SHOP PRODUCTS
Houzz Logo Print
scottokla

I hereby declare all freezes gone from Oklahoma until fall.

scottokla
12 years ago

I cannot believe our last freeze will be back in the single digits of March.

My blueberries will start ripening by May 10 I think. I've never gotten one before May 20 in the past.

The pecans will mature well before November gets here, and there will be some problems because of this. Weevils and squirrels will be difficult to control.

I picked the wrong year to wait until tax day to put out tomatoes and peppers.

Comments (29)

  • Okiedawn OK Zone 7
    12 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    I hope you are right. If we make it to May 4th without a late freeze or frost here, it will be the first time in 5 years, and I will be a very happy camper.

    I planted some veggies as early as I could, including onions, peppers, broccoli, snap peas, cabbage, most tomatoes, green beans, early corn and 7 early squash plants (2 yellow crookneck, 2 zucchini, 3 butternut winter squash). Everything that went in early is going to produce early, except for the sugar snap peas. High temps in the 85-90 degree range for the snap peas early in their lives stalled them for a while, so they are producing late.

    It is very rare that I can plant this early (tomato plants started going into the ground March 12th, though I wasn't finished until either the very end of March or earliest April) without having to repeatedly cover up the plants on cold nights. I only covered up the veggies on one cold night that I can remember or maybe two.

    The exception is the 4 tomato plants I put into a very old (bottom is rusted out) 200-gallon galvanized metal stock tank in February. I did have to cover them up on a few cold nights, but the plants are head-high now and loaded with fruit and flowers, so it was worth the small amount of time it took to cover up those plants. Actually, I mostly protected them by building a gigantic Wall O Water type device around the entire stock tank. I put a row of Tidy Cat cat litter buckets with lids around the tank and filled them with water. Then, I put a second row on top of the first and filled those with water. I left them there from late February until late March and give them credit for providing good protection on a night when we went to 23 degrees. That double row of water-filled buckets only went up about as tall as the top of the stock tank, so they were keeping the soil and root area warm, but not necessarily the above-ground portions of the plants. To protect the above-ground plant portions I used floating row cover, but on a couple of the coldest nights, I threw a blanket over the floating row cover.

    I only get away with planting tomato plants this early about once a decade, so assuming a very late frost or freeze doesn't get them, I likely won't be able to successfully plant them this early again for another 5 or 10 years.

    I an starting to worry the fruit trees will give us "too much" fruit as I really don't want to spend half of June and July picking and canning fruit for 18 hours a day like I did in 2010. I have thinned fruit so aggressively this year that I think Tim might be starting to worry that I won't leave any fruit on the trees.

    Dawn

  • scottokla
    Original Author
    12 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Just saw tonight's forecast.

    How can the forecast change so much in one day?

    On edge again.

  • Related Discussions

    Antique Rose Report from Oklahoma

    Q

    Comments (18)
    Mendocino, I love reading your reports, and would love to have another climate. This is our worst year ever. I can barely walk the dogs with my husband. The snow is still here, and there are so many areas of ice that I cannot walk well at all outside. York_rose, I am hoping that the snow has insulated my roses. That will be something at least. Greybird,we almost always have nice weather mixed with bad weather. Even when we had our power outages because of the ice storm, many of the days turned around and had temps in the 40's. Now, we just have temps in the 30's and very little sun. I was going to move some pots, and clean them out to prepare for the spring. I cannot even walk in my back yard since it is coated with snow that has frozen, and is a cake of ice. I hope your weather has given you a few nice days. Jeri, it is good to hear from you. I need to ask about caring for a hillside some day soon. Ours is washing out too fast, and I don't want a cliff in the back. Melissa, you are correct. To me fall is the worst since winter is coming. Now in just a few weeks we can think seriously about spring. I love my garden, but most important is to just get out of the house. I cannot even get into the dogs' yard to clean it us -- something needed to be done daily with three big dogs. Lavender Lass, 50" of snow??? It is good to put things in perspective. Zone 4 even sounds cold. I have been told that our warm winters are why my lilacs never bloomed. My grandmother also grew lilacs, and I tried a few times without success. They are beautiful. the_bustopher, what does your name mean? Have you considered just going out around your house and tossing salt? It is very dangerous to do almost anything in the snow if you are not "sure footed". Life with the snow was not so much of a problem in Indiana, but here, they almost wait for nature to take care of it. It does sound like the city ought to give your street better care. Lynn, it is good to hear from you. Nalabama, Alabama is not supposed to get that cold -- at least not in my mind's eye. Sherry, I could never forget about you sunny zone posters. I have really worried about my Bermuda roses. I also have Carnation, and two others. I got them because I thought they would be disease resistant, but I don't know how winter hardy they will be. I hope you enjoy your Florida weather. Saldut, I also hope you enjoy your great weather. I forgot to mention that our snow was also a blizzard. It was our first snow blizzard ever. Also our house is not built for cold weather. I don't think it is sealed as well as northern houses. My school starts tomorrow, and one good thing about a large school. I can walk. I always wear walking shoes, and intend to walk and walk after school. I have never gone for so long without exercise. I hope you all have a Happy New Year. We will, but my daughters have gone home now, so it is a little lonely. I spent every possible minute with them while they were here, and missed responding to your posts. Sammy
    ...See More

    OT: I declare this a cat weekend lol

    Q

    Comments (13)
    Not meaning to lecture (& probably failing miserably) but you really should keep your cats indoors. They will live longer, healthier & happier-in-the-long-run lives. They are not wild creatures anymore (even with their killer tendencies) & cannot take care of themselves. If you NEVER let them out (& for heaven's sake, don't take them out to enjoy the outdoors), they will never know what they are missing. I know you mean well & think you are giving them a treat, but it could mean possible death if they run out at a bad time (they can be very sneaky) & can't be caught. If they get out & then change their mind, a scared cat will hide & you might walk right past searching & calling & not find him. They can also get beat up by other cats or dogs (your cat is in their territory now & they want him gone), get fleas, worms or diseases from where other cats have toileted, hit by cars (a sport for some sickos), shot by guns or arrows, poisoned, stolen to be sold to a lab (yes, they still do this) or to train fighting dogs (!). And your nice, sweet, friendly pet is easy for someone to catch & torture. I've seen way too much of it. Even if you just mean to take them out for a few minutes, sh*t happens. Please just give them a nice, long life indoors, they will be much better off & you will know where they are. Linda
    ...See More

    All gone

    Q

    Comments (24)
    I have not yet started my onions. It went from 40's Monday when I had to work to single digits Wednesday, and I got discouraged. Mea culpa. If your ground is already thawed are you planting radishes, carrots and lettuce outside yet? I did that last year when only the top two inches or so had thawed and I still got a great stand of all three, although it took a while. I have even heard of some flowers like larkspurs that you seed on top of snow and let that water the seed in as it melts. The perennial onions planted in the fall are divided when planted and then left to grow out from there the next spring, although I will sometimes divide the tree onions, which tolerate it at any time of the year. Those multipliers that I store indoors over winter are divided and planted as early as I can get the beds prepared; they are not too fussy but one gets better size and bigger nests from planting as early as possible once the ground is thawed. Generally that would be about mid April, or perhaps a little earlier in early dry springs. We do get dry spring times up here quite often. In fact we have a spring wild fire season across much of Minnesota, during which open burning is often prohibited. Farmers used to burn the bromegrass in their roadside ditches to get a good new growth in the spring. Bromegrass gets thatch bound and burning clears that away as well as fertilizing the deeper roots. One of my mother's cousins had one of those burns get away from him and that caught on one of the wooden beamed railroad bridges. That damn near cost him his farm. Since most farmers have pulled their fences by now, the creeping crop lands have reduced quite a bit of the ditch easement. Every once in a while a county will force a farmer to re-survey the easement and move his crops back off it. In Iowa the original plat was for 4 acres a section (1 mile x 1 mile for a total of 640 acres - including the easement) devoted to roads and ditches. Where I grew up it was every mile on the mile the roads were a grid, and it more or less still is. Those country roads are all named "streets" now IIRC because the Post Office demanded it.
    ...See More

    How is your fall color and did you have any freezes yet?

    Q

    Comments (155)
    Awesome pics everyone! I feel like I'm in a different country with the grass now going dormant. Doesn't help that we're having winter like temps. We got 1.5" of rain a few days ago so that helps going into winter. Oh fun...looks like 1-2 of snow tomorrow morning now that I'm checking the weather. Sometimes we don't get that until mid December.
    ...See More
  • Okiedawn OK Zone 7
    12 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    I don't know but I was thinking the same thing. I think temperatures are one of the hardest things to forecast accurately more than 24 hours in advance.

    My forecast low probably isn't low enough to make me nervous, because it is 44. However, the other day when it was supposed to be that cold, our mesonet station dropped to 38 although at our house, it did not.

    When I saw our revised forecast low this morning, I kept thinking it was a mistake and they would fix it. They haven't fixed it yet, so I guess it isn't a mistake.

  • biradarcm
    12 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    I had been thinking about last frost, it can hit us anytime since beginning of the March, but my planting activities kept going non-stop thinking frost never returns. I feel that was not bad risk this year. -Chandra

  • soonergrandmom
    12 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    OK guys. I'm OK with no more freezes, but when can you tell me 'for sure' that there is no more frost. For the last few days I have watched the prediction of 41 for tonight and thought that we were safe. They have now dropped that figure to 39, and Intellicast shows it at 36. I just can't take a chance with 36. We are getting pretty good at getting the tender things covered up though. Tonight it took us 26 minutes. Now that isn't everything, but that is all of the tomato plants and most of the beans. Some things are already under one layer of row cover, so I'm calling that good.

    This had better be the end of it because I am going to start putting peppers in the ground tomorrow.

  • Okiedawn OK Zone 7
    12 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Chandra, Never, ever trust the weather here. Several years ago, the forecast low temperature for my area was for 50 degrees. It was a year like this year with lots of early warm weather and I had tomato plants well over 2 to 3' tall loaded with fruit. On some of the plants, the toamtoes were larger than golf balls and a couple had fruit the size of tennis balls. The overnight low went down to 32 degrees and only 4 tomato plants (planted at the highest point of the garden) did not freeze back to the ground. It was during the first week of May. To say that I was shocked when I awoke to a hard freeze that morning would be putting it mildly. I decided it was a fluke of nature caused by our extremely low-lying microclimate and never, ever would happen again. The very next year it happened to George in Tahlequah, but earlier--probably mid-April because he was able to get some replacement tomato plants at the spring plant swap. His weather surprise was almost identical to mine---a 50 degree low was forecast and a killing freeze occurred. Since then, I haven't had a killing freeze the first week of May, except for last year, but have had frost. Last year, in a place where the wind blew a piece of row cover loose from its anchor, two plants suffered severe frost damage and came close to dying but did survive. Our temperature had hovered right around 32-33 degrees. I was pleased that only two plants were damaged because I had spent two hours covering up everything, including knee-high corn and tomatoes in 6' to 8' cages. So, there is a reason we're all very cautious and watch the cold nights very closely no matter what kind of spring weather we've had.

    For the last three or four years, we've had a cold night at our house the first week in May that has brought us a little bit of frost or a freeze, but ever since that horrid freezing night I've been ready for it and have had my entire garden covered in floating row cover. I'm hoping this will be the first time I won't have to do that in May in a long while...but I am ready to cover up the plants if I need to. That is why I never relax and think we are safe from freeze until the first week of May has passed.

    Carol, Sure I can tell you that, but it doesn't come with a money-back guarantee. : ) I sure hope y'all don't have a frost, but conceivably you could. I often have frost at 37 degrees, and sometimes at 38. If you have enough of a breeze, though, the frost won't settle on the plants.

    I threw caution to the wind and put the first 38 pepper plants into the ground today, and I feel like they'll be alright but that doesn't mean I am 'sure' they'll be alright, just that I think they most likely will be. If a surprise frost or freeze hits, I have a lot of backups. After the Spring Fling, I'll have given away my backups so the weather better behave after that. I hope to get the rest of the peppers in the ground sometime between Monday and Wednesday. My 'to do' list is so long and time seems to fly right by at this time of year.

    I was just outside looking for a rebellious cat who wouldn't come in for dinner, and it is getting pretty chilly out there already. I don't like that!

    Dawn

  • soonergrandmom
    12 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    My friend who lives near the Mesonet station said that she did get a frost this week, but avoided damage by watering everything down that morning.

    Our current (10:16PM) Mesonet temperature is 46. The airport temp is 50, and my outside temp is still at 55. It is extremely calm with almost no wind. It is hard to guess what your temperature might be when there is 9 degree difference in just a few miles.

    I still may have to get a weather station.

  • Okiedawn OK Zone 7
    12 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    We have four different thermometers outside. They never even agree with each other, but two of them are usually within one degree of each other so I rely on those two the most.

    We're supposed to be 45 or 46 tonight, and on Wednesday, we're supposed to be 87 degrees. What kind of crazy weather is this? The cool-season plants are so messed up.

  • elkwc
    12 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Dawn try 45 tonight then 90's Tuesday and Wednesday. Yesterday morning tonight was predicted to be between 52-54. A 7-9 degree drop in a day. I didn't cover anything and will uncover and open everything up in the morning unless it is cooler than the mid 40's. Supposed to be low 80's tomorrow so I have not choice but to open the lean to and the cold frames. Jay

  • soonergrandmom
    12 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    I am always so far behind you southern Okies with my tomato plants, but I do have one almost ready to bloom. I am sure it will not be a first tomato though. LOL It surprised me when I saw it today because it is a True Black Brandwine plant and I think they have an 80-90 DTM. The Black Cherry beside it is only a couple of days behind, so it may be the first. These were the first plants that I planted but I don't remember the date. It must have been the perfect time because none of the other plants have caught up in size to those first 9 pots except for one Sioux which is in the ground and was planted quite a while later.

    Dawn, I hope you, and others, have enough tomato plants to supply everyone at the Fling that needs tomatoes, because mine seem to be disappearing fast.

    Of course, I have planted my own but there is no guarantee that I am finished because I still have a lot of empty 7 gal pots and more compost. LOL

    Then I took plants to my DIL who did well with her first little garden last year.

    My next door neighbor just learned she has cancer and starts chemo and radiation treatments this week. She normally plants a small garden and always plants tomatoes. Her husband works out of town, so I planted four plants and a few flowers in her garden this week. I was trying to do it without her knowing, but she caught me. Of course, it might have been easier, if there hadn't been about four others who came over to see what I was doing.

    Then I gave the left over plants that I had with me to the neighbor across the street after she said my plants were so much bigger than the ones she had raised from seed.

    Then I learned that a family at Church was trying to plant a garden. They have 3 children, and he is a full time student, so I took seven plants to him today and will likely take more to him after he plants these.

    I still have some left, but many are being adopted here. Mine are usually so much smaller than yours that no one takes them until after they have cleaned yours out. LOL Last year we left the Fling and drove to our son's house north of Bartlesville where they were having a party. I set the leftover plants outdoors and they quickly made their way to cars, so I didn't bring anything home.

    I normally bring a lot of peppers and this year I have none to bring. I have bought a few, and I started a few that are still small, but I don't have any to bring. I will get there with a few things, but not like usual.

    I have no flowers that need dividing this year, except about a hundred orange daylilies that are the plain old ditch lily type. If anyone wanted those, I could fix them right up.

    I have now planted at least one plant of every type that I started except for Matts Wild Cherry and Ildi, and I don't know if I didn't get germination on those two, or lost them along the way. Since I didn't have those two that I had planned for, I have planted several Black Cherry and Sungold, and of course Tess.

  • susanlynne48
    12 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    I have lots of little tomatos growing. Some fairly good size ones on Bush Goliath. Also good size on Juliet. These look more like a Roma to me than a grape/cherry. They're huge!

    It got down to about 44 deg. here last night. Hope it doesn't have a neg. affect on my developing peppers.

    Lettuce is still loving it, but probably won't mid-week.

    I was out checking plants and noticed what I thought was a dead leaf on one of the Flame Acanthus bushes. I swiped at it only to find out it was a lovely Variegated Fritillary butterfly asleep.....well, until I woke her up. She has been laying eggs on my passion vine and violets for a few days now. Poor pooped out baby!

    Susan

    Here is a link that might be useful: Variegated Fritillary

  • Okiedawn OK Zone 7
    12 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Jay, I saw the 90 in the Wichita Falls area forecast on the graphic on the NWS Norman webpage last night, so I figured the folks west of I-35 were going to have a very hot Wednesday. I can't believe it may be as warm where you live as it will be in the Wichita Falls, TX, area. Isn't that crazy? I bet Leslie and others in the Lawton area will be really hot too!

    Have you put any of those automatic vent-opening things on your cold frames?

    Carol, I think True Black Brandywine's DTMs come from where it was 'discovered' by WWW's grandfather in Pennsylviania where the nights stay cool for so long and tomato production is a lot slower. Down here, in the year from hell when almost my whole garden froze in May, TBB was one of the 4 plants that didn't, and it was the one that had fruit from ping pong ball to tennis ball sized by May 4th. For me, it's always been more of a 70-75 DTM tomato.

    I am bring plenty of tomatoes to the swap. Some of them are huge giants that watched their siblings go into the ground in mid-March and have been anxiously awaiting a home ever since. I finally potted them up in the biggest cups I could find (32 oz.) and they are happier in those cups that they were in 20 oz. cups. Others are from the 8 or 9 varieties of seed I sowed the last week of March. They are just your nice, average 5-week old tomato transplants. Among that bunch are about a dozen Indigo Rose plants I'm bringing for anyone who wants to try growing blue tomatoes.

    I'm also bringing some peppers, but I need to finish planting peppers first before I'll know which ones or how many.

    I'm sorry to hear about your neighbor. I hope they caught her cancer in time and that the treatments work. It was so sweet of your to plant some plants in her garden, and also to share your plants with so many others. I find sharing plants to be one of the great joys of raising your own from seed. When you give someone a plant, you aren't just giving them a plant, but also a prospective harvest of fruit or flowers or herbs, as the case may be. I'm glad your DIL had success with her first garden at their new place.

    I've got an Ildi with your name already on it and I can put your name on a Black Cherry plant if you still have room for those two.

    Susan, An occasional night that dips briefly into the mid-40s won't hurt the peppers. It is when they are exposed to a week or two of consistently cold nights that they can stall for a while.

    Our lettuce has been bolting for a while now, plant by plant. Since I planted so many varieties, we just try to stay ahead of the bolting by eating whatever is about to bolt next. That's the advantage of growing multiple varieties---all the plants don't bolt at once. As I pull out a bolting plant, I put in a bite-size tomato plant. I raised lots of tiny plants that stay small like Red Robin, Pixie Orange, Little Sun, etc. and it is working out really well. By the time the cattle trough garden's lettuce plants are gone, it will be full of dwarf tomato plants.

    If we hit 87 on Wednesday, the rest of the lettuce may throw up its arms in despair and just give up. I'll water it well that morning and shade it, but you can only slow down bolting, you sure cannot stop it.

    Here's our report on last night's temps:

    At our house, they raised the forecast late yesterday from 44 to 45 and we went down to 43. About what I expected.

    At the Burneyville mesonet station, they raised the forecast to 46, and they went down to 37. Thirty-seven! I hope there wasn't any patchy frost anywhere out there near Burneyville.

    It warmed up fast and already is gorgeous. I hope to spend much of today in the garden. I found a snake in there yesterday so now I have to tread carefully and watch where I put my fingers and my toes. (Of course, it always is helpful if you spot the snake before it spots you.)

    Dawn

  • Okiedawn OK Zone 7
    12 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Oh, wait, Carol, it was Matt's Wild Cherry. I think I have at least one of those to bring to the swap. My memory lasts about 3 seconds nowadays.

  • Okiedawn OK Zone 7
    12 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Jay, I just need to go back to sleep and wake up all over again with an alert brain. The NWS graphic shows 100 degrees for Wednesday for the Wichita Falls area, not 90. 100 degrees is too hot.

    Dawn

  • soonergrandmom
    12 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Thanks Dawn, I saved room in the ground and a cage for the Ildi, and I can find a spot for Matt's Wild Cherry if you happen to find one. It isn't a real issue because I have plenty of plants and I'm getting real short on tomato cages. I 'seem' to remember that I said I would stop when I ran out of cages. LOL I told Al on Saturday that I needed some short ones wired together so I could finish up. The container plants don't get the good cages, but I used a couple of cages to grow pole beans this year. That wasn't a plan, but I had so many bean volunteer plants, that I finally just moved them together and let them grow. I have one batch in the garden and another in a large tree pot with my largest tomato cage for them to climb on.

    I have found that in the last few years I want to grow more and more cherry tomatoes. When all I had tasted were the common red ones, I just couldn't get excited about the flavor, but now I know to plant the good ones. I have still not mastered the dehydrating skill though. I will try once again using my oven, but I just never seem to get it right. The cherries are my snack while working in the garden, and like you have said in the past, it is great to have a salad with many different colors and taste. Sometimes I take a big bowl of cherry tomatoes to my friend Betty and she will go through the bowl and pick out all the Tess so she can use them for the first salad. There have been days when I wished someone else was helping to pick that one.

    Dawn, Do you have a favorite grape tomato? When I need to buy tomatoes in winter, that little red grape the grocery stores sell is about as close to good as winter grocery store tomatoes get, but I don't know which one it is. I find that some red cherries taste more like the vine smells than like a tomato should taste.

    Dawn, her cancer is small and they say they have an 80-85% success rate with it.

  • scottokla
    Original Author
    12 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    The low was 33 here last night. No damage to any trees.

    I'll take that as a warning shot from God!

  • Okiedawn OK Zone 7
    12 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Carol, That 80-85% success rate is great news for her.

    The best grape type I ever grew was the original red Santa back when T&M was still allowed to sell the seed, which is not longer available to home gardeners after a protracted legal battle.

    Johnny's has several red grapes that have done well in taste tests including one called Red Grape and another called Sweet Olive. I haven't grown either one though. I bought seed of one from TGSC several years ago that was just called "Grape" and it was a good one. Lots of people swear by Agriset and Tami G (which are either the same or virtually identical).

    Some people think of Juliet as a red grape type, but I've always thought of it as being slightly too large to be a true grape, though that does leave one wondering what category it belongs to instead.

    I wouldn't be surprised if the little red grapes you buy in winter are indeed Santa or a close relative. I wonder if seed saved from one of them would grow true? It might be worth saving seed to plant and then seeing if they give you anything worth having.

    Back when I was growing Santa with seed purchased from T&M, had I realized the seed soon would be taken off the market for home gardeners, I would have purchased 20 packets of it and stored them in the freezer.

    If I was going to try a red grape that was new to me, I'd likely try Sweet Olive.

    Scott, Whew! That was entirely too close. I'm glad it stayed above freezing.

    Dawn

  • soonergrandmom
    12 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Thanks Dawn. I have never grown Juliet and didn't realize it was that small. I'll bet you are right about the Santa. I won't be starting any more tomato seeds this year, but I think I will plan on having a grape next year.

    My unmarked row of tomato plants is driving me crazy and if they weren't so far along, I would rip them out and plant new ones I could mark, but it's a little late to do that. I started looking at my list and realized I had a couple more that I hadn't marked off my list. One was a Nebraska Wedding, which I like, so I'm going to find a place to plug it into the garden. The other is Michael Pollen which I haven't tried before and I have several of those plants left. I hope that the 'unnamed' row contains a Nebraska Wedding also, but I'll plant one just to make sure I get one. I think I will have a lot more green and yellow tomatoes than I expected after reading about the Wild Boar Farm tomatoes I planted.

    It is a very pleasant 60 degrees today with no wind. I just planted the first of my peppers today, and plugged a New Big Dwarf plant into the onion bed where for some unknown reason I have no onions. Since it was a low spot, I would guess that the 7 inches of rain we got in such a short time probably did them in.

    Each day I can see plant damage, so something is really chewing things at night. The pepper plants I put in the ground today even had some damage and I never have anything bother peppers. Soon my garden will be covered with Agribon, I guess, if I don't get things under control. I would much rather have a pretty garden like Larry's, but that just isn't going to happen for me this year.

  • elkwc
    12 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    We had a low this morning of 40 and a high this afternoon of 84. And supposed to be 91-94 the next two days. One source is saying 95 of higher at Guymon the next two days before it starts cooling off again. Entirely too early for those temps. I'm watering a little already just so I don't get behind. But with swings like today it makes it hard on plants in the cold frames, lean to and the WOW's.
    Dawn no I don't have vents on my cold frames. And have never had any real heat issues. I opened the frames some this morning but left them closed enough to protect from the cold air. The plants looked great this afternoon when I got home and opened the tops up all the way. The way I built mine it would be be hard to install any auto openers. I know many say they are a must I haven't seen the need for them yet. The new polycarbonate really helps with preventing the heat build up. Jay

  • susanlynne48
    12 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Dawn, how can Juliet be considered a true grape? Mine are getting humongous. I have one that is 3" long! Much bigger than I thought they would be. Carol, I thought I recalled you growing Juliet one year and not liking the flavor, no? We'll see if I like it or not. I'm not too picky about tomato flavors, except for bland.....lol. The Juliet's sure are pretty tomatos, though!

    I am just so thrilled that I am getting tomatos this early in the year, though, what with all the caretaking I've been doing, I am shocked that I have this many. But, I worked very hard on taking care of them, selecting them, etc. There are some I am so anxious to see perform and taste that I've never have dreamed of being able to grow before, like the Indian Stripe, Cherokee Purple, Top Sirloin. And, I did it all myself!!!!!!! You guys have given me the opportunity to try growing these beautiful fruits, to experiment, and to actually believe that I could do this. Thanks from the bottom of my heart. Woo-hoo! Now, on to the growing and tasting.......still waiting for that first BLT and guessing I'll be trying the TLT as well.

    Darn, I forgot my camera at my DDs today. I hadn't seen Charlotte for about 10 days, being sick with this darned flu or whatever, I hopped in the car, pumped some gas, and headed for her house. Geez I miss that kid when I don't see her for awhile.

    Susan

  • soonergrandmom
    12 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Susan, If you are talking about the one that I sent you seeds for in the same year I planted it, then didn't like the taste, it was Lime Green Salad. I haven't found a green that I like very much, but figured out that I planted quite a few this year, more than I intended.

    I don't think I have ever planted Juliet, but it is possible. It seems like I may have a few seeds to try. LOL

    I planted Sprite one year, and it has the shape of Juliet but it's not that big. I like most tomatoes, but some better than others, but Sprite was a 'spitter' for me and had really thick skin.

    I have planted 24 different tomatoes this year, and may add two more if Dawn finds them in her extras. Well maybe 3 if there are enough blue ones to go around. I don't plan to be greedy about it, because I have a lot of tomatoes planted.

    The possibles that I might get from Dawn and plant are Indigo Rose, Ildi, and Matt's Wild Cherry. I have grown the last two, and know that I planted seed for them this year, but didn't realize until I started planting that I didn't have any. Trying all the different tastes is like an adventure.

  • susanlynne48
    12 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    You may not like Juliet then, because I understand it has a thick skin, too. Supposed to be a great tomato for dehydrating.

    Indigo Rose just "sounds" devine..........

    Susan

  • p_mac
    12 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Here in NE Norman this morning, my car read 38 @ 7:AM and I had to run the vehicle for 10 minutes to melt the frost. The only toms I have are volunteer's in the raised beds....and my blueberries appear to be unscathed.

    Thank you, Mother Nature. You gave me a scare.

  • soonergrandmom
    12 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Paula, Thanks for taking Scot's highjacked thread back to weather. We kind of stole it as usual.

    But, WHY, do you not have tomatoes?????

  • susanlynne48
    12 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    49 here this morning. Supposed to be 63 tomorrow a.m. Whew! Back on track.

    Susan

  • Okiedawn OK Zone 7
    12 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Carol, I suspect you're right in thinking the rain got the onions because 6" of rain in two separate rainfalls shortly after I planted onions and potatoes got almost of them in the main garden, but not in the Peter Rabbit garden, which is at a higher elevation.

    The damage to my garden has mostly stopped since I sprayed with Bt last week, but I continue to find and squish an enormous amount of cutworms wherever I go.

    I'll be bringing you an Indigo Rose, Ildi and Matt's Wild Cherry to the swap so save room for those.

    Jay, Your plants will be toasty warm tomorrow with a forecast like that. They actually lowered our forecast high for tomorrow from 87 to 85, which might help a bit with the lettuce and snap peas, but probably not enough.

    Susan, Juliet probably is not a true grape, but there's not necessarily a category it falls into easily, so when it first came out people didn't know what to call it---so they called it a grape. I've noticed some newer tomatoes with about the same size and shape being called cherry roma types, although if they aren't dry paste-types, then that seems like a misnomer as well. You have to understand that when Santa came out it was truly revolutionary and hugely popular because it tasted so good and people loved it so much. So, every tomato breeder in the world was trying to breed the next "Santa" and I think Juliet likely came out of those efforts, as did a bunch of other hybrids that have come and quickly gone because their skin was too thick or their flavor too poor. I haven't tasted a grepe yet that's as good as Santa, and think maybe I never will. It is kind of like SunGold---many have tried to breed the "next" SunGold, but haven't come up with one yet that equals it or surpasses it. When it happens, I think it will be with one of the non-commercial crosses being done by folks aiming for flavor, versus commercially-bred ones where flavor is only one of their goals.

    Carol, To me, Juliet is just a bigger version of Red Jelly Bean, so if you've grown Jelly Bean, just imagine it larger. I dislike the thick skin on Juliet and Jelly Bean, but if you're raising them for dehydrating, it is irrlevant because that toughens the skin anyway.

    Paula, That was too cold and too close for comfort.

    Carol, I can answer that one for my earth sister and hope she won't mind that I do so. Paula's seed-starting efforts were side-tracked by her father's death and all the resulting time she has spent dealing with his estate. I'm bringing her a nice big batch of varieties I selected out for her and put into larger containers so they could get a bit bigger before she puts them in the ground. We're hoping that with large transplants going into her garden at the tail end of the recommended planting dates, she'll still get tomatoes at about the same time as usual.

    Susan, It was chilly here this morning too--only 47, but tomorrow should be a lot better. I'm not excited about tomorrow's high temps.

    Dawn

  • soonergrandmom
    12 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Thanks Dawn. I was hoping the Fling wasn't taking too much of her time. I still have some transplants also, but I am sure yours are much bigger than mine. Paula has had too many things going on at one time.

    I have not planted Red Jelly Bean, but I planted some seed that I got from you for Yellow Jelly Bean and grew that one last year. I liked the one I grew. The skin was thicker than the other cherries I grew, but not nearly as thick as the Sprite I grew several years ago.

    Obviously I don't know how to dehydrate tomatoes to make them like you do. I did a few year before last, and instead of putting them in a bag, I put them in a plastic bowl with a lid and stuck them in the freezer of the bunk house refrigerator. One day I opened the freezer, the bowl came tumbling out, opened as it hit the floor and they went flying everywhere. I swept them up and put them in the trash and thought how much time I had wasted. Maybe I will try again and see if I like them well enough to spend the time doing it. I have bought a few bottles of sun-dried tomatoes that I liked.

  • Okiedawn OK Zone 7
    12 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Carol, If it is any consolation, it took me several tries to master dehydrating tomatoes, and then when I switched from drying them in a dehydrator to drying them in the convection oven on the "Dehydrate" mode, I had to learn what temperature and time worked best in the oven...and it was not necessarily the same as in the dehydrator. It also makes a difference if I have one cookie sheet of tomatoes dehydrating or three of them, and if the tomatoes are little or big, drizzled with olive oil or dry, etc. You just have to play with it until you get it right. Most people who are new to drying them tend to dry them too dry---until they are crunchy like potato chips. I don't let mine get that dry since I am freezing them for storage and don't have to worry about mold growing in them like I would if I was storing them on the pantry shelf.

  • lat0403
    12 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    I have to say I laughed when I saw that you're all talking about transplanting peppers because mine have been in the ground for a couple of weeks! I knew I was planting early, but I didn't realize it was so early. It's been as low as 43 here, but I don't think the cold has delayed them any. I noticed this morning that a couple have started blooming and the rest are about to. It seems like it worked out perfectly, because it's just about to heat up.

    It's supposed to be 95 here tomorrow, but it was supposed to be 89 today and it's 95 right now. I sure hope they're not off by 6 degrees tomorrow, because I am not ready for it to be over 100.

    Leslie

Sponsored
Peabody Landscape Group
Average rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars8 Reviews
Franklin County's Reliable Landscape Design & Contracting