Sombody in the PNW talk me down from the rooftop

[DoubleJ]

I can't stand it anymore!!! I have to get my tomatoes in the ground!!! last frost date for my zip code is May 1st but, it hardly ever freezes here after april 1st. Talk me out of it or they're going in the ground and they'll get covered IF it gets cold

[duajones]

What have you got to lose? Plant them and be prepared to protect them and hopefully have some backups just in case!

[lumierefrere]

We hardly ever get frost here after June 1. Boy you shoulda seen me run around like a maniac on June 15 when they called for frost a couple years ago. And we did get frost that night. Our frost date is June 15.

[habitat_gardener]

Way down south here in the SF Bay Area, I lost 2 plants to cold winds last April 17! I'd uncovered them because I thought they were far enough along -- one was 4 ft. high -- and I needed the bubble wrap for smaller plants. The temperature did not get down to freezing; the plants in walls-o-water that were open to the sky were not affected.

And did I plant in March again? Don't be silly. Of course I did! I've bought 3 plants so far, all in walls-o-water with bubble-wrap extensions. I have tomatoes sprouting in 33 (of 42) pots, and peppers in 4 (of 6) pots, outdoors in various coldframes (plastic bin, walls-o-water, and bubble wrap). In the past week, we've had daytime temps up to the 70s and nighttime temps as low as mid to upper 30s. This morning I ran over to the community garden to cover the plastic bin so the seedlings wouldn't get flooded by the rain. In past years, when it rained most of March and April, I've been out there in the rain, shoring up the protective covers. (cue sound of howling winds and driving rain) The payoff is that I get tomatoes a few weeks earlier, usually by mid-June.

So I say do it. Live dangerously. Plant at least a few. Cover them.

[Polar_Lace]

Originally Posted by lumierefrere

We hardly ever get frost here after June 1. Boy you shoulda seen me run around like a maniac on June 15 when they called for frost a couple years ago. And we did get frost that night. Our frost date is June 15.

You've never had frost after June1st? I would tell you that when I was living up there; there was frost after June 26th, twice. And then there was that great flood on my Daughters' birthday, June 28th!

Of course I lost most of my crops that year; as we were told not to take a chance in eating any do to the fact that the water treatment facilities had gotten over flooded with the rain also, and they didn't want any E-coli bacteria out breaks.

~* Robin

[lumierefrere]

[quote=Polar_Lace;126976]You've never had frost after June1st? I would tell you that when I was living up there; there was frost after June 26th, twice. And then there was that great flood on my Daughters' birthday, June 28th!

I've only lived her 8 years, dear. But yes, I have had frost after June 1. I'm told by the natives we've had snow in July and frost after the Norwich Fair in Aug.

And yes, I was here for the flood. Everything in the garden had some degree of root damage because it was, after all, under water.

[dice]

DoubleJ, last year it snowed here the 3rd week of April. Besides,
they do not grow much at temperatures of 30s-40s at night and
50s in the daytime, so it is kind of an unnecessary risk even if
they do not freeze. The soil is just not warm enough for them
to get going.

My advice is to not be seduced by one good weekend. We have
a whole month to go here under lights and/or in coldframes and
greenhouses. A good thing to do now, though, is accumulate
some fresh grass clippings and spread them over the garden.
In about 2 weeks cultivate them into the top few inches of
the soil. They break down fast and generate some heat that
will help warm up the soil when it actually is time to transplant.

[DoubleJ]

I have a clear plastic sheet covering the raised bed. Soil temp was 87 yesterday at 5pm. I plan on mulching with the plastic sheeting this year. I'll cut holes in it and plant the tomatoes right through the plastic. I'll mulch with shredded leaves about 1' in diameter around each plant. The leaves will be under the plastic as well.

[dice]

The plastic should help. I have some black compost to top
everything with this year at transplant time, to absorb heat
from the sun. Last year I did not mulch until mid-summer. It
was so cold in early summer that mulch would simply have
slowed things down. The soil needed all of the heat from the
sun that it could get.

You can plant now, of course, if you are prepared to do whatever
it takes to keep them from freezing. My experience is that one
usually does not get enough extra performance from the plants
to justify all of the extra work that entails. Two weeks of warm
weather after last frost ends up being worth two months of cold
weather before then.

Last year I did an experiment with two Gary'O Sena plants. One
I started way early and grew indoors in a south window. I topped
it once and rooted the cutting, and by transplant time the
original plant was about 4 feet high with 3 main stems. The
other one I started in mid-March or so with the rest of the seeds,
and it was about 8-12" tall at transplant.

The original one was a larger plant all summer with that head start,
but they both set fruit at the same time and produced about the same
number of tomatoes.

[DoubleJ]

My problem is that mine are about a foot tall right now and I can't slow them down.

[jwr6404]

jj
I've got 5 in the ground and the rest are going in this weekend,under TunneL covers. I do know that our temperatures are due to fall into the upper 20s next week. Give it some thought.

[dice]

Here is one solution (the ends can be closed up at night):

http://i22.photobucket.com/albums/b3...otbed05029.jpg

The key is that there is a 3' deep hole under that coldframe full
of a mixture of straw and manure, with the plants sitting in
flats on top, under the glass. The composting straw and manure
provide enough heat to keep the plants inside from freezing
even with a hard frost outside. One could probably substitute
leaves for the straw, but the nitrogen in the manure is what
really heats it up.

(The compost probably reduces in volume as it decays, too, so
the level inside the cold frame gets lower as the plants get
taller.)

[jwr6404]

jj
Mine are going into the ground tomorrow. I see we have a 29 degree night predicted on the 24th. I believe with my tunnel covers and an extra layer of plastic sheeting I'll get through it until I can get the rest of my cages covered. I already have 3 Zogola,1 Big Zac and a KBX in my largest Pots wih a W.O.W. and a plastic covered 6ft cage. They're doing well.

[amideutch]

DJ, I've got 1 footers now and am going to do My plant out 1 May. When you plant them, plant them deep or on their side. They will do fine. Or, get some of those plastic tubes about 4' long and 18" in diameter and when you plant the seedlings out put a rod in the ground next to the plant and put the tube over the plant and tie off at the top and bury the bottom of the sleeve around the base of the plant. In my case I put them over the cages. The sleeves come in clear and red plastic and are perforated with holes so the plants don't over heat in the sun. After the weather has settled you can remove the sleeves. Ami

[Nightshade]

That looks like the right kind of season extender for me, Ami. Where do you get the sleeves?

Thanks,
jan