Still Waiting for Good Growing Weather?

[digitS']

I am.

After unseasonably warm, even record warm, even still: 48 contiguous states record warm -- we are back in the unsettled weather typical of the Pacific Northwest. The term "head fake" seems to have moved out of the basketball world and I just gotta use it for the weather this month.

Watching temperatures drop at weather stations 2 miles on either side of one of my gardens last Tuesday looks like it may be repeated this coming Thursday when 38F is the predicted low. Frost has shown up before in that garden when one of those weather stations has hit that temperature!

I have tomatoes out there. I've got peppers that are from seed sown on March 1st - they are so root-bound that it is tragic! There are zinnias that look just as bad and are forming flower buds that I will have to cut off when transplanting.

I can't see me covering a couple hundred square feet of zinnias. About the best I could do for a full garden with frost-sensitive plants scattered throughout is to turn on the sprinklers. That would only be good for a light frost. But, when will things have a chance to grow and thrive?? . . . Maybe, I was just intended to be a greenhouse gardener . . .

Steve :/

 

[digitS']

While storms swirl in the upper Midwest . . .

Look at the radar map for Atlanta!

http://radar.weather.gov/radar.php?rid=FFC&product=N0R&overlay=11101111&loop=yes

Steve

 

[thistlebloom]

Well darn it Steve! I was following your lead and putting my tomatoes out today. I did buy some frost cloth to toss over them. I figured I would do that every night all season anyway, no matter what the night time lows were expected to be.

Maybe I will also pot my peppers up. My earlier sown ones are probably getting root bound also. :/
I don't want a repeat of last year. I was certain to be putting up a hoophouse for the tomatoes and peppers this year, but we have a
family situation that will require probably multiple out of state trips, so the hoophouse idea is being converted to gas money.

Darn.

 

[journey11]

I am regretting now that I didn't put my things out a week or two early this year. It was so dry for April and mostly warm except for 2 nights (but we didn't get frost). Now we are stuck in a rainy pattern and it looks like I might be mudding them in this coming week. :/

Meanwhile...I have volunteer squash and tomato plants in the compost pile that are nearing a foot tall. Even those tomatoes I started in flats 2 months ago don't look that lush. Go figure!!

 

[digitS']

Now that zinnias and squash are also out - the Weather Service has dropped the predicted low Thursday morning to 36F!

I've got 2 bales of spoiled hay. Will break that up and put around squash & pumpkins tomorrow. May as well move all the buckets to the front line since there are over 50 tomato plants in the garden.

The zinnias are, at least, close to the sprinklers. Might have thunderstorms leading up to when the thermometer drops below 38 at 2am. I can enjoy the light show thru the pickup windshield . . .

Steve

 

[digitS']

Wow!

Just turned on TV news!

Things could be a lot worse if I lived in eastern Oklahoma! I'm thinking of how to keep plants safe. It is so sad that they had real problems keeping people safe :/.

Steve

 

[NwMtGardener]

Yes...hearing about the tragedy in oklahoma sure puts things in perspective.

I am glad seeds are cheap, i'm sure i jumped the gun and tried to start stuff too early...you know, all those beautiful warm days we had about a week and a half ago?? Well.....i got nothin! Not one pot has a sprout yet. The 5 tomato plants i casually tossed outside without any hardening off are STILL KICKING, though, so i'm excited about that.

 

[digitS']

Good thing my plants are well hardened-off this year - it is 37F!

Tonight is supposed to be the cold night! I have been hoping against hope this last week that the Weather Service would just be a little too pessimistic. They've actually lowered tonight's prediction another degree to 35. I've resigned my thinking to be fine with that. Just don't freeze!

Heather, I see that the Montana valleys are a little warmer than here this morning. It is coming . . . Snow on the pass at Lookout, of course. It will only get worse - snow predicted for St. Regis at 2800 feet. I won't be surprised to find snow falling when I make my way to the big veggie garden tonight.

Steve

 

[canesisters]

Oh my gosh!!! Really??

Being on this site has really made me more aware of just how sheltered I've been. I had no idea that there would still be people in the states experiencing snow and freezing temps this close to June!! I just assumed that spring came to everyone within a few weeks of each other. Wow - just WOW! I've been amazed to hear how some of my garden friends are harvesting and others are still shoveling snow.
Amazing....

 

[lesa]

It was 90 degrees yesterday, and close to that today.. and they are predicting 35 on the weekend nights! My greenhouse is bursting at the seams, but I see no reason to plant out, with those temps coming. So, I wait and wait.