I want to plant!! It's been in the 80s the past few days with a projected forecast of the same all week. Lows at night won't go below 43, and with each passing day, the forecast raises it a degree... So... is it safe?? PS: I have a very diverse vegetable garden.
Not too early at all........................start planting. Put in some lettuces, radishes, onions, peas, cabbage... the cold tolerant plants. Good luck with your garden. I'm in Phoenix, AZ Started mine in January and am eating something out of the garden every day. Last nights' menu had GARDEN SALAD and BROCCOLI (4th cutting) on it that came right out of my little garden. Just starting to get tomatoes. Hate to brag but I'm so happy with my little garden. Plant and water, plant and water, water, weed, water.......HARVEST
Go for it. Things generally are only stunted when it reaches nearer to freezing at night. A lot of plants need to get started when there is a bit of chill in the night air.
Wow, it seems cold isn't the problem... I put my greenhouse outside (took the top off so as not to roast them) to acclimate them to the newly warm weather and EVERY PEPPER fell over and died. Other things are all right (though a little wilted), but all six sweet peppers keeled right over and died from the heat. Nice. Oh well. Still got my tomatoes and eggplants...
My peppers always seem to be rather fragile too. Too much rain or cold, and they're gone. I know that tomatoes aren't SUPPOSED to like the cold - but every variety of cherry/grape tomato I've grown has thrived for several weeks past the first frost, so perhaps the smaller varieties are different? Foods I DON'T have to worry as much about - or know that my mother has always planted early (I don't grow peas or potatoes myself) are: carrots lettuce (I plant a mixed variety of leaf-lettuces, not sure if head-lettuce is the same) onions (though leeks didn't like ANYTHING I tried last year) peas radishes and potatoes I envy you your nice "warm" weather... I woke up this morning & it was 30F outside. Not sure if I'll even make my traditional mother's day planting at this rate. (sigh) love, mom
Don't. It's schizo here. It was 90 this morning and now it's 50. I don't know what's going on... It's raining, though, so I put the rest of the plants on the deck to catch it. I'm lazy. Someone stole/lost my garden claw sometime between last year's planting and now, and I just had to go buy another one. Found one for $10 at Aldi's, and I'm psyched. Should be able to prepare the soil, fertilize it, and plant everything within the next two days now... *happy dance* 30 degrees! Holy cow, that's cold! I think if it suddenly went back down to that here I would cry. Honestly. I wouldn't know what else to do...
The weather is pretty weird here too. We go from 80 to 30 to 60F so fast my bones ache, and it's 80% humidity one day & 30% the next even when there ISN'T rain! There's flash-flood warnings one day and we're on fire-watch the next. I'm still hearing it's because of El Nino - but really, how many years CAN we blame on that anyway? (I think I'm at 11... and counting) My seedlings get toted from the dining room table to the deck each morning, and returned each night so I guess I'm a member of the plant-moving club too. One tomato plant is almost 2' tall and starting to get heavy... but what's a girl to do? Good luck with the plants. With things as weird as they are this spring... it looks like we could ALL use a little "luck" in our gardens this year! love, mom
The trick is hardening your seedlings off, by joining the plant toting group for about a week before you leave them out fulltime. Peppers are a warmth loving crop, so unless you started them outside to begin with they need an adjustment period. Temps are still pretty flighty around here as well. Most stuff is just sitting there for the moment. Firefly even though you took the top of the greenhouse the sides still capture and increase the heat factor. If you are going to go that route make sure you place your greenhouse in the shade or at least partial shade. Our daytime temps are back down to the sixties this weekend.
I bought some eggplant and pepper plants from the Mennonites and planted them. I have maybe two of my own eggplants that weren't completely destroyed. I'll know better next year...
