According to the charts, we are now past the point of frost danger here in Toronto. Many of my neighbours have already planted out their entire tomato crop. I have not. I can recall at least a few past years in which a fluke weather system came through when it was least expected, completely decimating plants that gardeners had been tending for months indoors. For this reason, I often wait until the end of the May to get my tomatoes into their permanent spot, especially in years like this one when the weather is unstable and unpredictable. Temperatures have been flip-flopping between unseasonably hot and back to cold, and I’ve also noticed that many of the chilliest nights have been accompanied by high winds.
Last night, I brought all of my tomato transplants inside. Many of those seedlings have finished the hardening off process and would have been fine in a sheltered spot out of the wind, but I had accidentally mixed some newer seedlings in with the bunch and felt it better to just shift them all. I left one plant outside, a dwarf variety called ‘Cherokee Tiger Large.’ Unfortunately, I had already planted it out, and while it would have been fine elsewhere in the garden, I had chosen a focal point for this unusually beautiful variety (it has chartreuse foliage) that is smack dab in the middle of the pathway in which air flows most strongly through my garden. It is also in an abnormally tall container that is more exposing than if it had been planted in the ground.
The tomato is completely covered by the wool blanket. I covered the fig tree in the next pot over since it was easier than just trying to drape the blanket around the tomato.
What lies beneath the blanket. The water bottle cloche provides an extra windbreak and cold protection, and it also keeps the blanket from crushing the young transplant!
Rather than shifting the entire pot, I decided to cover it with a warm windbreak. I placed a cloche around it fashioned from a large, plastic water bottle. I made these years back and reuse them year-after-year in the early spring and again in the fall to protect anything that can’t tolerate sudden temperature dips. I then wrapped the whole thing in an old wool blanket clipped in place by over-sized clothespins. This may seem like overkill, but it was cold out there last night and since only one seed of this variety germinated I am counting on it to survive!
Hopefully, we won’t have too many more dips and I can get started planting out the seedlings that are ready to go. If not, well, I’ve got about five or six cloches like this one and a reserve of thrift store blankets that can be draped over top should a serious problem arise. Happy tomato planting!
I’ve just started hardening off my tomatoes but I noticed a neighbor has planted their tomatoes outside already. I couldn’t help but mutter “fool” under my breath when I saw this (there were some snowflakes coming down with the rain the other day!). But maybe I’m just being a total judgmental jerk – they are probably covering their plants at night.
There are two houses in my general area that plant their tomatoes way earlier than mine every year. They always seem to make out just fine. They are likely growing the same varieties every year, which may account for some of their ability to push a bit harder, or perhaps they are covering and I’m just not there at the right time. Who knows, but they do make me wonder… That said, I think I am still traumatized by the year it hailed in June and a friend lost her plants. It was a pretty big deal and I would hate for that to happen, especially since I am growing so many varieties that I can’t replace.
I’m one of those crazy fools that planted everything out, long weekend. Do I know better? Heck ya! Do I have the patience to carry 200 seedlings inside and out for another week? No! Lol. I should share a picture of my tomato and pepper sections of the yard, it looks like tent city out there right now.
It’s always tough having to make that choice between tossing them to the wolves and continuing to haul them “back and forth forever.” Don’t even get me started on basil. Fortunately, I am behind with them so I’m not hardening off yet. I plan to put out a canary tomato this week. I always choose one plant to put out early that I know is tough and also replaceable.
Having the same issues in Denver. Mother’s Day is the traditional plant-out day for annuals and warm-season veggies. It snowed 8 inches in much of the city on Mother’s Day…so…yeah. My tomatoes, and eggplant, and tomatillos, and peppers are sitting on my counter because it is only 45, cloudy, and windy outside right now. I’m totally over it. This happened last year too.
Maybe this year my garden will *not* get obliterated by a mid-June hailstorm again.
I am anxious, eager to plant, tired of shuffling stuff in and out, and I just want my Spring which should have arrived weeks ago to be here TODAY. I fondly remember 2011, when summer weather started in march and lasted through October.
That was such a great gardening year! I had a massive tomato and pepper harvest and so many plants overwintered that typically don’t.
I had my tomatoes and peppers all draped like sheet ghosties last night when lows of 2 C were forecast – they seem to have made out okay.
I do like your water-bottle cloche and will share the idea with my mom (they have a much larger garden space and a lovely almost greenhouse) who likes to use empty 2 L pop bottles for the same sort of thing along with protection for transplanted seedlings and as a way to slowly harden off seedlings too.
A few years back my neighbours kept putting those giant water plastic bottles used for the big dispensers out in their recycling. I thought they were refundable, but either they aren’t or the neighbours were too lazy to return them. Anyways, I scooped them up for my garden. I always used smaller bottles in the past but these are amazing.
I have some plastic cloches I use occasionally, anchored with long metal spikes against wind. Sometimes they are just the right thing. I use several homemade, wooden cold frames (4 pcs of 2×12’s) with old glass windows sitting on top. Must remember to vent as the day heats up. I also use some Reemay fabric draped over clusters of pots as needed. Right now there are 61 pots of tomato seedlings in the back yard – some will be sold to neighborhood gardeners, but 14 are for me. I have only 3 of those planted out in cages as of today. They’ve all been outside, days and nights, for about 2 weeks. My compost is in the soil mix of every pot. Seedlings are stout from relentless wind and quite sturdy looking, about 8″ high now. One close call with Hail….but we escaped.
I split up the tomato flats into 5 locations around the back yard, up high on benches and tables, to thwart the flea beetles, avoiding a “monoculture” where the pests can jump right down the row of pots and feast continuously. I also intersperse pots of mint within the flats of tomato seedlings (about 1 mint per four tomatoes). Mint aroma and foliage also deters flea beetles, which if allowed free rein, will damage the few scant leaves possessed by seedlings past the point of no return. It’s an annual battle to raise a lot of seedlings and have them successfully transition into the ground, then give us food for our table. Yet it’s worth it!!!!
I have planted out my basil & peppers like an imbecile.
Love your site!! Especially cuz you are in Toronto! ( Do u recommend any other local blogs…?) I haven’t read all of your info on tomatoes yet but was wondering if you bury your stems up two or more sets of nodes to increase the roots? I only discovered this last year and am so amazed by the fruit production almost tripling!! I’m wondering if the GTAs last frost date (is it still May 2-4 wkd. ?) helps or hinders over 6 inches of stem buried in not-yet-very-warm-soil. We ll see !!little beetles devoured my brand-new arugula leaves last year and I’m wondering what you recommend other than mint (not enough room too invasive) in the veggie garden to ward off pests this yr. ?…they’re not far from oregano garlic and chives, is there something I’m missing? keep up the great posts! My whole family now subscribes… Left the city for zone 4a-b N. Of Barrie, what a difference a zone makes! Thnx
I had covered the tomato plants and lost some and some survived. The frost also got the grapevine, a coral bell, and touched other leaves on various plants but left some alone. I cut the odd tomato plant right back and now see a couple of green shoots from the very bottom. I’m optimistic it will survive, but don’t know if it will bear fruit. I’m calling it the evil stop mother Nature (like in Cinderella) that caused these problems.
I’ve always had bad luck with tomato plants, but these tips should help.
Well…I haven’t planted my tomatoes yet, but I put in peppers and eggplant on Saturday, only to have a storm come and obliterate *everything* with 3 inches of raspberry sized hail on Monday. What were 8-inch pepper plants are now 5-inch sticks with no foliage.
It’s the third year in a row this has happened, and I feel rather defeated. Why bother planting anything? Even so, my tomatoes are hopefully going in tonight after work.
After 23 years in Colorado, I’m thinking about moving to another state to escape the spring and early summer hail storms.
Never really thought too much of protecting tomatoes but will certainly pay more attention now! Think I’ve got some practicing to do mind you, I tried growing a chilli tree and that really didn’t go too well.
It’s always a challenge getting things plated early but avoiding that last frost. I put a chilli plant in my unheated greenhouse a few weeks ago and it was caught by a frost on the first night. Thankfully it was only one and I now have others to replace it.