Hi Mike,

Welcome to the OK Forum and welcome to living in Oklahoma. I know you're not 'here' yet but wanted to welcome you anyway since you'll soon be an Oklahoman.

We have a very long growing season and, for those of us who plant a fall garden, June and July are the time to plant fall tomatoes. In most parts of Oklahoma, in most years, tomato plants put into the ground in June or early July will give you a harvest anytime from mid-August through mid-November depending on how quickly the heat cools down and also depending on how early the first frost occurs in any given year. You shouldn't have any problem getting a fall harvest from tomatoes planted in June or July.

The growing season here is very long, but it is easier to manage if you break it down into mini-seasons. We can plant cool-season crops as early as January in some parts of the state or in February or March in other parts. Some warm-season plants can start going into the ground in late March in central through southern OK if the nights and soil have warmed up enough. April is the prime month for planting most warm season crops here, but you can continue succession planting of various plants through May and June. In June and July, you also can put in fresh warm-season plants for the fall garden and in latest July and all of August, you can put in cool-season plants for fall. Then, in September or October, depending on how much the temperatures have cooled down, you can plant cool-season crops that will produce into Dec. or later, including spinach, lettuce and other greens. Once you get the hang of managing all the 'mini-seasons' found within our long growing season, you can have edible crop plants growing and producing much of the year, or even year-round with low tunnels, a cold frame, a hoop house/high tunnels or a greenhouse.

I've linked the Fall Garden Planning Guide from Oklahoma State University below to give you an idea of when some crops can be planted for fall. The guide gives a range of planting dates, with the earliest date being better for northern parts of the state, the later date being better for the southern parts of the state and with a date somewhere between the two being best for folks in central OK. In the Fall Gardening Guide, they show the recommended planting dates for fall tomatoes as July 1st through 15th and there's nothing wrong with those dates, but I like to get my fall tomatoes in the ground 2-4 weeks earlier than that so the plants will be larger when they bloom. So, don't hesitate to plant the fall tomatoes prior to July 1st if you have plants ready before then.

Dawn

Here is a link that might be useful: Fall Gardening Guide

You may be able to still buy started tomato plants as late as early June. Some suppliers close them out then for very low prices. My Dad bought some in June from a local retailer a couple years ago, planted them through 6-8 inches of rotted leafmold and had an incredible crop in Sept-Oct.

Well thanks for all the answers and the links are very helpful I am going to really enjoy the extended season as will my wife ..Mike Theurer

Welcome to Oklahoma!

Welcome to Oklahoma and to the Oklahoma gardening forum! Hope the move goes well....if there can be such a thing. Ha!

If you're moving to the Edmond/Guthrie area - there are several local nurseries that should still have a selection for you. One Guthrie grower...known as "Red Dirt" is carried throughout most of central Oklahoma. I purchased several items today at my Norman Atwoods.

Check back in here and let us know what you grow!

Paula

Welcome to the forum. I don't plant the last of mine till early June. And they usually out perform those planted earlier. And I'm on the OK line in extreme SW KS so a little cooler here. And my growing season is a little shorter than most of OK. Jay

Welcome to OK! I didn't get around to getting my tomatoes in the ground until very late May-Early June. I had a great crop, and as they were still growing when everybody else in my area was having tomato trouble, it worked out really well.

I second what everybody else said. Red Dirt is good, Guthrie Greenhouse is also excellent. Atwoods also has some amazing - like 75-80% off clearances on perrenials that time of year - I really stocked up last year for a new garden and its all coming back up!

Well thats all info that will really make my start down there alot better .I also gonna have to take the Master Gardner course down there I took the course here and found it very helpfull and enjoyable....thanks for the info