Scott,

I hope that by some miracle your temps didn't drop any lower, although I am thinking that they probably have.

It is 32 degrees here at 5:45 a.m.

I did cover up my garden plants with floating row cover, or at least about 90% of it. It wasn't easy either because we had 2.7" of rain from very early Sunday a.m. through 6 p.m. yesterday on ground that was still very wet from previous rainfall and I was sinking down in the clay pathways up to my ankles in mud. It was a horrible feeling....I felt like I was in quicksand. It made me appreciate the much-amended and much-improved soil in my raised beds.

I covered up everything, including potatoes and onions since I had lots of floating row cover. I didn't cover up the sugar snap peas.

My tallest tomatoes were 3' tall and already growing wider than their cages, so I covered up those rows, cages and all, which used a lot of floating row cover material and required a tall ladder and assistance from DH. For the 40 or so tomatoes in a different part of the garden that were planted later and weren't quite as tall or wide, I removed their cages (grumbling to myself all the while) before covering them up, which was a colossal pain, but putting row cover over 4 rows of 6' to 8' tall cages would have been so time-consuming and it was raining and I was getting tired and cranky. This afternoon or tomorrow, I'll recage everything.

I still have about 40 tomato plants to put into the ground too and they are presumably snug and warm in the garage, and if the ground ever dries out again, I'll plant them. I didn't even trust the 3 flats of peppers to the garage, but instead brought them inside where they are relaxing in warmth and comfort in the guest room.

Is it cold enough there this morning to hurt your pecans?

I hope everyone else is warmer than our place. Not only will folks here likely have frost damage but also freeze damage as well. This is our fourth May in a row to have either a freeze or frost on either May 3rd or 4th at our house.

Dawn

Here in NE Norman @ 6 AM, it's 36 degrees. Got pretty heavy frost on the deck railing. We covered the dozen tomatoes Sunday evening because we just didn't trust the forecast.

I look at the calendar and feel sooooooo behind in my garden planting. But this is the second time in a week I've realized it's a good thing not much else is planted.

Dawn - You're so good to your peppers!!! LOL! I just brought mine to the dining room and told them to be happy about that.

Paula

Hi Paula,

Well, if I left my pepper plants on the dining room table, one of my cats likely would destroy them. I have a cat who likes to pull the leaves off pepper plants. I don't know why he does it, but I assume he is insane. : )

I'm glad you covered up your tomato plants. We were forecast to go to 35 (or 34 or 36 depending on who you believe), so I was expecting anything from 30 to 32. Shortly after 6 a.m. we hit 31.9. I don't know if that is as low as it will go or if it will go lower.

Our morning meteorologist is an avid gardener and said a few minutes ago he was ankle deep in mud late yesterday while covering up his tomato plants and this morning he's warning folks that if they left plants uncovered, there's likely to be frost on those plants this morning. It is nice to have a meteorologist who gardens because he does tend to consistently warn gardeners to cover up their plants if there is the slightest chance of a frost or freeze.

Dawn

It was 34 when I woke up. There is frost all over the ground. I am thanking my lucky stars I covered my tomatoes and peppers, and hope everything else survives.

Jo

High and Dry here in Midwest City, 40 degrees with dew but no frost. I did have a scare Sunday about noon when we had pea size hail for 3 minutes, enough to cover the ground, but only lost 2 leaves on 32 tomatoes and had a couple of small tears in green bean leaves.

Keith

Hope the sun up brings good news to everyone.

32.7 @ 6:00 here. Just went out and uncovered everything. Already 50 here. I don't have much out yet. Had the tomatoes and potatoes covered. Going to try to finish the garden this weekend.

It was 36 degrees at 4 and 35 at 5 this morning. Had very light ice on one cat water bowl yesterday but none this morning. Have light frost on the blanket covering the cold frame. I propped it open a little under the covers and left it covered. Looks like we hit around 34 around 6 and then headed back up. The NWS site showed 37 for a low. I know mine was reading a few degrees cooler than them. I'm in a low spot. Looks like the lows will gradually warm up. Possibly upper 80's - low 90's this weekend. Why gardening is so easy in this region. LOL. Jay

This morning (6am) our outdoor thermo showing lowest 42, and I not see any frost on plants. I hope its magic! Indeed I covered all tomatoes, peppers, eggplants and corn with frost blanket, now I am going to remove them.

Paula, we live so close but how come you have frost? is that something do with micro-climate? our garden being on the hilly and NW slope has any advantage?

regards -Chandra

I carried in everything just after midnight. There was a heavy fog and I hoped the temp would not drop much lower.(40 at the time).

All the plants, inside and out were OK this morning except one of the sweet potatoes I had sprouting. It fell victim to hungry Yorkie. He had 12 teeth pulled a couple of weeks ago so he was unable to eat it but if there were any sprouts on it, he got them. That dog like veggies about as much as DW and I do. He has 4 of the fang type teeth left and all my veggies look like they have been snake bit.

Larry

Chandra - I think you being on the hill this time is to your advantage. We are in a low-spot like Jay was talking about.

My in-laws garden is even lower than ours, and he's had frost several times more than us. His onions really have suffered. FIL has already planted okra twice. We can't convince him to be patient and wait! LOL!

Paula

Good Grief! Don't you gardeners EVER sleep? TEE HEE.
35 degrees at my house this AM with frost in South Central OK.
Has warmed up, considerably, so getting ready to carry out my potted plants, once AGAIN. Hopefully, this will be the last frost. Oh! For the good ol' days, when we could safely set out our bedding plants after April 15th!

Jeanie

We had a frost warning and possibility of freezing temps and at 2:30 AM when the mesonet was showing 34, the Grove airport was showing 40. I checked outside at 5:30 this morning and it was about 37. I covered until I ran out of covers, but the garden just across the fence from me was uncovered and nothing froze. They don't live here full-time so the garden doesn't get much attention. He already had peppers in the ground and they are awfully yellow, but his tomato plants look healthy.

I had big flower pots over 28 tomato plants and some flowers and two blueberry plants, row cover over broc and onions, a sheet over some oriental greens, and a piece of torn up row cover just kind of drooped over the ground in front of the pole bean trellis.

Then I had all of the tomato and pepper seedlings inside the bunkhouse, along with the loot from the swap, and 16 big pots of berries and such inside the shed. The pots have damp soil so they are heavy, but DH pulled them all out and we put them on two wagons and a wheelbarrow and moved them to the yard. Since we need to mow, we just left them on the wheels so we can move them to mow, if it ever gets dry enough again.

It sure is a lot of work to garden in Oklahoma.

Well, here in eastern Pittsburg county it got down to 32, 33 according to the Mesonet station south of McAlester which is probably about 20 or so miles away, and there was no cloud cover or wind here last night and there was what might be called a medium frost.

You know I don't think I've ever seen such a wet three or four weeks here, My garden has a gentle slope and furrows to help drain the area to a bar ditch, and still it's so wet I couldn't get out in it to cover any thing, I tried and sank down over a foot, so I gave up.

Normally I'm fairly optimistic but I strongly suspect that at least my tomatoes and peppers are done for, I can't tell yet, Tho I do believe in miracles :)

We all know what it's like investing a lot of time, money and work in a garden and then have something happen to it,
but' we will bounce back, replant, and wait for what ever Else nature has to through at us. (Extreme heat and I suspect)
So good luck everyone and have a nice day.

James.

James,

Doesn't this weather make you wonder how the pioneers and early farming families were able to raise almost all their own food? If my family had to live off only the food I raise each year, they'd be starving some years.

I don't know how much rain you've had, but it doesn't sound good. However, in 2009 my plants survived an almost-13" rainfall in one day followed by recurring rain over the next few weeks that kept the ground incredibly soggy and wet for at least 6 weeks. The soil developed that sour, mucky smell and even though the tomato and pepper plants stalled and grew not one iota for that six weeks, and their foliage discolored terribly because they couldn't take up nutrients with their water-clogged roots, almost every plant survived and ultimately produced. I hope your plants pull through this wet spell like mine pulled through that one.

Y'all, I am a wee bit concerned about my forecast low for tonight, which is 42 degrees. At 42 degrees, it could drop to 38 at my house and there could be frost. I know this because it happens all the time. I am leaving the row covers on the plants today, but I moved the flats of still-unplanted tomatoes, all the peppers, and the warm-season flowers back out into the sunlight this morning. This afternoon, we'll put them into the garage. I hope that will be the last time we carry plants in at night.

Traditionally, we don't usually have frost here after May 4th, although we did have one night in mid-May when we had a light frost. I think it was in 2002 or 2003. I didn't cover up plants and they didn't die, but I sure was shocked by the touch of frost in mid-May.

Now, perhaps, the hot season will begin, although I'm not in any hurry for the 100 degree days to arrive either! Maybe the rest of May and part of June will be perfectly lovely before the wicked summer heat sets in.

We all need to remember, too, that May is often Oklahoma's month for really severe T-storms and tornadoes and we have to watch the skies carefully. Also, if you're in the parts of western OK that have not yet had sufficient rainfall, fire danger is still an issue for you and will be until you have sufficient rainfall to give you some good greenup. Standing, dead, dry vegetation still will burn because it doesn't absorb water.

Dawn

One advantage to having a forecaster fiance who works rotating shifts is that he leaves his computer on all night while he's up, and it means I get weather station updates! Looks like according to that (link below for the curious), we didn't get anywhere close to cold enough for frost. I covered the tomatoes and a few of my shrubs just in case, but living on a ridge probably helped us this time. Everything was covered in dew when I went out to uncover things at 9am. Better safe than sorry I suppose.

Looks like today we'll at least get a brief break from the insane winds. I took down the wind blocks around my tomatoes to let them soak up as much sunshine as possible.

Oops, forgot my link.

Here is a link that might be useful: KJSG (Heather's backyard weather in Blanchard)

It only dropped to 39 at our place in SW Logan County and no frost. I had covered the 6 tomato plants that are in the ground with pots. All of the Spring Fling plants and various others that I haven't planted yet are on the patio and I scooted them right up next to the house under chairs and covered the chairs with blankets.

James, it sounds like that entire area of the southeastern part of the state has been inundated with rain. When we were at Lake Eufaula at the end of March the lake level was quite a bit lower than normal, and they say now it is about 2 feet above normal. That's a big chance in a short time!

Suzie

My temp reading at 7:00 was 33.2 degrees. It never got below freezing. I saw no visible damge this morning when I uncovered everything.

I had saved about 100 pizza boxes (big family) from the past year to use as mulch around the plants once we get further into warm weather. Those boxes got lined up on the tops of the cages and with the help of a bunch of rolls of thick landscape fabric on top of everything, we made it through in great shape. A very large fan set up to blow across the remaining tomatoes kept the air moving a bit and may have helped also.

I had a nice white-trash-looking garden this morning!

It was 40 degrees at 7 AM....thankfully, no frost! We'd covered all but about 60 of the 250 tomatoes in the ground so far. Even the uncovered ones seem ok......So glad the sun is shining today :)

Dawn, hope your plants survive one more night :)

Suzy-where are you?? We live in far SE Kingfisher cty. (Cashion) Just one mile north of the 4 corners and about 1/2 mi. west. I think we must be pretty close....glad your plants made it ok :)

gardenerwannabe,
We're between Edmond and Guthrie, about 2 1/2 miles north of Waterloo and about 4 miles east of 74, so we're just a little southeast of you. I think my mouth dropped open when I read that you have 250 tomatoes in the ground! That is a lot of tomatoes!

Suzie

I keep thinking Becky is going to have to find a new GW name, because she isn't a 'gardenerwannabe' any more. She's a bona fide gardener...the real thing...the genuine article!

Becky, I'm so glad your plants made it. The NWS raised our forecast from 42 to 43 so I feel so much better now. I did leave everything covered up just in case. Our wind seemed more from the south today, so we should have warmer, more moist air and should stay warmer. Tomorrow when I uncover stuff, I have to say that I do not expect to have to cover up anything else this spring. I certainly hope I don't!

Scott, I'm glad y'all didn't have any damage. You know, I was going to say we could write a book on white trash gardening...you with your unique garden cover-up methods and me with my kitty litter pails used as containers! I think someone else already wrote that book though.

I bet y'all some of us will have mosquitoes hatching out within a week.

Dawn

Well there was something about 'gardenerwannabe' and 'We'd covered all but about 60 of the 250 tomatoes in the ground' that just didn't quite add up, lol. OK, Becky, Dawn has called you out, and now we know you're the real thing!

Suzie

Suzie, I remember when Becky was a self-proclaimed gardenerwannabe and was just starting out. Now it seems to me that anyone who is putting more tomato plants in the ground than I am surely has grown (pun intended) beyond the wannabe stage.

Seriously, Becky, you can keep your wannabe name if you want to, but I don't consider you a wannabe any more! You're doing it, girl, so you've really moved beyond that wannebe stage! : ) I think that is a wonderful accomplishment too.

Dawn

Our last night that the NWS was predicting a frost/freeze for is past. They hit one night out of 3. Missed last night by 9-10 degrees again. Intellicast was the closest during the last couple of cold spells. I know better than to predict weather in SW KS and the OK Panhandle. But my feeling is we are now past our last threat. We will probably have a few more cool morning but no freeze/frost threats. So will start trickling plants in now. And planting a few more seeds like cukes, squash, ect. 90's this weekend possibly. I'm off today to help with a league track meet. Had planned on working on the lean to greenhouse. The wind might prevent that. Has been blowing most of the night. Yesterday was beautiful while I was working. Now today is typical of a day I have off. Windy. Already mid 50's and warming fast. Think the SW wind all night is why the temps were warmer than NWS predicted. The others were saying in the low to mid 40's. But I took no chances. I covered my cold frame and put straw over the potatoes. Still have some concern over the continued cool spells causing bolting in my onions. Will know in a few weeks. Jay

Jay,

We didn't even come close to the forecast low of 43 last night. It only got down to 48 here and I think it was 46 or 47 at our closest Mesonet station. When it was still 55 degrees at midnight, I knew we'd stay warmer than forecast.

I hope the last cold night is past!

Yesterday was the most perfect weather day of the year here once the temps got up above freezing. We got a lot of yard work done despite the standing water and mud.

I am on my way outside to uncover everything now. I have been waiting for the sun to dry the dew on the floating row covers so they will be dry when I put them up.

I don't think I'll have to cover up anything again....until the first frost or freeze threathens in the autumn.

Hope the track meet is fun!

Dawn

I forgot to bring in my pepper plants last night. Temps got to around 44 degrees this morning. Is that one night of cold temperatures going to cause them long-term problems?

Hi Suzy.....we are close. We have friends in your neck of the woods-Simmons/Penn-ish. I don't know if I'm "the real thing"! LOL
Three yrs. ago, we began our garden journey after we suburbanites headed for acres of red clay. At the time, we had 5 boys who needed something constructive to do and make a little extra money. Sooooo, we grew veggies for the Farmer's Market. We were at Bethany Market for 2 yrs. and the Edmond market on Wednedays as we had enough produce that 2nd year also. Last year, we took the year off (from gardening). We had a new baby boy (boy #6) and decided we'd watch him grow instead of the veggies. That first year goes by so fast and gardening requires a lot of time, as you know.
We plan to be at the market at Mercy Hospital if we can keep things growing :)
It seems to always be an experiement, but we are enjoying the journey as we learn along the way.
Thanks for your official welcome to the rank of "Gardener" :)

Dawn-You are the "Tomato Lady from Southern OK" around here. The boys and I copied off your posts from 3 yrs. ago and they still "live" in our garden notebook. We have so appreciated your depth of wisdom and willingness to share and help.
As for the "gardenerwannabe" part, I may keep it until I see how this growing season turns out :)
I look forward to being around GW a little more again!

Eakem, I would be shocked if they were hurt in any way by those temps.