Chronicles of a Noob Garden and Gardener

[flowerbug]

We know now that raising our kids in an ultra clean environment is bad for their immune system. I caught our 9 month old grand son chewing on a dog bone the other day. No problems with sterile child raising around here.

lol

 

[baymule]

@seedcorn you are going to have to try a lot harder than that to gross me out.

 

[ducks4you]

Mid American Gardener has a guest host who recommends that you eat the strawberry tops. Apparently the tops have cancer protection. Who knew?!?

 

[flowerbug]

Mid American Gardener has a guest host who recommends that you eat the strawberry tops. Apparently the tops have cancer protection. Who knew?!?

it's a green, most people don't get enough greens... i've never tried them, but i'm sure i've eaten plenty of bits of them over the years. a little extra fiber when picking...

 

[ducks4you]

I think we eat or DON'T eat those things that our parents did. My mother HATES fried okra, but my MIL introduced me to it. I grow it, freeze it and fry it and my family deMANDS it when I make turkey or chicken. AND, I fry it withOUT an salt.

 

[Ben E Lou]

Decision time coming soon.

We're leaving for a week-long family vacation on Saturday, April 20th. My wife and kids will be out of town the entire weekend of April 12-14. Average last frost date here is 4/15. If this forecast holds, I'm going to strongly consider putting all my summer seedlings in the ground during that 4/14 weekend. I know that tomatoes and green peppers aren't ideal under 55 degrees at night, but having to rely on someone else to water the peat pots (and move them inside and outside daily) seems like a worse proposition. The greenhouse most definitely gets too hot during the day to leave them in there unattended.

The other option is crossing my fingers that after 4/19 the lows are a bit higher, and waiting until then. I'm actually off work on that day (thought we were leaving then since the kids are out of school, but the house my wife rented for the week is Saturday-Saturday,) so theoretically I could do it then. Though the thought that I could get it all done easily while everyone's away and not have to deal with the daily inside/outside issues after that is certainly appealing.

I guess my ideal situation is that in the next week the post-4/12 forecast warms up a little, and we end up with more 75-55 than 70-50 kinda days, in which case I'd do it without hesitation. I do have folks I could rely on to cover stuff up for me if a fluke frost shows up while we're gone; I'd just prefer not to have to ask someone to bring the plants in and out every single day, and would also prefer not to leave them inside.

Anyway, current long-term forecast:

Day Description High / Low Precip Wind Humidity
Today
APR 5 Showers
57°52°
80%
E 8 mph 91%
Sat
APR 6
Mostly Cloudy
74°56°
10%
NNE 5 mph 68%
Sun
APR 7
Mostly Cloudy
74°62°
20%
S 8 mph 69%
Mon
APR 8 Thunderstorms
74°62°
90%
SW 12 mph 75%
Tue
APR 9 Thunderstorms
74°55°
80%
WSW 11 mph 67%
Wed
APR 10 Sunny
75°54°
10%
NW 9 mph 50%
Thu
APR 11 Cloudy
79°58°
10%
SSW 15 mph 52%
Fri
APR 12
Partly Cloudy
71°48°
10%
WSW 15 mph 53%
Sat
APR 13
Partly Cloudy
68°48°
10%
WNW 8 mph 43%
Sun
APR 14 Showers
63°52°
50%
ESE 9 mph 50%
Mon
APR 15 AM Showers
69°47°
50%
W 11 mph 56%
Tue
APR 16
Partly Cloudy
66°46°
10%
NW 10 mph 46%
Wed
APR 17 Showers
64°50°
40%
WNW 8 mph 50%
Thu
APR 18
Scattered Thunderstorms
69°52°
50%
SW 10 mph 57%
Fri
APR 19
Scattered Thunderstorms
71°52°
50%
WSW 11 mph 56%

 

[Ridgerunner]

I did not see anything on there that even approaches a risk of frost. I'd put them out. I think you may have more issues with it being too wet though it should be dry when you set them out. But rain can sometimes show up earlier than long range forecasts predict. In some respects the rain after you set them out is a good thing, they will not need watering. There is a risk if they wilt down that a heavy rain could pound them into the ground, not sure how heavy those rains and thunderstorms are supposed to be.

Another potential issue is wind, a dry wind can dry out new plants. I don't think those predictions are strong enough to present much of a problem. Plus it looks like you will have cloudy weather so those winds should not be dry. The cloudiness should help stop the plants from wilting down.

I'd risk it. I think your odds will be better by setting them out than not.

 

[Ben E Lou]

Current status pics coming up.

These are my main tomato plants. I seeded at least three of each variety in jiffy cells, and 2 weeks ago I moved the strongest-looking of each variety into individual peat pots.

 

[Ben E Lou]

Sweet and Genovese basil. These have been in the greenhouse unless temperatures outside were over 60ish. (My south-facing deck has no shade basically all day long, so it’s always warmer than the air temperature.)

 

[Ben E Lou]

The rest of the maters (backups/giveaway,) some cukes, and marigolds and red/orange/yellow/green bell peppers.