Hardening off/ Planting/ Bad weather

[HeirloomNewb]

Hola,

I got the plants in 16 oz plastic cups and they are out on my patio hardening off. The first two days they got a few hours of sun. It is now rainy and cloudy. The forcast is pretty much rainy and cloudy for weeks to come. There is no indiciation of the temp. getting too low. Today it is aroudn 40 degrees (the lowest predicted day for a bit), but the plants are out on the patio to get tough.

If i do get a few days of light are there any other general guidelines as to when to plant. Does it matter much if it is overcast on the days that I plant? I'm supposed to give some plants away here this sunday to a friend and my parents and I want to be able to give them a good idea of when the plants should be ready to to be put in the ground.

I'm not too worried about the plants, but I'd rather not kill em off either.

Thanks for the tips

[kimpossible]

I'm just speaking from my own experience .... but what I try to do is wait until temps are above 10C/50F at night & at least 20C/70F during the day before I plant out. Otherwise the plants just don't seem to grow much & the colder temps just add stress. So I wait until the long range forecast has good consistent nighttime temps, which around here is usually end of May, first of June. I start the hardening off a week or so before that. I also try to plant on a cooler/cloudy day so they don't get baked right away - if there are a few cloudy days forecast that's even better.

[HeirloomNewb]

I like that logic! By your standards this might just work out afterall. It is supposed to warm up here next week into the 60's and 70's but still some clouds and rain. I'll keep my fingers crossed and hope for the best.

[HeirloomNewb]

I like that logic! By your standards this might just work out afterall. It is supposed to warm up here next week into the 60's and 70's but still some clouds and rain. I'll keep my fingers crossed and hope for the best.