Oh I hear ya. I am starting to harden off some plants today and frankly I am worried with the wacky weather.

Dorothy, You're ahead of me but I'll catch up in a couple of days (I hope). The heat is the reason I've been transplanting slowly. We have had so many windy days here with temps in the 80s and up to 90 degrees and neither the plants nor I like those temps this early in the season.

My snap peas look awful. The windy hot air has been so hard on them, but the first one bloomed yesterday, so they're hanging in there and atempting to produce.

Dawn

I think I had 56 broccoli plants that went in the ground a week ago and I have put 9 of my tomatoes into the ground. I weeded my 3-400 onion plants yesterday. All of my peas look really good except they are still small.

After watching the weather warnings late into the night last night, I wondered if it would be there this morning. They were showing two and a half inch hail stones and talking about winds up to 90 in places. The radar that I watch on the web was down and I couldn't watch the storm. I finally gave up on it and turned the TV back on and by this time they had added our county to the tornado watch. My transplants were outside on a glass top table, so in the middle of the night I was out bringing in transplants. I thought I would at least save those in case the hail got my garden.

Turns out the storm split and the heavy lightening part went north of us and the bad hail went south so we came out OK. The Mesonet showed .01 rain for my county and .91 for the one above. I checked my rain gauge this morning and we had just over a half inch, so my garden looks nice and green this morning. It would have been good for my transplants, but you never know. Anyway, it was a nice rain.

I always say it will hail if I transplant tomatoes in the ground. I planted some tomatoes in the ground late last week, and last night it hailed.

I'm going to plant the rest in a day or two after the ground dries up a little from last night's rain. I wonder if it will hail a second time?

I just went out and checked the rain gauge and we have 1.5" in it from the rain that fell overnight. I don't even remember the last time that much rain fell at once....it has been months.

We have a chance of rain later in the week, so if I can get the rest of the tomatoes in the ground before that chance arrives, maybe it will rain on them after they're planted too.

Speaking of hail... do I need some kind of hail-precautions plan for my veggie transplants? Or let Mother Nature take her course? Someone mentioned "hail hats" of milk jugs but I'd need about a million to cover every seedling. What do you guys do?

Last May we had golf- and softball sized hail here in NW metro OKC, so now I'm skittish.

Congrats on the much-needed rain to those that received it!

I planted out my broccoli, cauliflower, kohlrabi, cabbage, and Brussel sprouts last week, along with peas, onions, carrots, and lettuces & spinach. It finally feels like spring here!

We had storms threatening hail last night so, rather than carrying all 30 or so flats around the house and into the basement (and back up this morning), I shoved all of the tomatoes that have been living on the front walk under the van to act as hail protection. Of course, that doesn't help if you've planted them into the garden -- unless you only have a very few and don'y mind driving your vehicle into the garden. LOL And it doesn't help me when our temps our dipping down a bit too low tonight and I have to make 30,000 trips to carry them all to and from the basement anyway.

What's the lowest temp you're all comfortable leaving still-potted tomato seedlings out for, assuming they're hardened? Our forecast says 40 but I don't trust it enough to not think it might dip down much lower. (Our forecasts usually come from those in the Hannibal/Quincy area where the Mississippi tends to moderate temps a bit.)

Diane

I don't do anything for hail. It is too unpredictable. If I ran out and covered up my plants every time there was a chance of hail in the spring and summer, I'd be out there every third day covering and uncovering plants.

If the hail is large enough, it can destroy whatever you use to cover up plants or often the high wind that tends to accompany severe storms will blow the covers off the plants any way.

Hail can be very destructive, but plants can bounce back from it really quickly.

One year we had golf-ball sized hail in May that just shredded my tomato plants and pepper plants that were knee high and covered with small fruit. I cleaned up the mess and within about two weeks the plants had regrown to their previous size. So, while it set back the crop, it didn't permanently harm the plants. When I was a teenager, baseball sized hail destroyed my dad's tomato plants in May (as well as destroying the vehicles, roof and windows of the house, and damaging every living plant in the yard and garden) literally beating them down to the ground. He pruned off every tomato plant at ground level so it looked like the plants were completely gone. They regrew from the roots and he harvested just as many tomatoes as usual, although the harvest was a few weeks later than usual.

Corn, on the other hand, can be destroyed by hail if the hail breaks the growing tips.

I just consider hail one of those weather risks you have to put up with as a gardener. After it is over, you clean up the mess and move on and replant if you have to. There's likely nothing you can cover plants with that would withstand hail larger than golfballs.

I held off planting tomatoes,the wind and high temps was just too much. i already have the cool crops in .I just planted some corn and some beans on the oposite side of the snap pea trellis.

We finally got some much needed moisture,Almost 2". since my garden was broke up, it will be a day or 2 before i can get back in it.

I don't do anything about hail except pray that it won't come. Last night heard small hail for maybe 30 seconds and then it quit and we got 1.4 inches of rain. And like at Dawn's that was the most moisture at one time in monthes. I was getting so frustrated. Seemed like I just couldn't get enough water on my young plants to do much good with temps close to 90 and a hot wind. Now though, they will grow. Not only did they get water, they got nitrogen because there was quite a bit of lightning with the rain.

Diane, I bring my plants back in if the overnight low is forcast to be 40. Those forcasts aren't always accurate.

I just got my first harvest off the broccoli that I planted back in the first part of march. Sad to say that this yoyo temperature had caused some of my broc to bolt. Luckily only about 20% of the heads decided that they did not want to work with me so I will consider it acceptable losses =)... maybe I will do better with the side shoots.... I am thinking that I will be pulling them soon and popping my tomato plants in their place... I already did that with two that for some reason stalled. just curious how long everyone else leaves their brocolli in after they harvest the main heads?

I have harvested my first wave of broccoli, only 8 plants and they were small heads, they are my oldest plants. I have not been able to care for the garden properly. Its been very dry and I have watered only a couple of times, no weeding at all, its been too dry for anything to sprout, everything has been put in as plants except the corn that was planted 3 days ago.

I will plant tomatoes this week. I gave plants to the our preachers wife and to my uncle yesterday, will plant some in my step dads garden this week also.

My onions and lettuce looks pretty good. The potatoes are coming back after being nipped back to the ground by frost. I only had 3 tomatoes in the ground and they are history. I have plenty of plants, some I will experiment with.

I hope thing will start getting better now, at least we did get some rain last night.

Larry

Ooh, so envious of you all harvesting already! I planted out my broccoli last night (some of the stems were spindly at the base and suddenly thicker further up, so I planted them deep, hope that helps). I also annexed an area that was going to be something else for more broccoli. I have GOBS of broccoli seedlings. I'm going to try and give some away.

So far, the only thing I've had sprout enough to eat would be onion tips. I've got healthy looking yukon gold potato plants about a foot tall and read that these are a variety that do not need hilling, so I guess I'll let them keep going. The lettuce seedlings seem stalled at "just sprouted" size, and the radish leaves are looking a little beat up. I got pea sprouts but they're stalled at about two inches tall, too. We've not had any rain in about a month, so even though I try to deeply water it's not working well.

Thanks for the info on the hail. I've had that hail experience with ornamentals (worse for wear but bounce back) but didn't know how it would play with the veggies.

I have transplanted 12 tomatoes yesterday evening, surprise to see tiny green tomatoes in couple of seedling while planting! I have also transplanted corns, broccoli, cabbage and Brussels sprouts.

Sweet/Snap peas are seems to be struggling with hot weather. They are kind of stunted, lower leave turning yellowish but started blooming. I hope they will produce some peas.

Already noticed some leaf-minor tunnels in Fava beans, little holes in radishes, mustard greens...-Chandra

Diane, If I have them on the porch or can set them right up against a southward facing wall, I'll leave them out with a forecast of 40. If it is going anything lower than that, I bring them into the garage are onto the sunporch. However, if they're saying 40 and I have a feeling it will go lower, I don't leave them out. You know, if it is 50 at dinnertime, I'm figuring it will get colder than the forecast low of 40. If it is 70 at dinnertime, I have more faith in the 40-degree forecast.

I can't believe you're only going to go to 40 tonight, because we're supposed to go down to 44 (and then we have a night with a forecast low of 43 later in the week too).

Busy1, Yippee! Two inches is a nice soaking rain.

I don't have many tomato plants in the ground (about 20) because I have been fighting the high wind and high heat, but I intend to get the rest in beginning tomorrow, if the soil will dry out enough. Since they're going into raised beds and the wind is blowing steady and hard today, I bet the soil dries out pretty fast.

Dorothy, We had more lightning than rain, and we had plentiful rain. Every flash of lighning I thought to myself 'More nitrogen!". I was so glad to see the rain and lightning that I even enjoying the sound of the thunder.

Okiepokie, It depends on how early they produce. Some years I don't leave them in the ground for long because I am eager to use their space for bush beans or black-eyed peas.

Did you get full-sized heads? If I get nice full-sized heads that are something like 6 to 9" across, I am able to fill up the freezer and not even wait for side shoots to produce. If I get smaller heads, I like to try and get some side shoots if the plants aren't too hot and are in the mood to make good side shoots. It also depends on how tired I am of fighting the cabbage worms.

Larry, My potatoes are recovering nicely after being nipped by last week's frost too.

The only plants that haven't been somewhat unhappy with the erratic weather are the onions, chives, leeks and shallots. They all are plenty happy. If no disaster befalls them, this will be the best onion harvest since 2008, which was a huge, huge harvest. Unlike the other plants that stalled in the heat, the onions made good growth, and I've kept them well-watered. Last night's rain was just a bonus.

This is the best lettuce year we've had since our first year here, but I did cover up the lettuce with shade cloth on the days we were hitting 90 degrees. I have some slow-bolt varieties, but even they will bolt when we start hitting the 90s.

Mia,

Planting the broccoli deep should help. Sometimes their stems just do that and I don't know why.

I understand about the watering not working. I've been feeling the same way. The potatoes didn't seem bothered by the heat and lack of moisture, and I was watering the onions heavily but they weren't looking as good as I'd like. Today, they look amazingly better, thanks to the lightning and rain.

The lettuce was easy to keep moist because it is in a big container, but no matter how much I watered the sugar snap peas, they were not happy. Late last week they finally started looking better and have begun blooming. I am growing one called Spring Blush that produces pinkish pods and its flowers are a gorgeous rosey-mauve color. With cooler weather this week and having had that rainfall, maybe my sugar snaps will start looking a little happier.

You're welcome on the hail info. I hate hail and it is guaranteed to fall after I transplant tomatoes, but it is just one of the things you learn to live with as a gardener.

Chandra, My sugar snaps have struggled in that same way but last week started looking a little better. I hope they continue to look better and that yours do too.

Dawn

Okiepokie, I treat my broccoli like Dawn does. If I get enough in the freezer after the big Memorial Day freezing party, I pull the plants--and most years I do. But if I still need a little more, and IF it isn't too hot and dry, I leave a few of them. Most years though, the plants, and their accompanying worms, feed the chickens.

I would say 80% of them had heads of 7-8 inches. Those worms are typically the bane of my cool weather garden to the point that I am thinking about giving up on cabbages entirely =). I have to do my blanching when my wife is not in the room because no matter how good I am about looking through the harvest there is always at least one or two worms that float to the top of the pot... This is the first time I have had broccoli bolt on me. I just didnt know how much more I can get off of a broccoli plant if I leave them because I normally yank them after I harvest the head... So roughly how much more should I expect to get if I leave them 20% of the amount from the head, 50% of the amount 200%? I know its variable based on soil, water, temp and other factors, just looking for a ballpark so I can determine whether to move on or nurse these for another few weeks?

I have never had broccoli this early. If I had picked my first heads this early in the season, I think I would go for secondary crop. On a few plants in the past I have picked 4-6 large side shoots that were probably equal in sum to the main head. Next year with more room to start stuff I plan to get my broccoli in a bit earlier.

Concerning worms, a product called Dipel which contains Bacillus thuringiensis (may not be spelled right) gives the worms a disease but isn't poison.

Thanks, Dorothy & Dawn. 40 is right about what I've always worried about as well. And, for tonight's forecast right at 40, I just don't have enough feel for the weather here to feel secure in leaving them out. I did go ahead and put them in the van for tonight. That'll be enough protection without the major workout of carrying them all up & down the basement steps. Of course, Friday's low says 33*. Ew.

For cabbage, I used a spinosyn spray last year that Dawn recommended and it kicked the worms' butts. They started to eat the leaves the tiniest bit and then I sprayed a couple of times. No more damage and I didn't lose a single plant to the critters. I bought more for this year, plus Bt. I'm thinking of trying half of the crops with each and seeing which does better. I should leave some as a control group but I can't bear knowingly giving up my plants. LOL

Diane

Diane,

We were supposed to go to 45 but went to 40. I hate when the weather does that. However, they've taken the cold night out of our forecast for later in the week, raising the forecast low to 46....so I guess I can expect 41?

Okiepokie, Since you got nice large heads, I'd leave them and try to get nice side shoots. Assuming you don't need the space very quickly for a succession planting of something else, you'd likely get enough side shoots to make it worth your while to leave the plants in the ground. As Dorothy said, sometimes the sideshoots give you as much as the main head, especially if you get to harvest your main head early as you did this year and if the weather conditions remain mild.

I was late getting my broccoli started and in the ground, as we were busy with wildfires during the time I should have been starting/transplanting it. I bet I still get a good harvest though, but probably will harvest the main heads too late to leave the plants in the ground long enough to wait for side shoots.

I always blanch the broccoli alone in the kitchen because if anyone in my family sees the worms floating to the top of the pot, they feel queasy about eating it later on. No matter how carefully I check before I blanch, I always find some in the blanching water too.

Diane, I think Spinosad is revolutionizing organic gardening to a certain extent because it is giving us a safe way to control some pests that are difficult to control with other organic methods.

For anyone who hasn't used Spinosad, which is a combination of Spinosyn A and Spinosyn D, I've linked the wiki below. If nothing else, it has the most interesting story of any pesticide I've used.....because of where it was discovered....and you'll have to click on the link and read the wiki to find that out.

My favorite Spinosad product, based purely on the name of the product, is Captain Jack's Dead Bug Brew---a name that makes sense once you know where the original spinosyns were found.

Dawn

Here is a link that might be useful: Spinosad Wkipedia page

I have worked in a frozen food plant and a canning plant also, and anyone that thinks they are getting clean food out of a can or a package are only dreaming. I think my nastiest food at home in cleaner than most sold in the stores.

Larry

Yeah one of the ladies at work asked me if I eat my broccoli fresh right of my garden. The thought of that made me cringe slightly and I explained to her about the worms... she had never heard of such a thing. Its amazing how gardening opens your eyes to the issues that commercial farms must go through on a greater basis. Makes me appreciate the produce I buy much more.

Fortunately for me my family isn't squeamish. I told them over and over that the worms weren't as dangerous to us as the chemicals on commercial produce. Both my kids and grands have grown up knowing that broccoli (and corn, and occasionaly greenbeans) have worms that have to be removed so it is a normal part of gardening for them. Both my kids and grandkids have helped put up produce from a very early age--earlier than 5. But then they all started helping butcher chickens about that early too.

pulled up my broccoli here in NE Ok. Starting to bolt already. Didn't get anything from them.

Quailhunter,

That's sad news. I'm sorry to hear that your broccoli didn't make a crop for you this year.

I've been expecting my broccoli plants to bolt because of the high temperatures, but so far they haven't.

It is a rough spring for the cool-season crops with all these high temps running from 15 to 20 to even 25 degrees above average.

Since it is so hot, I bet we have a great okra, melon and southern pea year.

Dawn

I say it bolted. I'm a very impatient gardener. I got it planted a little late. It looked beautiful, then all of a sudden, the broccoli head shot up several inches and the head became very loose. One or two of the plants still looked OK, but they all got pulled to make room for others. It hadn't actually made flowers yet. Kind of new to the cool season crops. If i'm wrong, please tell me.

Dororthy, you remarks reminded me of when I was young, my aunt was working up a bunch of corn, my cousin, being at the diaper stage was sitting on the porch near the pile of shucks. My aunt looked up and she was picking the worms out of the shucks and eating them.

There must be a lot of calories and vitamins in worms because my cousin grew up to be a really good sized woman.

Quailhunter, eight of my broccoli plants did the same way. They were purchased Packman plants and the oldest ones I had. The Premium Crop, Waltham and an unknown type still look good but I don't expect much from them. I have had such high winds that some of the stalks were damaged so badly I pulled them.

I have pulled two Chinese cabbage because they were bolting.

I planted three tomatoes yesterday but if this wind does not let up they will be beat to a pulp also. I live at the narrowest point in this valley and just east of the highest point of the mountain to the west. I do get some evening shade, but I pay for it with added wind velocity.

Larry

These were purchased Packman plants.

I don't think you were wrong at all in believing they were bolting when the heads started getting loose. Once they start getting loose, they are just a few days away from blooming. For what it is worth, you can harvest and eat the loose heads, and even the flowers if you catch them and cook them on the first day the flowers open.

I think the problem lies in purchased transplants.

I always had trouble with my broccoli bolting when I purchased transplants instead of raising them from seed. Yes, to a certain extent bolting is caused by the hot weather, no matter whether you are using your own home-grown transplants or purchased ones from the store. However, other factors contribute to bolting and that's where the purchased transplants come into play.

Stress of various types, not just the air temperature, can cause broccoli plants to bolt. One example of the kind of stress that causes this would be drought/moisture stress, especially in combination with warmer air temperatures than broccoli likes. When you purchase transplants, they're often rootbound and they've often been allowed to get too dry before being watered. Those are other stressors that can cause bolting. I think they when the broccoli seedlings are rootbound and their growth stalls, being biennials, they loosely interpret the stall in growth as dormancy. Then, when they are put into the ground and eventually overcome being rootbound and start growing again, they "think" (well, plants don't think as far as I know, but you know what I mean) it is their second season and is time to make seeds...so they quickly bolt. Poor nutrition also can lead to stress and poor production/bolting. I call broccoli a "garden diva" because everything has to be just the way she likes it or she won't form heads.

In the years since I began raising my own broccoli transplants from seeds, I hardly ever have broccoli bolt until late May....and by then I've already harvested heads or am about to harvest them.

This year's weather is horrible for cool-season crops that need to grow and mature in cool temperatures because we started hitting the 80s and even the 90s in March. There's not much you can do to combat that.

This year's weather reminds me of the early 2000s through about 2005 or 2006, when we went from winter cold to summer heat with no mild weather in between here in my part of the state. After a couple of years of having everything bolt or produce poorly, I quit planting all cool-season crops for a few years except onions and potatoes. It was pointless to try to raise a crop like broccoli that prefers temps between 45 and 75 when we were having late winter and early spring highs in the 80s and 90s. Once the winters began acting more 'normal' with a slower transition from winter to spring to summer, I started planting more cool-season crops again.

If only we could "know" in February if the weather would stay cool and mild for another 60-90 days or if we were going from winter one day to summer the next, then we'd be able to plant cool-season crops with some reasonable assurance they'd make a crop, or decide to skip them because it was getting too hot too early.

My broccoli and cabbage plants are growing so slowly. I grew both from good quality seed. I thought they were far too warm in their starter tray, so after hardening, I planted them in a shady back bed. They're still alive and they put out a little new growth, but they only have about 4 leaves each. I don't know if the heat just stalled them or if they just grow slowly. But, I'm not using the back bed for anything else, so we'll just see if they live and produce or not.

My potatoes are doing very well. My onions were a bust, but that's probably because I bought the bulbs from the grocery store and not a real garden center. The radishes and turnips and one pea plant are doing very very well. They have great growth and managed to withstand the wind and heat. All in all, though, rather a mixed bag for my cool season plants. I'm hoping to try them again in the Fall with more success.

Dawn mentioned that it would probably be a good year for melons and southern peas. Does that apply to summer squash too? Should I, in fact, plant more summer squash and cucumbers then I already have? I have 1 lemon cucumber planted, four squash plants, two Delice de la table cantelopes, and three crimson sweet watermelons in so far.

If squash loves hot weather, as well, I could easily plant a few more.
Kelly

Kelly,

You can plant all the squash and cucumber plants you want but in order to get a crop you'll have to be prepared to do battle with squash vine borers, squash bugs and cucumber beetles. They are very persistent pests and between them and the diseases they transmit, it is hard to keep squash plants and cucumber plants alive and producing once they find your garden. I've never known squash and cukes to not produce well, whether the summer is extra hot or average or extra cool, but they will have pest issues.

A couple of varieties withstand pests and diseases better than most. County Fair is a cucumber variety that withstands the bacterial diseases spread by cucumber beetles. Most summer squash, whether straightneck, crookneck, patty pan or zucchini, will have issues with squash bugs and sometimes cucumber beetles. I succession plant new seeds every month so I have new plants coming along to replace the ones the bugs and diseases get.

With winter squash, if you grow them, there are a few, mostly C. moschata types, that withstand squash vine borers and that group includes Trombocino, Tatume and Seminole.

Dawn