Claudia, I too was at the Farmer's Market Festival yesterday and had a blast. We bought a large dragonfly piece from the ironworks booth and just a few plants for fun: -green japenese maple for around our pond shade -sample of Carolina phlox, something I've not grown before -solomon's seal -spike moss, which looked like a neat groundcover for the shade I'm brand new to this forum and still very new to gardening... I've learned in increments over the past 4-5 years but I'm still a newbie. Should I cover any of my emerging perennials tonight, to be safe? We haven't put anything new in, but will the frost do damage to new stuff coming up?

Well, last year's season was fabulous from end to end. I knew we would pay for it, but I wasn't expecting we would pay for it so soon :( I did notice a sort of pattern in the last decade at least here in Saskatoon: 2004 and 2009 - very cold summers with frost in every month 2005 and 2010 - cool summers with lots of rain 2006 and 2011 - warm and dry summers 2007 and 2012 - warm and wet summers 2008 and 2013 - slightly cool summers although 2008 was very dry and 2013 has been neither wet nor dry, on average. "Summer" being the months of June through August. If the pattern is to repeat, we are due for a cold, frosty summer next year. Here's hoping I'm wrong!!! In 2004, we had frost on June 26, July 30 and August 20. Yes, I can remember the dates off the top of my head :) This post was edited by Slimy_Okra on Thu, Aug 8, 13 at 0:41

When I put my maters in the ground last Sun the projected low for us was 31; now it's 27. I have bunches of 4 and 5 gallon buckets which will cover the plants. I also have lots of half and whole gallon jugs to fill with hot water to set under the buckets, so I think the maters will be ok. And if not I have backups for most of them. But the fruit! What am I to do about the fruit? The almonds and plums are already gone but the peaches, pears, cherries, apples, grapes, strawberries and figs are all in bloom. AAACCCCHHH. I'll put sheets over the strawberries and fig bushes but the fruit trees are all pretty big. We may tie old feed sacks around some of the limbs and try to save something at least. And baby chicks are due to arrive Friday morn. Dh plans to insulate the brooder box and turn on the heat lamps Thursday to get it good and warm in there.

I intended to try out walls-o-water this year (or actually Kozy Koats), since I bought them a few years ago and haven't ever taken them out of the package. I think it's too late to really be worth it this year, though, assuming it's worth it at all. My point, though, Remy, is that we're fast approaching the point where the tail end of the long-range weather forecast, which is currently telling me "looks great" is getting very close to the date that I would normally consider safe. Not that I put a lot of stock in a weather report for more than a week out, but it would have to change a *lot* to cause a big problem, and with tiny plants, constructing a cloche out of an old bucket (of which I have several) is easy. It's an interesting proposition for this particular season. The only thing I think I lose is the ability to look at the long-range forecast on my normal plant-out date. Actually, now that I think about it, the easy availability of a long-range weather forecast has certainly made me bolder over the years...but then again, I'm pretty sure my elderly neighbors aren't using that. I understand that we may disagree about the particulars of where our respective comfort levels lie, but if I get to the point where my normal planting date is 10 days away, and the 10-day weather forecast looks great (again, by the standards that caused me to select my normal planting date to begin with), and I know the soil is already warm (because I got a thermometer and checked it), it seems to me that planting should be just fine.