First tomatoes out to harden off

[GoDawgs]

The tomatoes under the lights are ready to be hardened off and planted out. Some of them are touching lights raised as high as they can go so out to the porch the tallest ones went. They're on the bottom shelf where the ballisters from the porch railing can give them some filtered sun.




It's a good thing the peppers are getting planted tonight. That will make room to get the tomatoes outside to start hardening off. Right now space is lacking!

[KarenO]

Looking great!

[Lasairfion]

Meanwhile in the UK it snowed on Sunday just gone.

[Milan HP]

Hello GoDawgs,
you are a lucky man to be able to put them out. Out of the question here in Central Europe. Mother Nature has decided to send us winter back for a spell. Complete, with snow and temperatures below zero at night. And a long spell, too.

Milan HP

[SteveP]

I took a chance and planted early (April 2nd) due to the extended 10 day forecast looked good. Now next Wed morning it says 34f. I only gambled with 4 tomatoes and 1 pepper, so it won't be a major loss if I lose them. But I'm considering taking them out of their planters and repotting them into some 1 gal containers and bringing them inside and then replanting. It potting mix it should be simple to do.

I love this time of year though. Anticipation runs high.

[Milan HP]

Originally Posted by SteveP

I took a chance and planted early (April 2nd) due to the extended 10 day forecast looked good. Now next Wed morning it says 34f. I only gambled with 4 tomatoes and 1 pepper, so it won't be a major loss if I lose them. But I'm considering taking them out of their planters and repotting them into some 1 gal containers and bringing them inside and then replanting. It potting mix it should be simple to do.

I love this time of year though. Anticipation runs high.

Hello Steve,
anticipation and eagerness, I'd say. I have a story from last year. My goal is to have ripe tomatoes as early as possible. And last year the weather in April here was really warm, more like early summer than spring. The long-term weather forecast was favorable, so I planted my first tomatoes on April 7. I was also careful, I planted only 7 plants, covered them with polyethylene foil and expected an early harvest. Never happened. The second week in May frost came back and I was just happy to keep them alive. And I got the first ripe tomatoes from a plant that I left at home for too long and when I planted it on May 17, it already had fruits (and was maybe 120 cm tall). This April has offered no such temptation so far.
Milan HP

[GoDawgs]

Originally Posted by Milan HP

Hello GoDawgs,
you are a lucky man to be able to put them out. Out of the question here in Central Europe. Mother Nature has decided to send us winter back for a spell. Complete, with snow and temperatures below zero at night. And a long spell, too.

Milan HP

Just a quick note that I am a very lucky *lady*. You couldn't know as there's not an indicator here.

About how long before you are out of the dead of winter? That would drive me crazy, having to wait so long to plant and then having a shortened growing season!

[MrBig46]

Well, Augusta is not the Czech Republic. You play golf and it's snowing and freezing here (this year, not every year). And so the tomatoes do not go out until after May 15, as is usual in this region.
Vladimír

[Milan HP]

Hello GoDawgs,
sorry for that "misprint". English doesn't really put much emphasis on telling the reader of the author's gender. In Czech we can recognize that from word forms.
Actually, the situation is so bad that I haven't even sown carrots and planted potatoes. With tomatoes we are usually patient, but this year the soil is so cold that I can't see much point in it. However, I am sure that warm weather will come one day and stay with us. I wouldn't like to sound like a "whiner".
Milan HP

[D.J. Wolf]

Originally Posted by Milan HP

Actually, the situation is so bad that I haven't even sown carrots and planted potatoes. With tomatoes we are usually patient, but this year the soil is so cold that I can't see much point in it. However, I am sure that warm weather will come one day and stay with us. I wouldn't like to sound like a "whiner".
Milan HP

Milan,

Here I had planned to plant lettuce and spinach at least by the first week of April. I got delayed due to the lack of a rototiller, and now I'm glad I was. The forecast now calls for freezing temperatures Tuesday and Wednesday nights, and possibly snow Tuesday. Low of 27F for Tuesday night and 29 Wednesday night. I'm starting to get impatient!

[Milan HP]

Originally Posted by D.J. Wolf

Milan,

Here I had planned to plant lettuce and spinach at least by the first week of April. I got delayed due to the lack of a rototiller, and now I'm glad I was. The forecast now calls for freezing temperatures Tuesday and Wednesday nights, and possibly snow Tuesday. Low of 27F for Tuesday night and 29 Wednesday night. I'm starting to get impatient!

Hello D.J.,
seems like Mother Nature is a bit malicious this year. And you are about 10° farther down south (looks like MN doesn't know that).
I admit the weather here is slowly starting to look up. But I am not really just impatient: I am frustrated, but I know complaining gets me nowhere.
Milan HP

[D.J. Wolf]

Milan,

Here's the kicker, by next Tuesday we're supposed to be having highs near 80 and lows in the mid 60's. (25C/19C). Mother nature needs some medications I think.

[brownrexx]

Several years ago I performed a test. I planted one of my home grown Big Beef seedlings out in mid April. I surrounded it with a tomato cage wrapped in plastic and I put gallon jugs of water inside the cage to radiate some warmth at night.

Then in mid May I planted another Big Beef seedling that had stayed in the house beside the first one so the soil and temperatures were virtually identical.

It is so funny but each plant produced their first ripe tomato on the exact same day!

Even though it is tempting when we get warm days in April, I no longer try to plant early. It ALWAYS gets cold again after the warm days in early April.

[GoDawgs]

We have coming what I believe will be the last cold snap of the season. Very windy tomorrow up to 30-35 mph as the cold front comes through and then the temp drops to 37 Thursday morning before rising back up to the low 70's during the day. Then lows will get back to low 50's. Time for the tomatoes to come in off the porch for a couple of nights.

I'll put a plastic tunnel over the pepper row and they should be fine. That bed is at the top of the garden just inside the grape fence. I noticed yesterday that the peppers were pretty still when the wind blew and realized that the grape vines provide some wind breaking. How handy!

[Milan HP]

Originally Posted by brownrexx

Several years ago I performed a test. I planted one of my home grown Big Beef seedlings out in mid April. I surrounded it with a tomato cage wrapped in plastic and I put gallon jugs of water inside the cage to radiate some warmth at night.

Then in mid May I planted another Big Beef seedling that had stayed in the house beside the first one so the soil and temperatures were virtually identical.

It is so funny but each plant produced their first ripe tomato on the exact same day!

Even though it is tempting when we get warm days in April, I no longer try to plant early. It ALWAYS gets cold again after the warm days in early April.

Hello,
I have a very similar story from last year. The only difference was that the home one gave me ripe toms two days before the one planted out in April. And I spent a lot of time and energy making sure it survived. True, my garden is at about 1800 ft high, but I took the hint: hasten slowly. But some years can be irresistibly tempting.
Milan HP