Snow in Reno!

[RobinB]

It snowed today! Hopefully, you can see the "flake-age" in the attached photo!

It's crazy compared to the weather we have been enjoying. It's been more like late-July here (with highs in the high 70s, and lows in the low 50s)... until last night. The low was 35, and tonight is supposed to be a little bit colder. As you can see, they are all in Walls O' Water and most are peeking out over the tops now. The only thing I could think to do last night was to add plastic grocery bags down over the posts on each plant, and attach them to the WOWs with clothes pins! I won't I remove the bags until tomorrow, so I have to wait to know if anything got "nipped". The plants won't die, though... my experience last year, showed me that. I may have to do some pruning, though.

Currently, it's 43, and the high today probably won't be a lot warmer than that.

There are 18 plants in the raised beds, planted out in mid-April. That's nearly a month earlier than usual for me! The winner in production so far, is a Plucky from the Dwarf Tomato Project. It has seven tomatoes on it. The tallest is a Black from Tula, which is over 12" above the top of the WOW. All have blossoms open, and some have tomatoes beginning to form.

About 40 others were started later and will be planted outside in mid-June without protection.

Robin

[Mojave]

Nice garden Robin! It looks like you did a good job of battening down the hatches. Today was a big change for us too, weather-wise. Today a high of 69, with a chance of thundershowers this afternoon and going down into the 40's tonight.

Weird weather!

[Crandrew]

My sister texted me and said it was raining/snowing in Reno. GL with the plants

[cornbreadlouie]

Heh. We had rain down in the bay area just a little bit ago as well. Only lasted for about 15 minutes where I live. Now I'm seeing mostly blue skies out my window. Hopefully it goes back to being in the high 70s again tomorrow. I want to go to the beach!

[Crandrew]

Rained in SoCal this morning. Break in the sun gave me a chance to transplant 20 peppers and 20 mators. Wohoo.

[CinnamintStick]

I live in the high desert at 4,500 ft. We had snow in our forecast here too this week. I have had snow late in May many times. So far not even a drop of rain. It has been cold with winds at 50-60 mph but today is nice out. Even with the huge fluctuation in temperature, I still have some tomatoes setting fruit. The winds took out some of my pepper plants. But the cold nights has not seemed to damage anything yet. The latest forecast shows 90's this week. That could change.

[RobinB]

We're up about 4800 ft. After two more days after my post above with highs in the mid-50s, today was 63 and had more sun. Surprisingly, my plastic bag idea worked! I didn't have to prune any frost damage at all! We had three cold nights, one at 35 and two at around 39. We'll be back in the 80s by Thursday. I wonder whether or not those plants with tomatoes that were forming will continue? There are quite a lot of places where the flower has dried up, but I can't see whether or not there's a tomato in there. Time will tell. I'm getting really tired of doing the "tomato-cover dance" I can tell you that!!!

[Tania]

wow, what a strange weather. I am so glad your tomato plants are OK, what a relief! I hope you can now take a deep breath and enjoy warmer weather.

[jerryinfla]

Robin - I definitely don't miss seeing snowflakes. Not that I've seen all that much snow but we did live in Omaha, Nebraska several years ago where I experienced blizzards for the first and hopefully last time in my life. We do have a few freezes and frosts here in central Florida though and your idea of how to protect plants and report on their survival is certainly appreciated.

[RobinB]

Jerry,

I'm no expert I just got lucky this time! Plastic bags offer no insulation at all. Once they grow outside the WOWs, it's problematic. I have one bed with 5 dwarf tomatoes in WOWs, and only one of the five is at the top. Maybe next year, I'll limit myself to only dwarves in the WOWs?

Last year, I was able to start 10 tomatoes in WOWs in early May. Only ONE was peeking over the top by mid-June when when I finally felt it was safe to plant out the rest of the tomatoes. I put a blanket on that one but the lows (in May 2011) got down below 30 many times. I did a LOT of pruning on that one tomato but didn't lose it.

This year, it's been so much milder, I started 18 outside a few weeks earlier. A few of them are Russian tomatoes which can withstand lower temperatures than the rest, and that helps. Black from Tula and Arbuznyi seem happiest of all. I'm still not convinced that we are out of the woods. I've had my heart broken too many times by this weather. Last year and the year before, we got snowstorms in early June. I'm optimistic, but still playing it safe.

I'm attaching a closeup of my Black from Tula, and one of my big raised bed with 12 happy, safe tomatoes in it. I've got some WOW repairs to do, some tubes are leaking and most need refilling! Darn, I guess I'll have to spend some time in the garden today.

[Tracydr]

Robin, if you can get some big cardboard boxes from HD or U-Haul,they offer great protection. A sheet or blanket on top and I've protected my peppers and eggplants down to some really cold weather.

[RobinB]

Boxes are a good idea, definitely more insulation... but this last storm had some strong winds, any ideas on anchoring them down?

[jerryinfla]

Robin -

Thanks for the additional info and pics. I didn't need anything this season because we had no frost after I planted out. However, I was prepared to cover the transplants with gallon milk jugs with the bottoms cut out if necessary. What concerned me most was that the transplants quickly outgrew what would fit under the milk jugs -- I guess I got lucky too. I need to be prepared to protect transplants up to about 18" or so. Tracydr's use of large cardboard boxes sounds like a great idea and what I'll try next season if needed.

As for anchoring, I use 1/2" rebar to anchor my CRW cages and it should do the job since CRWs won't be up yet. FWIW, I buy 20' lengths of rebar at Lowe's and cut it in half with a hack saw at the store because I can't haul 20' lengths of anything. When I get the rebar home, I cut it in half again yielding 5' lengths of rebar. For anchoring the CRWs, I pound one rebar about 2' into the ground adjacent to each CRW and tie it to the CRW with hemp twine. It might take two rebars for each box to secure them but I'm almost certain that would anchor them in a very brisk wind.

[POAJoan]

I have 13 dwarfs in earthtainers, and 13 more in a raised bed, and we have snow and hail the same time as Robin did, but we're at 5500 feet and got down to 29°, 30°with wind gusts clocked here at 65 MPH-.
It is forecast to be 32° tonight but they were counting on cloud cover and we just lost that. And tomorrow night it is supposed to be 29°of again, with chance of snow, and as Robin said wind, wind, wind. My weather station said sustained 45 miles per hour and 72 mph gusts. Yup, welcome to Reno in June
Joan

[rnewste]

Hi Joan,

We had an unusual cold and rainy day here in typically sunny San Jose. High hit 63 where 80 is more typical this time of year. I'm sure this weather is headed your way tonight.

The Dwarfs are a pretty hardy lot, so they will stand a better chance of survival than most other tomato varieties. I planted an Iditarod Red out on Jan 29 and it actually thrived in the cold Spring weather.

Stay warm tonight!!

Raybo