Our news sounded like we would have a series of storms for the next two weeks......and just when you thought it was spring. LOL

My (very tiny) tomato and pepper plants are snuggly growing under lights. Many perrenials have been growing out in the weather for many weeks, but most of them are still in pots. But....I did plant a few annuals that will be in danger. Most are on a little wagon that just got pushed into an unheated building for the night, but that may not be enough protection for the weekend since they are forecasting freezing temperatures for the weekend.

I am trying very hard not to put out tender veggies too early and have to cover them up. I did plant my sugar snap peas on the 17th and they just came up today. My first tomato plants are just getting their first true leaves and I am shooting for a plant out date of May 1st. I hope they are big enough by then. Oh well, it is Oklahoma.

After last year's late freeze on May 4th that took out some tomato plants that were close to 2' tall and had fruit already on them, I am trying reallly hard not to plant anything too early. So far, I have pretty much succeeded, but the plant room is going to be crowded when I carry in all the seedlings that have been on the back porch and the patio for some time now.

I did see on the news tonight that we have several fronts coming, and all I can say is that I hope some of them bring us rain here in southern OK. Our weather certainly is not dull.

Dawn

I'm just now starting my tomatoes planning on a May 1st to 10th plant out. If like the last two it maybe the 15th before I can put them out. Have some direct sown in the ground. Hopefully they will be up by the first week of April. Jay

This seems to happen every year. A few weeks of above normal weather lulls us into thinking it's spring when our brain is telling us it's not. The PWG's are thinking anywhere from 2"-6" of snow here. They aren't sure how far south the heavy band will come into central Oklahoma.

With a greenhouse I just don't get in a hurry anymore to get things out. It just creates more work.

randy

Jay,

Last year I had some self-sown tomatoes up (volunteers from the previous year) at this point but none yet this year, so I guess Mother Nature knew we had another cold spell coming. All I have in the ground that could freeze is onions and potatoes, and carrot, cabbage and lettuce seed that isn't even up yet, so I am not real worried.

I do have 4 larger tomato plants in containers I'll have to drag into the garage and one of them has three tiny tomatoes, but the well-insulated garage should keep them nice and warm.

My "average last freeze date" here is tomorrow! However, it is wrong! This is our eleventh spring here and we've had a freeze later than the average last freeze date 9 out of 10 years so far, and this weekend will undoubtedly make it 10 out of 11. I've learned to ignore the average last freeze date data for my county. The 30-year-average just isn't relevant for this decade.

Randy,

Our local professional weather guessers are real iffy about whether the snow will make it this far south, although the NWS office in Norman seems to think it will. Tom Miller on Channel 12, our local CBS affiliate, said that he thinks the heavy snow will stay "north of OKC". Our local TV guys are only forecasting a low of 35 for Sat, I think, and 38 for Sun. I possibly could get away with leaving the flats of seedlings on the screened-in but winterized porch, but I'll play it safe and carry them back in.

Even the oaks are leafing out here, so the warm weather sure fooled them. The native persimmons and pecans, though, are still dormant.

I guess you're going to be feeding the wood stove a lot of wood the next couple of days. (Not that you have any shortage of wood!)

Dawn

Dawn,

Freezes past the average last freeze date 9 out of 10 years huh? Guess we can blame those global warming folks for that. :-)

I noticed since science is starting to prove that idea wrong, it's now climate change. That way if it's cloudy or sunny, they can still blame us for something.

I'll been splurging the next few days. Propane will do the bulk of the heating. :-)

randy

Hi all, Seems like gardening is getting to be almost like playing the lottery these last few years,LOL.
I fell bad for the ones who couldn't resist the urge of the warm weather and their hearts, I've been there.

All I have in the ground is Onions, Cauliflower, Broccoli and Potatoes, I'm gonna pull some dirt up on the potatoes as there just coming out of the ground, and put some straw aroung the Cauliflower,and Broccoli, though it will probably blow off, do you think the onions need something to?
I've never had trouble in the past with these plants in a a light freez, but I was wondering how low a tempature they can take, does anyone know?
I really dont think the temp, will drop that low in eastern pittsburg county :):) (Dont quote me. LOL)

Bah. Silly weather. Fortunately, I have nothing tender planted out. It's all still in the (not quite finished) greenhouse. I'll likely toss a blanket over them just in case for those couple of cold nights.

Mother Nature is such a tease!

Randy,

The first time I had a hard freeze well past the "average last freeze date" I just blamed the law of averages and shrugged it off. Then it happened again and again and again. My only guess is that the 30-year-average reflects past years but the current trend is toward later and later cold spells. Climate change? And, I have tried to take into account that we are in a low-lying microclimate so might be getting colder than the higher ground in Love County, but a check of mesonet temps revealed the rest of the county was at or near freezing on the same dates. (sigh)

For what it is worth, our average rainfall numbers are misleading too. We hardly ever get up to our "average" rainfall amount in any given year and have only exceeded it once, maybe twice, since we've been here. I put less faith in these "numbers" all the time and more faith in what we personally experience.

I still can plant pretty early if I am prepared to spend a huge amount of time covering and uncovering plants, but I would prefer to plant later and spend less energy covering and uncovering stuff. That's actually a pretty major change in philosophy for me. : )

PROPANE? Oh, my. I'm shocked, Randy, absolutely shocked! I'm just kidding. Hope everything is toasty warm in the greenhouse on these cold nights.

Hobo,

I wish there was an easy way to say that one given veggie is "safe" from freeze or frost (or snow or sleet) damage at a given temperature, but there are many variables that determine the outcome. I'll post a separate thread on freeze and frost damage in a few minutes while eating lunch and listening to the latest dire weather forecast.

With regards to your specific veggies, your onions may be OK if they have been in the ground for more than month and are somewhat used to very cold nights. They will be more cold hardy if raised from sets or seeds but less cold hardy if raised elsewhere as plants, pulled up, shipped here and then planted here. I always mulch mine with several inches of hay if below-freezing temps are expected, and especially if snow, sleet or a wintery mix is forecast.

Potatoes are not quite as cold-hardy as onions in my garden but even if they freeze to the ground, they almost always regrow just fine. At about 30 degrees (for a sustained period of several hours) you'll see some damage to potato foliage. (In my garden, I've noticed different degrees of damage on different varieties too.) At about 26 or 27 degrees you may see the foliage completely frozen back to the ground depending on how long the temps stay that low. So, if you dirt your potato plants, I think they'll be perfectly fine.

Cauliflower and Broccoli can normally withstand temperatures in the mid-20s (good heavens--I hope y'all aren't going to be that cold in Pittsburgh County!) for a brief time, but it depends on how long the plants have been in the ground, how long the temps stay below freezing, etc. I mulch mine with hay if I am expecting snow or sleet no matter how long they've been in the ground. I might not cover them up if it is only going to 30-32 but if it is going below that, I throw a frost blanket, sheet, blanket, etc. over them. I should think that hay alone would protect yours unless the weather is drastically worse than expected.

Of course, you have to take into account that the storm could be more severe than forecast, so I think it is better to use more mulch than less and to throw sheets, blankets, row cover type frost blankets, burlap bags, etc. over the well-mulched plants at night just to be "extra safe". My plants are always mulched, but I give them extra mulch and cover them up when severe cold is approaching.

I don't have anything tender in the ground to worry about, but some people here in Love County do have tomatoes in the ground. (Well, tomorrow IS our average last freeze date, so I am sure they thought last weekend or the one before that it would be safe and they went ahead and planted.) I hope they have buckets and blankets so they can cover them up. Our forecast here is for the low 30s which at our house usually means the 20s.

Dawn