The race to frost is on!

Tue Sep 04, 2012 10:30 am

I planted these cucumbers in mid August and they are doing 1000 times better than the ones I planted this spring. I bet I did not get 15 cucumbers this spring I guess cucumbers just don't like city water!
But these have seen some rain and some cooler weather. They have I bet 100 2 inch cucumbers on them already and as you can see dozens of blooms. I am hoping for a late winter so I can make up for this DRY DRY spring.

Tue Sep 04, 2012 11:15 am

Can I join in this race? I discovered a grapefruit sized watermelon in the patch this morning.

Tue Sep 04, 2012 4:28 pm

I was out there this evening doing some weeding and found a potato plant about a foot tall!
It will be interesting to see what it does. I am guessing I missed a small one since this bed is my potato bed I dug the first week of Aug.

Tue Sep 04, 2012 4:35 pm

Ohio Tiller do you pollinate the cukes yourself or just let them do their thing?

Tue Sep 04, 2012 4:43 pm

Francis Barnswallow wrote:Ohio Tiller do you pollinate the cukes yourself or just let them do their thing?

I have bees so I don't mess with them I let them do their job.

I have seen the humming birds working them also!

Wed Sep 05, 2012 11:08 am

LOL. I'm in zone 4a now....probably gonna win the race to the frost as it may be a week or so away!!!

Nice looking cukes OHIO TILLER!

Wed Sep 05, 2012 11:23 am

Halfway wrote:LOL. I'm in zone 4a now....probably gonna win the race to the frost as it may be a week or so away!!!

Nice looking cukes OHIO TILLER!

Thanks

We got rain this last week end and last night and I checked them at lunch and they are about 3 inches long now.

Wed Sep 05, 2012 2:03 pm

Makes me wanna run out there and throw some in the ground! I wonder if I'm too late....Heck even if they are small I can still pickle them.

Wed Sep 05, 2012 6:08 pm

GardenRN wrote:Makes me wanna run out there and throw some in the ground! I wonder if I'm too late....Heck even if they are small I can still pickle them.

I am hoping to get a jar or 2 of pickels also and by the way they are going I think I going to get a few jars.

Wed Sep 05, 2012 6:42 pm

I'll be out there tomorrow if I have any seeds left! But I have a feeling I may have sent the rest of mine to someone. And there are none left in the stores of course. Although a nursery may have some....

Thu Sep 06, 2012 3:07 am

Halfway wrote:LOL. I'm in zone 4a now....probably gonna win the race to the frost as it may be a week or so away!!!

Nice looking cukes OHIO TILLER!

Yes, they are.

I'm not in quite the same situation as Halfway but, as they say around here, "anything can happen after Labor Day." . . . and, probably will :wink:

.

We've got unseasonably warm weather right now so an early September frost doesn't seem likely. My "late" cukes are doing real well, Ohio Tiller!

Now, by late - I mean from about a July 4th set-out date. Irrigation is always necessary here. I mean, we only had 1/8th of an inch of rain in August. That is really normal so summer rain isn't going to help much. Late spring is a different story. Not so much with rain as with clouds, wind and cool conditions.

Cucumbers obviously want things just so . . . .

The cucumbers hate cold springs! So, I tried a month+ "late" sowing and used them to fill in as spring veggies were harvested. They liked it! And, they are producing like mad right now.

Steve

Thu Sep 06, 2012 3:37 am

GardenRN wrote:I'll be out there tomorrow if I have any seeds left! But I have a feeling I may have sent the rest of mine to someone. And there are none left in the stores of course. Although a nursery may have some....

I saw some at Manards yesterday on closeout 40 cents a pack I think it. Don't know if you have one near you but might be worth a look.

Thu Sep 06, 2012 3:59 am

digitS' wrote:
Halfway wrote:LOL. I'm in zone 4a now....probably gonna win the race to the frost as it may be a week or so away!!!

Nice looking cukes OHIO TILLER!

Yes, they are.

I'm not in quite the same situation as Halfway but, as they say around here, "anything can happen after Labor Day." . . . and, probably will .

We've got unseasonably warm weather right now so an early September frost doesn't seem likely. My "late" cukes are doing real well, Ohio Tiller!

Now, by late - I mean from about a July 4th set-out date. Irrigation is always necessary here. I mean, we only had 1/8th of an inch of rain in August. That is really normal so summer rain isn't going to help much. Late spring is a different story. Not so much with rain as with clouds, wind and cool conditions.

Cucumbers obviously want things just so . . . .

The cucumbers hate cold springs! So, I tried a month+ "late" sowing and used them to fill in as spring veggies were harvested. They liked it! And, they are producing like mad right now.

Steve

We had a VERY unsual warm spring here. I had things planted here in late march and I only had to cover for frost once.
But my cucumbers just never got their motor running the lack of rain I am sure is what did it but they were just sickly looking untill I just gave up pulled them and replanted .
I don't think I have ever seen this many blooms before. It is like a sea of yellow and green.

My bees are starting to complain to their union because they can't keep up ! LOL We were sitting watching them last night and it was just a steady stream of bees going back and forth to the garden and the hive.

Thu Sep 06, 2012 4:07 am

Nope no menards here. Which seems weird because I KNOW I've heard of that store before. But according to their site there's not one anywhere near me. But that's ok. I have a few places I can look. I'm pretty sure the local nurseries always have a minimal selection out. And cukes would probably be something to include in a very basic, out of season "just to have some available" selection.

Thu Sep 06, 2012 6:11 am

Perfect time to get the lawn seeded or patched where needed!!!

Thu Sep 06, 2012 11:07 am

Halfway wrote:Perfect time to get the lawn seeded or patched where needed!!!

Already on it and with the drought we had I have sevearl places to seed.

Wed Sep 19, 2012 4:36 am

Well the race was almost over this morning!!!
We had forst on the roof tops this morning but it did not get to the ground!
It looks like we are about to pay for that early spring with a very early fall. They say it is going to warm back up a bit this week and you never know we might get an indian summer?

Wed Sep 19, 2012 4:49 am

Can anyone join this race? :lol:

I have been limbering up I think I'm ready. I still have a little over a month to go but there is a lot to do. It got to 42 last night, 50 right now at almost 9 in the morning. it on it's way or is it, maybe we will get a winter like last year, extremely mild.

But I have been talking to farmers (old timers) and they say this winter will be cold and snowy. Of course I have the oppostie as well so we shall see.

Mon Sep 24, 2012 4:07 am

WELL THE RACE IS OVER AND I LOST! We had a pretty good frost here last night and the cucumbers leafs are looking pretty sad this morning. ItÃ¢â‚¬â„¢s looking like it will be pickles. I got around 30 cucumbers off up to now but have I guess 30 or 40 small ones still that I will pickle now.

Mon Sep 24, 2012 4:51 am

REALLY?!

Wow.

We're getting that cold air mass coming through tonight but hopefully somewhat warmed up than frost.

I can't rely on any of the forecasts though I check 4 different sources.
Last night, the lowest forecast was for 48Ã‚Â° or mid-40's -- I scrambled to bring in the most tender containers that haven't been brought in already and cover the watermelons, pumpkins, peppers, sweet potatoes, as well as large container plants that couldn't be brought inside yet (my back gave out, too) and and it went down to 43Ã‚Â°. Tonight's forecast is 45Ã‚Â° so I expect it to get down to the 30Ã‚Â°'s. EVERYTHING MUST COME INSIDE or be protected TODAY!!!! nutz:

Of course overnight temps are supposed to go back up into the 50's and daytime temps in the upper 70's after that :roll:

I'm looking at my coffee and jalapeÃƒÂ±o, as well as seedling tomato plants that were beought inside thinking they would love to be out in that kind of weather....

Mon Sep 24, 2012 1:21 pm

Aw, too bad on the frost. I am glad you got some harvest. You knew it was going to be close when you planted them. We had frost a while back, so my cukes and squash are done.

Tue Sep 25, 2012 2:35 am

We had one recent night that went down to mid-30's (per the weather site - I'm in the city heat island and usually a couple degrees warmer), so I brought a lot of stuff in. But the 10 day forecast now is for night temps ranging from 48 to 60. So we may make it to our usual mid-Oct frost free. But clearly the season is winding down.

Tue Sep 25, 2012 4:28 am

Surprisingly I did not get hit as hard as I thought, the cucumbers bounced back pretty good.
I guess the garden being in the low spot helped protect them some. The ground is still warm so it must have protected them a bit.
My front yard is much higher than the back yard and it got frosted hard,
I left foot prints in the frost as I went to the car but the back was very light.
I am going to let them go see what happens we are going to warm up a bit they say

So I guess it was just a yellow flag and the race is back underway!