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CLXI Early Frosts and Sunny Days

14 years ago

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Understanding Mechanics - A L Sadler -

The Nuts and Bolts of Life - Paul Heiney

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phyllis__mn
13 years ago
Little Lamb, Who Made Thee?.....Walter Wangerin
J C
13 years ago
Thoughts While Tending Sheep - W.G. Ilefeldt
Related Discussions
starting veggies early...
Q
Comments (3)
Row cover fabric breathes. Air and moisture move easily back and forth through it. Any heating benefits from it are minimal and transient. Its frost protection comes from preventing direct air contact with the leaves. Plastic on the other hand does NOT breathe. Instead it traps and holds heat and moisture so the benefits from using it for the purpose of early planting far exceeds any you would gain from using row covers. Plastic tunnels are relatively easy to maintain. You just have to open the tunnel ends in the morning before leaving for work and then close them down before sunset. Once "early gardening" time becomes "normal gardening" time the tunnels are removed or the plastic is replaced with row cover fabric. Dave
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Early June Frost
Q
Comments (2)
So where are you, just above the Arctic circle? That's ok, the dark is long enough here around the winter solstice.....
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Starting melons early: my 1st planting is up
Q
Comments (10)
Just an update but first I should point out that this is just a way to get melons started early, not a season long growing system. My plan is to remove the clear poly in 2-3 weeks when our ave high temp nears 80F and there is little danger of further frost. At that time I may put down woven black weed barrier but usually just let them run on bare ground. Weather has been unusually cold the last few days, 22F night before last, but that hasn't slowed down the melon growth by much. Protected the three melon hills with a 40W bulb inside each mini greenhouse and tarp. Here's the good part. Melons are growing so fast I had to raise the upper layer of clear 6mil poly. The first set of true leaves has individual leaflets three inches in diameter. The second set of true leaves is expanding. Plant quality is equal to what I would expect from a May planting and vastly superior to anything I've ever started in pots. And these plants have established roots right where I want them. If you want or need extra season for your melons this is the way to go. The Fruitnut
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What Tomatoes for a Hot and Sunny Location?
Q
Comments (13)
As a tomato grower in Oklahoma, I want to punctuate Dave's suggestion for MUCH larger pots. Remembering that we had more than 60 consecutive days of 100 degree plus temps last year, you are fighting an uphill battle with such small containers. While that size is sufficient in other parts of the country, and CAN be used here, it is really tough to keep them not only adequately, but also evenly watered. I'd also encourage you to think about DTM (Days to Maturity) in your choice of variety. My average last frost date is April 15, emphasis on average. For the last several years, we've gone well below freezing around the 5th of May. Then, we've gone from 80's in the third week of June to 100s in the fourth week. We just skipped right over the nineties. Since production of many tomatoes drops significantly once temps are in the nineties, DTM is an important consideration. From the 5th of May to the fourth week of June is less than 50 days, which excludes many of my favorite tomatoes. One way to beat that is to plant out earlier, then be prepared to protect your plants from freezing if needed. Secondly, consider varieties with shorter DTMs. That's the one that's hard for me, because so many of my favorites are in the 85-90 day range. Now that I've given you things to ponder, I'll share the varieties that did well for me in last year's heat. Notice, that despite what I just said above, several of them have long DTMS. Bar none, my top producer last year was Dana's Dusky Rose. The other producers in the heat were Indian Stripe, Sioux, Big Beef, Black Cherry, Sun Gold, Tumbling Tom (Red and Yellow), Mountain Magic and Ananas Noire. Lastly, I want to invite you to stop by the Oklahoma Gardening forum here at GW. We talk a lot about tomatoes, and the challenges specific to our climate. Hope you'll drop in. Seedmama
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carolyn_ky
13 years ago
Three Bags Full: A Sheep Detective Story by Leonie Swann

A friend loaned me this, knowing I like mysteries. I found it to be about the worst one I ever read.
leel
13 years ago
Animal Farm--George Orwell
veer
Original Author
13 years ago
Cold Comfort Farm - Stella Gibbons
kathy_t
13 years ago
Comfort Me With Apples - Ruth Reichl
phoebecaulfield
13 years ago
The Apples of New York S. A. Beach
phyllis__mn
13 years ago
The Beans of Egypt,Maine....Carolyn Chute
kathy_t
13 years ago
The Bean Trees - Barbara Kingsolver
salix
13 years ago
Beans: A History - Ken Albala
kathy_t
13 years ago
The Baked Bean Supper Murders - Virginia Rich
(This yellowed paperback has been on my shelf for years. I've not read it.)
phyllis__mn
13 years ago
The Man Who Stayed to Supper.....Sydney Horler
salix
13 years ago
Breakfast at Tiffany's - Truman Capote
kathy_t
13 years ago
Breakfast of Champions - Kurt Vonnegut
salix
13 years ago
Guess Who's Coming to Dinner? (screenplay) - William Rose
J C
13 years ago
Horton Hears a Who - Theodor Seuss Geisel
veer
Original Author
13 years ago
Who Hears the Wind? - Roland Zars
kathy_t
13 years ago
The Spy Who Came in from the Cold - John Le Carre
carolyn_ky
13 years ago
Berlin Noir, Philip Kerr
salix
13 years ago
Carte Blanche - Jeffery Deaver
dido1
13 years ago
The Sword in the Stone - T.H.White
veer
Original Author
13 years ago
Knife Skills - Marcus Wareing
dido1
13 years ago
The Subtle Knife - Philip Pullman
phyllis__mn
13 years ago
Put on by Cunning....Ruth Rendell
veer
Original Author
13 years ago
Devious Delinquents - C J Upenleave
carolyn_ky
13 years ago
Huckleberry Finn, Mark Twain
salix
13 years ago
Swede Dreams - Eva Apelqvist
veer
Original Author
13 years ago
Scandinavian Fruits and Vegetables - Robert Fitzsimmonds

(do you eat swedes in the US?)
salix
13 years ago
Norwegian Wood - Haruki Murakami

(well, Canadians eat swedes, aka rutabagas. Pretty sure citizens of the U.S. do also)
dido1
13 years ago
The Doll's House - Ibsen
(apparently, the French don't eat parsnips. What are they missing!)
kathy_t
13 years ago
A Painted House - John Grisham
veer
Original Author
13 years ago
The Painted Lady Butterfly - Evelyn Sharp

(dido the French don't like to be reminded of WWII when they, rather than their animals, were forced to eat root vegetables. The same way we don't enjoy whale-meat over here. But parsnips are much nicer than whale!)
dido1
13 years ago
The Loved One - Evelyn Waugh
(I don't remember tasing whale, Vee, though maybe I did when very young, in WW2. But I love parsnips)
kathy_t
13 years ago
One Hundred Years of Solitude - Gabriel Garcia Marquez
salix
13 years ago
The Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner - Alan Sillitoe
phyllis__mn
13 years ago
Unbroken....Laura Hillenbrand (the story of Olympic runner Louis Zamperini and his time as a WWII prisoner of war)
connie_in_western_nc
13 years ago
Death Be Not Proud...John Gunther
phoebecaulfield
13 years ago
Death Comes to the Archbishop Willa Cather
kathy_t
13 years ago
A Death in the Family - James Agee
veer
Original Author
13 years ago
A Candle for Grandpa - David Techna
dido1
13 years ago
Lark Rise to Candleford - Flora Thompson
phyllis__mn
13 years ago
The Spectator Bird....Wallace Stegner
woodnymph2_gw
13 years ago
Too Late the Phalarope - Alan Paton

(p.s. Where is Liz/ Lemonhead?
connie_in_western_nc
13 years ago
The Big Year...Mark Obmascik
kathy_t
13 years ago
Year of Wonders - Geraldine Brooks
leel
13 years ago
the great plague: the story of London,s most deadly year-- A. Lloyd Moote
veer
Original Author
13 years ago
Keep Looking on the Bright Side - Leo Towers
dido1
13 years ago
Bright Day - J.B.Priestley
salix
13 years ago
Bright Lights, Big City - Jay McInerney
veer
Original Author
13 years ago
A Girl of the Streets of New York - Stephen Crane

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