I knew when I planted all the cool weather crops "too early", I would be facing the frost at least few times in the next month. Well, it's coming! Day temperatures are fine, but tonight 31 (which means I'm getting 27 or so), 38 tomorrow (34 for us)...
Glad I planned accordingly (and hope those who always jumps early did too)
First in-ground tomato has been flowering since last week:
[img]https://drphotography.smugmug.com/photos/I-H8RDD3H/0/O/I-H8RDD3H.jpg[/img]
Now covered in 3 layers of frost blanket, and a string of Christmas lights wrapped around the cage:
[img]https://drphotography.smugmug.com/photos/I-FxmvbzF/0/O/I-FxmvbzF.jpg[/img]
[img]https://drphotography.smugmug.com/photos/I-hxmGMvZ/0/O/I-hxmGMvZ.jpg[/img]
Lettuces, chard, radicchio, cress, arugula:
[img]https://drphotography.smugmug.com/photos/I-hqDd5zt/0/O/I-hqDd5zt.jpg[/img]
Now covered:
[img]https://drphotography.smugmug.com/photos/I-JbFJ4z3/0/O/I-JbFJ4z3.jpg[/img]
Radishes, mixed baby lettuce (under the mini dome), chard, onions and kohlrabi:
[img]https://drphotography.smugmug.com/photos/I-2GzHmH4/0/O/I-2GzHmH4.jpg[/img]
[img]https://drphotography.smugmug.com/photos/I-CLDFDdQ/0/O/I-CLDFDdQ.jpg[/img]
So there we have it. Very easy to uncover if needed, but will likely keep the covers on for a week or so, until the weather settles a little more. Plus keeping the bugs out in a way...
Regards,
D
P.S. I know, I need to cut grass (again), after couple of days of rain and 75F weather, it just exploded!
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brandon558
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hendi_alex
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They are still forecasting nothing colder than 45 degrees between now and April 4th. Still holding my breath. Will plant one or two more tomato plants in the ground tomorrow. The 2-3 foot high plants are just getting too big for their 3 gallon containers! I've got lots of small tomatoes on a dozen or so plants. The rest of the plants were seeded much later and will easily wait another few weeks.
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tremuloides
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D,
WOW....I am certainly impressed with your setup!
I am in Colorado and will be doing raised beds this year. Still looking into how to do them as I have never done them before. Essentially this will be my first attempt at gardening since I was a kid.
Starting my flower seeds in a couple of days indoors for a 15 May plant in the ground date.
I love your garden!!!!
WOW....I am certainly impressed with your setup!
I am in Colorado and will be doing raised beds this year. Still looking into how to do them as I have never done them before. Essentially this will be my first attempt at gardening since I was a kid.
Starting my flower seeds in a couple of days indoors for a 15 May plant in the ground date.
I love your garden!!!!
great set up . Looks like you're prepared.-
stella1751
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gixxerific
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rainbowgardener
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Looks great, but I think the tomato was the only one that needed it, unless the other stuff was new transplants that hadn't been outside that long. They call them cold weather crops for a reason, they are very hardy and frost tolerant. All the lettuce, chard etc would have been fine uncovered. I have broccoli, spinach, chard, lettuce, onions and garlic in my garden that were planted last fall, went through the whole winter uncovered (it was a milder winter than usual, but we did have a few nights down in the teens) and are thriving now.
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applestar
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I woke around 4AM, checked the temp and it was 31° as predicted, but when I reviewed the forecasts, realized It was too soon to be be relieved as they were still calling for 28 at 8AM (which to my lay-person thinking seemed odd since sun would have been up for an hour by then) but I jumped up to check the thermometer when I woke at 8am and it DID go down some more to 30° in my garden. Whew! Nowehere near the predicted 28° nor adjusted 25°.
I still have to do my rounds (with a hoe that's too long to lean on
) but I think we're OK.
Hope your garden came through, too, DV.
I still have to do my rounds (with a hoe that's too long to lean on
) but I think we're OK.Hope your garden came through, too, DV.
I was going to start hardening off my squashes, brussels sprouts, etc. this week but decided to hold off due to the temps. Here's hoping it warms up again soon for us both!-
hendi_alex
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"I woke around 4AM, checked the temp and it was 31° as predicted, but when I reviewed the forecasts, realized It was too soon to be be relieved as they were still calling for 28 at 8AM (which to my lay-person thinking seemed odd since sun would have been up for an hour by then)"
It is kind of an interesting phenomenon. Early in the morning, if the dew point is reached, dew forms. When moving from a gas to a liquid, water must release heat, therefore the temperature is moderated. Later in the morning, after the temperature rises above the dew point but before the sun has gotten too intense, the dew begins to evaporate. So now it takes the heat of vaporization back, pulling the surrounding temperature down and allow radiant cooling to continue. The interaction of these processes often leads to a nightly low taking place a couple of hours later than a person would have thought would be the case.
It is kind of an interesting phenomenon. Early in the morning, if the dew point is reached, dew forms. When moving from a gas to a liquid, water must release heat, therefore the temperature is moderated. Later in the morning, after the temperature rises above the dew point but before the sun has gotten too intense, the dew begins to evaporate. So now it takes the heat of vaporization back, pulling the surrounding temperature down and allow radiant cooling to continue. The interaction of these processes often leads to a nightly low taking place a couple of hours later than a person would have thought would be the case.
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!potatoes!
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clutchrider
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I got the soil all set, but didn't plant any seeds for fear of this weather. Plus I'm not around next week to tend it so I am gonna wait another week or two before I plant the lettuce and onions. At least the soil will have a chance to breathe and settle a bit after the tilling. Maybe I'll spike down some plastic edging to keep the grass from creeping in in the interim.
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mattie g
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Well put, Alex. But...
The dews were low here last night (single digits in some places), so it wasn't necessarily a function of evaporational cooling. I think the primary factor was that winds were a little stronger during the early part of the overnight, which didn't allow for much radiational cooling - instead the atmosphere was mixing. As the winds relaxed, the heat really started heading up and out, until the sun got high enough that the temps stopped dropping/started coming back up.
We got down to 31/32 in my area. But I don't have anything out except fall-planted garilc and some onions I potted the other day, so I'd have been fine if the temps had *really* dropped!
The dews were low here last night (single digits in some places), so it wasn't necessarily a function of evaporational cooling. I think the primary factor was that winds were a little stronger during the early part of the overnight, which didn't allow for much radiational cooling - instead the atmosphere was mixing. As the winds relaxed, the heat really started heading up and out, until the sun got high enough that the temps stopped dropping/started coming back up.
We got down to 31/32 in my area. But I don't have anything out except fall-planted garilc and some onions I potted the other day, so I'd have been fine if the temps had *really* dropped!
Did I "over do it"? Probably, just so many of my really new, just few days old seedlings are sharing the same bed with the others, and frames already built it, so I cover...
Everything is fine and dandy, tomato did really well in 28F, will be covering for the next few nights, but after that, looks like we are free of frost...
Regards,
D
EDIT: On the other hand, every volunteer tomato seedlings didn't make it, not that I was expecting them to, but just came back from the garden... Nor that I "need" anymore seedlings
Everything is fine and dandy, tomato did really well in 28F, will be covering for the next few nights, but after that, looks like we are free of frost...
Regards,
D
EDIT: On the other hand, every volunteer tomato seedlings didn't make it, not that I was expecting them to, but just came back from the garden... Nor that I "need" anymore seedlings
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mattie g
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I wouldn't get too over-confident, Duh_Vinci. We won't have a good grasp as to whether we'll have a late frost for *at least* another 10 days. In fact, long-term models are showing a cold shot in the second full week of April. Now...that may or may not come to fruition, but it certainly isn't out of the question.