Hoop House Monitor

[Gardening with Rabbits]

I remember that @thistlebloom didn't find them so remarkable but I have always liked Bloody Butcher. You will have to decide for yourself about the flavor, @Gardening with Rabbits . Most of the real early tomatoes have so little flavor they seem hardly worth bothering with.

The attempt I've made to replace Early Girl hasn't been all that much fun for me. Bland varieties are out there. Little Bloody Butcher isn't one of them. It's probably only its size that keeps it from being more popular.

Earliness just doesn't equal cold tolerance. Early maturity, setting fruit in the cool weather, quick ripening. A tomato plant tough enuf to shrug off a frost? My understanding is that the home of the Wild Tomato doesn't place those kinds of demands on it. Where's our humanity?

Steve

They sound interesting. I have a variety of plants this year of what I bought and what I started from seed.

 

[digitS']

Good Luck, @Smart Red !

I guess that the snow tracked down on the east side of the mountains. Yesterday, the temperature didn't rise above fifty until afternoon.

I'm really hoping that tomorrow morning be the last one in the 30's for the spring. . . at least, "officially."

Steve

 

[thistlebloom]

Actually my disappointment with Bloody Butcher was that they weren't earlier than my 65 and 70 day tomatoes. But in all likelihood it could have been caused by my kicking them out to deal with the too cool temperatures too soon. Just because they have a masculine name is not a reason to expect them to be tough I guess.

 

[digitS']

it must be close to 32°f right now.

Had to untangle an extension cord from greenhouse to run it "next door" to power the fan in the hoop house over the garden beds. Other than that, things went okay at 3:30. The center path in there is filled with flats of tomato plants.it is the location of the tragedy of several years ago when I lost so many despite, above-freezing temperatures in there.

The moon on the western horizon was very bright! Fortunately, there didn't seem to be a breeze.

Steve

 

[digitS']

I didn't want to scratch the asphalt roofing with my digitS' on the shed . Here is the situation again for the pickup at the other end of the yard:

 

[thistlebloom]

I don't wanna talk about it.

 

[digitS']

Uh, oh!!!

 

[ninnymary]

Thistle, did you lose some plants? Oh, you said you didn't want to talk about it.

Mary

 

[Gardening with Rabbits]

I was getting ready for bed and saw it was 36 at 1 a.m. I was going to cover the sawhorse with blankets and thought about it and decided to bring the tomatoes in and most of the basil. I have too much basil anyway and I did not want to open the other side that had onions and some flowers, so left a flat of basil in there and the sawhorse had blankets on it. I took everything out this morning and it looks like the row of basil next to the plastic is damaged, might even be dead. Going to go check again. At 1 a.m. when I brought the tomatoes in, I was worried because they looked a little droopy, but they are okay. Sorry Thistle!!!

 

[digitS']

Low 40's at nearby weather stations and 45° in the hoop house right now. I haven't set up the heating systems for several nights.

Why the concern about temperatures this far above freezing??

I was looking at what the bedding plant experts consider "minimum night temperatures" for tomatoes: 60°. Yeah, you want to compete with the big outfits growing tomato plants? Keep them at 60° overnight . . .

Well, that is where things are in my greenhouse but the tomatoes aren't in there lately.

I was reading what a very knowledgeable gardener was saying about days-to-maturity and tomatoes. How soon you can expect a ripe tomato based on their rating. He said that for every night below 50°, he figures he has lost that day.

So, if I set these plants out in the garden and there are 20 nights over the next couple of months that are below 50°, I can add 20 days to that 70 days-to-maturity Big Beef. It becomes a 90 day tomato.

Steve