I Want June Back

[garden5]

June? no way... I want Feb. That is when I start seeds. By June you better have everything put together or you're too late around these parts. By then you need melons to be flowering, tomatoes with fruit already growing...

That's a really good point. For many of us here, there are only a few months that there is nothing garden-related going on. Even after frosts, many of us are still harvesting our fall-planted root-crops. Once the show and cold put an end to the garden, we pour over our catalogs, planning out next year's garden, order our seeds, then plan again . Once the seeds get here. It's only a few weeks until the early crop seeds are sown: onion, lettuce, ect., then the warm weather plants: tomatoes, eggplants, pepeprs. Caring for all these seedlings keeps us occupied until the snow (or heat, if you're in the south) is gone, the ground is workable, and everything starts all over again .

[Hispoptart]

I had the same problem with the sheets, I guess it was just to cold for to long. But atleast it saved the majority of the plant.

[garden5]

From what I understand, when you cover a plant for the frost, to part should be touching the cover. If it is, it'll catch frost bite.

[stella1751]

I had the same problem with the sheets, I guess it was just to cold for to long. But atleast it saved the majority of the plant.

Ditto that, Hispoptart! It actually worked out very well for me. I had been toying with topping my tomatoes, honest, and that got me started. I now only have five out of twelve left to go. I should have done this over a week ago, when I saw what kind of a fall we were going to have

BTW, here we go again. According to weather.com, tomorrow's high will be 67; the low tomorrow night is supposed to drop to 38. Weather.com was off by 6 degrees the last time, so it looks like it's time to cover again

[Hispoptart]

Yep our forecast is lows between 25 and 35 tonight. so I will cover again. I only have 8 qts of toms canned. I'm not ready to quit just yet.

[garden5]

I had the same problem with the sheets, I guess it was just to cold for to long. But atleast it saved the majority of the plant.

Ditto that, Hispoptart! It actually worked out very well for me. I had been toying with topping my tomatoes, honest, and that got me started. I now only have five out of twelve left to go. I should have done this over a week ago, when I saw what kind of a fall we were going to have

BTW, here we go again. According to weather.com, tomorrow's high will be 67; the low tomorrow night is supposed to drop to 38. Weather.com was off by 6 degrees the last time, so it looks like it's time to cover again

Actually, it's considered a good idea to top your tomatoes towards the end of the season as it allows the plant to focus more on ripening the fruit it has rather than to set more.

Man, you are getting pretty wide day and nighttime temp spreads! Hopefully Frankenchili will make it through another night. Perhaps it's getting close to the time to pot it and bring it inside.

[stella1751]

Actually, it's considered a good idea to top your tomatoes towards the end of the season as it allows the plant to focus more on ripening the fruit it has rather than to set more.

Most of my local gardening friends do top their tomatoes in August. I am an optimist. There was a year, I can't remember how long ago, but it was a while, that we didn't have a killing frost until November. Honest. I keep thinking it can happen. Not this year, though. I have come to accept that.

Man, you are getting pretty wide day and nighttime temp spreads! Hopefully Frankenchili will make it through another night. Perhaps it's getting close to the time to pot it and bring it inside.

I think this weekend, after the freeze, I will pot the one in the pea bed. I can't dig up my big producer, though, until its first two peppers mature, and it's in too close a proximity to the other plant for me to dig that one up. So, I will keep covering until I decide I must give up the ghost and get no seeds from those peppers. I think a forecast low of 25 would make me rethink the importance of those seeds!

Poor Hispoptart. You have my sympathy.

[Hispoptart]

Awww Thanks, I am so just not ready for this. Hope your pepper pulls through. I was thinking.....OH NO now were in trouble LOL, No but really, maybe when using sheets to cover the plants we could put in some wood stakes to drape them over so the don't touch the plants? I have a bunch so I might try that tonight. Then instead of using rocks to hold in down I will bunch some of the sheet around the stake then put a rubber band around it.

[stella1751]

I just watched both local weather forecasts for tonight: One station says the low will be 38; the other, 35. If they'd both said 38, I wouldn't have bothered covering. Unfortunately, 35 is too close for comfort, so I will cover the pepper bed, anyway.

Interestingly, one of the lead news reports was the publication of the 2010 Old Farmer's Almanac, particularly its listing of the top five cities in the nation for the worst winter weather: 1) Syracuse, 2) I can't remember, 3) Casper, Wyoming, 4) Detroit, and 5) Cleveland (I think).

What are the odds? I guess I didn't see that coming.

[stella1751]

Whoops. I meant 2011

[applestar]

I'm sorry I hadn't been keeping up with this thread. My comments now appears to be too late for the two of you...

But doubled covers make a big difference in frost covers -- especially when heavy frost/subfreezing temps are expected -- because often just the top layer gets the frost, there's a pocket of thin air that benefits from the freeze/thaw heat generating thermal dynamics ( hope some one can explain that, cause I can't ) and provides insulation AND keeps the frost from actually touching the plant. I think that's why quilt is often used.

I imagine sheets then plastic tarp would keep the sheets from getting wet.

[stella1751]

That makes sense, Applestar. It would be like a dog's coat. The top layer takes the cold and can be tipped with frost on a cold winter day, but it covers the hair layer next to the skin, which doesn't become cold and serves as a layer of insulation. I'll see one of my dogs playing outside in sub-freezing temperature, his coat white with frost, and he seems as comfortable as can be.

[garden5]

Here's all about [url=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thermodynamics]Thermodynamics[/ulr].

I personally think that the pockets of air help to insulate the underlying plants. The outside air has to get cold, then it has to make the pocket of air cool, then it can start working on making the air under the sheets cold. At least, this is the way I see it.

[Hispoptart]

Guess I will have to hit up the thrift store for more sheets so I can double them up next year. We have frosted last night and the night before and looks like it's not going to end soon. The toms and peppers are doing fine, but I am really beginning to wonder if the buttternuts will ripen before the cold comes to stay.

[stella1751]

I am sorry to hear about the frost! We appear to have made it through the cold for a while. The nine-day forecast is for 70's, with lows in the 40's. Day ten looks bad, but nine days without having to cover plants and with lying awake at night, wondering which, if any, will survive, feels pretty exciting at this time of the year!

Even the cucumbers that froze during the last frost are struggling to stay alive, now that the weather has turned. They look a fright, with the decaying upper layer, but the lower part of the plants are green, and I might just get the seed cucumber from them I was hoping for.

I'm starting to accept that the joy ride is over. The September 6 frost was too darned soon and seemed pretty unfair, particularly in light of the June we were denied. However, once we pass our average first frost date of September 22, I will be better equipped to reconcile myself to the end.

This just in: [url=https://www.aolnews.com/nation/article/la-nina-likely-to-bring-weather-extremes-to-us-this-winter/19624977?icid=main%7Chtmlws-main-n%7Cdl1%7Csec1_lnk3%7C170028]"A Winter of Extremes? Maybe, Thanks to La Nina"[/url]

It looks like we're all in for a long winter

I'm crossing my fingers that your butternuts ripen in time!

[Hispoptart]

I'm glad to hear you in for some better weather. Looks like we may be to. I am really worried about the butternuts to. So far it looks like one really small one is just about ripe enough to pick. I will check it this afternoon after work. Maybe we can atleast get a taste one one.