OWW Zeedman, that hurts when you baby them, then lose them! I just raised the lights again on my tomatoes and peppers, I started from seed 4 weeks ago. I was planning to plant them this week, under a hoop, but the weather is too bad. They are getting too big for the solo cups and no end of bad weather in sight. I'm going to run out of head-space for the lights and I'm probably going to have to re-pot them again. If I do I'll have to rig up lights somewhere else unless it warms enough to harden them off outside for the second time........

Thank you... Since it was being to look more like a storm was coming, I decided to do exactly what you suggested. If the rain had been during the day, it might have dried quick enough, but if it waits until nightfall, I didn't want them wet all night. Anyway, I brought them all onto my screened porch and have them in some harvest boxes I made (3" high wood sides, no top, hardware cloth bottom). Onions only one layer deep and boxes are propped up on one end to let some ventilation flow underneath. Also have a fan running. This might all be overkill...? Last year, our onions lasted several months in a pantry closet. I had them stored in knee high hose with a knot between each onion, then each "leg" hung on a cup hook in the closet. This is the coolest room in the house, but they were not refrigerated. I just cut off an onion as needed. I think they lasted about 5 or 6 months after harvest, when I used up the last one. I don't think they would have lasted any longer anyway, as the the last two or three showed signs of getting soft. So what is the optimal method of harvesting, so I'll know for next year? Bend the stems after they start falling, and leave the onion in the ground for a few more days before pulling up? Or just pull and harvest once the stems dry up or start falling over? How many of you leave them pulled and in the garden for a few days? Jill

digdirt With the Fortex beans, I've been removing the stem-end of the bean and leaving the curved point. Maybe I should remove both in the rest of them. Now, note that they don't get mushy without blanching if I make sure there's no air in the package AND if they are put directly into boiling water from the freezer. That's what I normally do when cooking them anyway, so mushiness hasn't been a problem. David & oregonwoodsmoke I hear you about preferring the French cut! Many years ago I used to buy the Green Giant ones with slivered almonds, but then we got to be more set in our ways, I suppose. I like the mouth-feel of Frenched beans less than the whole-cut ones, but it sounds like a good thing to do with beans that may be tougher or older. The Fortex pole beans are truly the best I've ever grown and eaten, either fresh or frozen. They're very long, eight to ten inches at even pencil-size in diameter or smaller, no strings at all, and yes, a true green pole bean. Linda Lou I'd think blanching would be needed for canning beans maybe more than freezing them. Wouldn't freezing beans either slow down or altogether stop the enzyme action until they reach "deterioration" temperature, whatever that is? That's what I concluded after realizing that if I quickly freeze the just-picked beans (without exposing them to air in the package after freezing) and then put them directly into boiling water from the freezer, they are nearly indistinguishable from fresh-picked beans. I've also found something similar with corn. This was by accident. At least thirty years ago, I stopped at a road-side stand at the end of the summer and bought the guy's last bushel of corn for a dollar. I had a car-full of little boys who'd been to the beach, so when I got home, I didn't have time to shuck the corn that we didn't eat at dinner. So I tossed it into plastic garbage bags with the shucks still on and put the whole shebang into the garage freezer and promptly forgot them. Just before Christmas, I remembered those ears of corn. When I checked, they hadn't suffered freezer-burn, so I brought out a few of them to thaw and shuck. They were absolutely delicious! We had the rest for Christmas dinner and New Year's Eve! Truly, they tasted fresh-from-the-garden, too. So I do wonder, sometimes, about traditional wisdom, though in most cases it truly covers the situation. I suppose digdirt's advice is good advice for adventurous sorts like me, to test things out. [Of course, you can do that with freezing vegetables but not with canning them.]

It looks like everything made it. I waited until the temps got up to 40 before I uncovered everything. Sorry to hear about others loss. Christie, how did your ws jugs do? Mine did great. everything inside still looks great. I didn't cover any of the ws items. Only the plants that have been in the ground the past few years that are showing new growth. I'm beginning to believe those I have started out in the cold can take the temp changes much better than those I have started in the house. I'm so glad I had not put any tomato plants out side to sun yet. That reminds me I have not seen any growth on my mums. Quite strange since they were blooming until thanksgiving. I had went out and covered them a few times in the fall last year since they were blooming so nicely. Well guess I will have to replace those. drat. Bonnie