Northeners: Anyone else Zone Pushing ths Year? - Page 14

bower · May 18, 2015

Congratulations, Lindalana!!

My earliest flowers are on Kimberley crosses, and there are already a few looking spent and ready to drop.. can't wait to see a ltitle greenie..

tam91 · May 18, 2015

Well fingers crossed - my tomatoes are in, but tonight and tomorrow lows are now predicted at 41 and 39. Peppers and basil and things are still waiting in the greenhouse. What a weird year.

NarnianGarden · May 18, 2015

This time last year, I already had fruit on some plants. (Dwarf Jade Beauty if I recall correctly)
ah well...

beefsteak · May 18, 2015

Had a pretty bad storm pass through today, Very high winds and hard rain. After the storm passed I went to check on my tomatoes I planted Friday. Some are pretty tall and not staked yet so I thought the winds might have done some damage, but they are fine, a couple have fruit just starting, hurray!

Father'sDaughter · May 18, 2015

All tomatoes are out as of yesterday -- 26 in ground and four in grow bags. Bamboo stakes were pounded in, and this morning I went out and did my first round of tying. It was a bit chilly and they didn't look too happy, but by this afternoon they had perked up quite a bit.

The in ground eggplant and peppers went out as well. The hot peppers that are destined for grow bags are still in the mini green house.

I had my second kale harvest today, and by the end of the week I should be harvesting lettuce.

Bush beans were direct sowed last weekend and they are all up.

Pole beans need to go in the ground next, but I still need to retrieve my bean tower from the shed loft (my husband has his partially disassembled motorcycle in the way at the moment). I may just have to approximate where the bottom ring will go and plant the seeds!

And next weekend I will probably direct sow the cukes and zukes.

Almost there!

Slg Garden · May 19, 2015

Tiny green tomato on my Stupice that I planted 3 weeks early using a dry cleaner bag over the tomato cage as a mini greenhouse.

barefootgardener · May 20, 2015

We have a freeze warning for this night . Low of 27 expected. Right now it is 31 and clear skies. I covered all my outdoor garden tomatoes up, 65 plants!! I did not bother to cover my celery or garlic. I hope they fair well. I also covered the 14 tomatoes in my unheated greenhouse, and brought in a few trays of back ups. I have another 20 or so gallon potted maters I brought in, plus some herbs, hanging baskets , potted figs and other trays filled with various squash seedlings and melons etc.. We shall see what the morning brings. This is not good for the blooming fruit trees either.

Ginny

PhilaGardener · May 20, 2015

Ginny, hope your tomatoes made it OK! That sort of weather will cause all kinds of problems.

tam91 · May 20, 2015

And today we have - hail! Aaaaaah! Well it was little tiny hail, and the tomato plants don't look dead - not yet anyway. Really?????

barefootgardener · May 20, 2015

Quote:

Originally Posted by PhilaGardener

Ginny, hope your tomatoes made it OK! That sort of weather will cause all kinds of problems.

Thank you PhilaG., Unfortunately I lost close to 45 or so tomato plants!!

Most of those were planted in my garden by the gh. The varieties were Atkinson, Marglobe, Lurley's Paste, George Ditsika's Italian Red, Grandma Mary's and Amish Paste. My sauce and canning tomatoes. They are mush now... Even covered well they did not survive that heavy freeze..

I also lost a lot of my Chinese celery.. Although some of the center of stalk looks fine, the outside is mush. I will cut the mushy outer leaves off and hope the green center is enough to continue growing. It will just be set back a bit. My bed of Tall Utah celery survived.. Thank goodness!! I do have another half tray I have for backup and I have some small Chinese celery seedlings also..so that is good!

Garden #2: I have close to 50+ tomatoes planted and I only lost about 8 plant's to the freeze and another 6 got a bit of freezer burn on the tips of leaves, but will survive. The rest of the heirloom varieties went unscathed. I lost a few more Lurley's Paste and Amish Paste in this garden also..

The good news is all the tomatoes in my gh survived, minus one! I lost a beautiful Morado Vejer De La Frontera that had a few flowers.. I have a few MVDLF in pot's that are fine because I brought them in..The beautiful Margaret Curtain got nipped at the top, but will be fine. She was also in flowering bud..

More good news: I have a few backups of various herlooms I love and lost etc.. just no more Atkins or Marglobe. Still plenty to can and slice if I have a good garden season. I accidently left a backup tray of Amish Paste out in the garden shed last night so the whole tray is mush..

Ginny

PS: Ughhh.. Just got another freeze alert for Thurs-Friday

Ginny

I am glad the potatoes did not sprout yet..

kath · May 20, 2015

So sorry to hear of your losses, Ginny- all that work!

Glad to hear that some made it and you've got some more in the greenhouse, though. It's such a disappointment when that happens.

Do hope you have extra seed on hand- I no longer have any for the varieties you mentioned.:mmer:

We've got low 40's for the rest of this week and we're hoping they don't dip into the danger zone at the last minute, which has happened before. I've lost plants in the garden when the thermometer read a low of 37.

I've still got backups for most- found a home for them if I don't need them and they are supposed to be picked up Friday, but the low Fri. night is now at 41 so I'm not sure I'm going to let them go until Sat.

Hope everyone gets through without any more victims-

kath

Lindalana · May 20, 2015

we had 42 at 7 am this morning and day did not improve. Plants planted outside in open sulking but steady. Hopefully this is last day of this cold for us.
Ginny, so sorry to hear! What have you covered your plants with? That is a lot of losses.
Out of my own mishap- messed up foliar spray of sea minerals with AACT/humic acid, am seeing excellent resilience on 0-33 variety. Suggest you look into those- it was created by breeder Saraev for zones like yours.

barefootgardener · May 20, 2015

Quote:

Originally Posted by kath

So sorry to hear of your losses, Ginny- all that work!

Glad to hear that some made it and you've got some more in the greenhouse, though. It's such a disappointment when that happens.

Do hope you have extra seed on hand- I no longer have any for the varieties you mentioned.:mmer:

We've got low 40's for the rest of this week and we're hoping they don't dip into the danger zone at the last minute, which has happened before. I've lost plants in the garden when the thermometer read a low of 37.

I've still got backups for most- found a home for them if I don't need them and they are supposed to be picked up Friday, but the low Fri. night is now at 41 so I'm not sure I'm going to let them go until Sat.

Hope everyone gets through without any more victims-

kath

Thank's Kath, I have a few seeds left for the varieties I lost. I hope I get through the next few nights.. another freeze warning for tonight. Frost for friday. Plant's are protected and hope for no more losses. I want to have plenty of tomatoes to can..
I will plant the remaining plant's after June 1st or when no more chances of frost.. Fingers crossed.

I gave some flats of plant's away. That was before I lost so many, but I will get by cause I still have several flats and a number of them I up-potted. Just lost more of the ones I wanted for canning. Lurley's Paste did so well for me last year that is why I decided to grow a few flats this year. I was sad when the majority of the paste's froze. But I do have a few that were saved. I hope they pump out the tomatoes again.

I really hope your temp's dont dip down in the danger zone. I hate to hear when people lose the crops they work so hard for. I dont blame you for thinking about holding on to the spare tomatoes till your free n clear.. we never know what is around the corner..

I think I am going to keep the plant's in the house the next few day's. I am tired of dragging them in and out. And I will just keep things covered up till Saturday..

I have pole beans to plant soon. Plus I received my fruit order from Nourse Farms yesterday. I think I will wait a few day's before I do any more planting though.

I forgot to mention the asparagus that I planted last spring, came up, and got nipped also. I thought asparagus was hardier than that??

Hope everyone elses gardens are doing well with this wacky weather...

Ginny

barefootgardener · May 20, 2015

Quote:

Originally Posted by Lindalana

we had 42 at 7 am this morning and day did not improve. Plants planted outside in open sulking but steady. Hopefully this is last day of this cold for us.
Ginny, so sorry to hear! What have you covered your plants with? That is a lot of losses.
Out of my own mishap- messed up foliar spray of sea minerals with AACT/humic acid, am seeing excellent resilience on 0-33 variety. Suggest you look into those- it was created by breeder Saraev for zones like yours.

Linda, It was a lot of losses. Never lost that many before, but, it was a hard freeze. I cover each tomato plant with round, heavy duty 12" drainage pipe. 18" inches high. My husband get's them free at work. I top that with a feed sack, then a board, then we go down the double rows and cover all with heavy tarps. We make sure the tarps are anchored down all around with long logs.

I will look up the foliar spray you mentioned. What is the 0-33 variety? Is that a tomato variety? Thank's..

Ginny

beefsteak · May 21, 2015

We had 32 Degrees here overnight yesterday and so I went and bought some PVC pipe and plastic and covered them before dark. This morning it was 35 and cloudy and it was cloudy the night before, so no frost. We still have cold nights through Saturday night and a couple of them are supposed to be clear,so looking like frost. So far all the tomato plants look good. When I checked them at first light this morning the plastic covering was wet inside, is that normal on a cold night?

May 18, 2015	#197
tam91 Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Aug 2010 Location: Crystal Lake IL Posts: 2,484	Well fingers crossed - my tomatoes are in, but tonight and tomorrow lows are now predicted at 41 and 39. Peppers and basil and things are still waiting in the greenhouse. What a weird year. __________________ Tracy

May 20, 2015	#204
tam91 Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Aug 2010 Location: Crystal Lake IL Posts: 2,484	And today we have - hail! Aaaaaah! Well it was little tiny hail, and the tomato plants don't look dead - not yet anyway. Really????? __________________ Tracy

May 18, 2015	#196
bower Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Feb 2012 Location: Newfoundland, Canada Posts: 6,794	Congratulations, Lindalana!! My earliest flowers are on Kimberley crosses, and there are already a few looking spent and ready to drop.. can't wait to see a ltitle greenie..

May 18, 2015	#198
NarnianGarden Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Jun 2013 Location: Finland, EU Posts: 2,550	This time last year, I already had fruit on some plants. (Dwarf Jade Beauty if I recall correctly) ah well...

May 18, 2015	#199
beefsteak Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Feb 2011 Location: NW PA zone 5 Posts: 121	Had a pretty bad storm pass through today, Very high winds and hard rain. After the storm passed I went to check on my tomatoes I planted Friday. Some are pretty tall and not staked yet so I thought the winds might have done some damage, but they are fine, a couple have fruit just starting, hurray!

May 18, 2015	#200
Father'sDaughter Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Nov 2011 Location: MA/NH Border Posts: 4,917	All tomatoes are out as of yesterday -- 26 in ground and four in grow bags. Bamboo stakes were pounded in, and this morning I went out and did my first round of tying. It was a bit chilly and they didn't look too happy, but by this afternoon they had perked up quite a bit. The in ground eggplant and peppers went out as well. The hot peppers that are destined for grow bags are still in the mini green house. I had my second kale harvest today, and by the end of the week I should be harvesting lettuce. Bush beans were direct sowed last weekend and they are all up. Pole beans need to go in the ground next, but I still need to retrieve my bean tower from the shed loft (my husband has his partially disassembled motorcycle in the way at the moment). I may just have to approximate where the bottom ring will go and plant the seeds! And next weekend I will probably direct sow the cukes and zukes. Almost there!

May 19, 2015	#201
Slg Garden Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Mar 2015 Location: Seattle area Posts: 76	Tiny green tomato on my Stupice that I planted 3 weeks early using a dry cleaner bag over the tomato cage as a mini greenhouse.

May 20, 2015	#202
barefootgardener Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Mar 2007 Location: Michigan Zone 4b Posts: 1,291	We have a freeze warning for this night . Low of 27 expected. Right now it is 31 and clear skies. I covered all my outdoor garden tomatoes up, 65 plants!! I did not bother to cover my celery or garlic. I hope they fair well. I also covered the 14 tomatoes in my unheated greenhouse, and brought in a few trays of back ups. I have another 20 or so gallon potted maters I brought in, plus some herbs, hanging baskets , potted figs and other trays filled with various squash seedlings and melons etc.. We shall see what the morning brings. This is not good for the blooming fruit trees either. Ginny

May 20, 2015	#203
PhilaGardener Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Jan 2014 Location: Near Philadelphia, PA Posts: 1,940	Ginny, hope your tomatoes made it OK! That sort of weather will cause all kinds of problems.

May 20, 2015	#206
kath Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Jan 2010 Location: zone 6b, PA Posts: 5,664	So sorry to hear of your losses, Ginny- all that work! Glad to hear that some made it and you've got some more in the greenhouse, though. It's such a disappointment when that happens. Do hope you have extra seed on hand- I no longer have any for the varieties you mentioned.:mmer: We've got low 40's for the rest of this week and we're hoping they don't dip into the danger zone at the last minute, which has happened before. I've lost plants in the garden when the thermometer read a low of 37. I've still got backups for most- found a home for them if I don't need them and they are supposed to be picked up Friday, but the low Fri. night is now at 41 so I'm not sure I'm going to let them go until Sat. Hope everyone gets through without any more victims- kath

May 20, 2015	#207
Lindalana Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Oct 2013 Location: Chicago IL Posts: 857	we had 42 at 7 am this morning and day did not improve. Plants planted outside in open sulking but steady. Hopefully this is last day of this cold for us. Ginny, so sorry to hear! What have you covered your plants with? That is a lot of losses. Out of my own mishap- messed up foliar spray of sea minerals with AACT/humic acid, am seeing excellent resilience on 0-33 variety. Suggest you look into those- it was created by breeder Saraev for zones like yours.

May 21, 2015	#210
beefsteak Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Feb 2011 Location: NW PA zone 5 Posts: 121	We had 32 Degrees here overnight yesterday and so I went and bought some PVC pipe and plastic and covered them before dark. This morning it was 35 and cloudy and it was cloudy the night before, so no frost. We still have cold nights through Saturday night and a couple of them are supposed to be clear,so looking like frost. So far all the tomato plants look good. When I checked them at first light this morning the plastic covering was wet inside, is that normal on a cold night?