is a large, hoop building covered in plastic, to plant his vegetables inside.

"If they were outside the would get blown by the wind," Clint said.

The sides of the high tunnel roll up and down, but the temperature inside is not regulated like a greenhouse.

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"When it isn't sunny out there, it isn't warm in here," Audrey said.

Clint's two high tunnels, the second one being completed this year, are a total of 3,744 square feet in size. They house 400 tomato plants, 290 pepper plants, green beans, leaf lettuce and snow peas to name a few.

Having the high tunnels for protection from the wind allows Clint to extend the growing season for his vegetables.

For example, most people plant their tomatoes the third week in May and can eat them around the end of July through September.

With the wind tunnels, Clint's growing season for tomatoes begins about the third week in April. Tomatoes are ripe in June and last through mid-October.

This year's growing season has been a little different.

"This year we are behind," Audrey said. "We haven't had consistent days of sunshine."

And that phenomenon is affecting many vegetable producers around the state.

Even the more than 6-foot-tall tomato plants growing inside one of Clint's high tunnels have been slow to yield their fruit.

And the ones growing in an outside garden are about 1/3 as tall as the others. Steve wanted to see the production difference between the indoor and outdoor plants.

"We're experimenting," Audrey said. "We're seeing what wind really can do."

Even though the growing season has been stunted, Clint has had success selling other vegetables like carrots, lettuce, spinach and radishes at the farmer's market in Sioux City.

"He was selling in Sioux City the first Saturday in May," Audrey said. "Most of these crops are already gone and these are the second crops."

Clint plans to bring some items to the Le Mars farmer's market opening day this Saturday from 8 a.m. to noon at the Olson Cultural Event Center. The market will also be open from 3 to 6 p.m. Wednesdays throughout the growing season.

Audrey said most of their offerings this Saturday will be items like rhubarb and jalapeņo jellies along with minimal produce.

But that will change as the summer progresses and the days warm because in addition to Clint's indoor gardens he also tends an additional about 3,700 square feet outside.

"It's amazing what can be produced in the square footage he has," Audrey said.

Audrey and Steve help, but the business is Clint's and each year his profits have exceeded his expenses.

"I am the tomato connoisseur," Audrey said. "These two don't eat tomatoes."

Throughout the years as Clint's interest in planting vegetables grew into the booming business it is today, Audrey couldn't be more proud of her son's accomplishments.

"I think it's exciting," Audrey said.

Clint will be a senior at Le Mars Community High School this fall.

He has already taken some agriculture classes and plans to take more along with business courses to learn as much as he can to help his gardens continue to grow.

Clint likes his gardening business, but he doesn't know for sure what the future holds.

"It's a hobby," Clint said. "And to make some money."