Bonnie we didnt get the nasty snow but we sure got nailed with the frost. When I was watching the news and saw all of that snow I was VERY happy that all I got was frost :o) Clean??? How did I keep my cast clean you ask ... humm .. I didnt :o) Im sure the doctor is going to have a fit when he sees it. I did manage to take a damp cloth to it and get some of the dirt out but then I grabbed the vaccum and tried to suck the rest out of the little holes :o0 The toothbrush did a pretty good job too. Today will be the really messy adventure .. canna rhizomes and EE's are coming up!!! The big red ones I have are protected by the house and have yet to get any frost damage but I still need to get them out .. and as I said before the Robert Kempt cannas are outta here!! I must say one of my favs this year was the Alocasia odora. I must have more of them next year .. just stunning and they held up well to the wind. My house looks like a jungle .. all of the harmful plants are in the basement ..the remainder are scattered under and around grow lights. I still need to put some "barriers" in the large plants to keep the cats out of them :o) Oh well thats something I can do when its raining all next week :o) I feel sorry for my neighbours who have become accustomed to seeing a jungle as they pass by .. now its just alot of dirt and hostas :o) Laura

Thanks for the comments everyone! Bill, I lived in Kanata so was on your side of Ottawa. As a kid, my pals and I spent many summer days biking on Richardson's Side Road, stopping to catch frogs and salamanders in the many ponds, collecting rocks in the abandoned quartz/mica quarry, or fishing for pike and catfish in the Carp Creek/River. Of course in those days it was a deserted rural road, which I doubt is the case anymore... Anyway, I hope the frost misses you for a few more weeks. We seem to have a got a reprieve here, with the lowest night temps for the next 2 weeks now forecast to be low 40s, which is good since 41F is supposed to be the average low this time of year. Definitely getting the yoyo weather here... high of 81F yesterday, 57 today. No mistaking what's coming though, the early-turning trees like ash trees already have lots of yellow in them and other trees are starting to get hints of colour now too. And in an early-winter year, even this can happen by now, haha:

The deer topped my toms early in the season(don't have a vine-ripened one yet except for a few cherries), so they all splayed out when they started to recover. Many are in containers and are top-heavy and blow over easily in a storm. Others are in a raised bed and they look like a hedge now...they're really going to town! I just reach into them and snap off branches I think might be impeding air circulation and try not to grab the the ones with flowers or fruit. There's so much growth in there I can get away with removing quite a few branches without leaving fruit bare to the sun. I've had to put stakes in along a line and tie wire(clothesline type)to the stakes, then tie splayed branches to the wire. And, every evening I drape tulle netting over all because the deer show up at dusk and dawn just waiting for me to drop my guard(or...um...netting). It all looks ridiculous, but hopefully, I'll get a decent late harvest. Just go slow and take out a branch or two on one plant and see how it goes. You can always add stakes and carefully tie branches to them if you don't want them to hang over. HTH

With those temps, watering everyday would be a good idea. Start with half as much water each day. Water until it comes out the drain-holes. Change the amount of water as seems advisable. But apparently your weather has been cooler for the past few weeks, and conditions haven't improved, so I don't know. It's normal for the bottom leaves to yellow and die; tomato leaves don't last all summer. However, yellowing also indicates too much water and/or too few nutrients. Containers need to be watered more often than in-ground plants, and the nutrients wash out along with the excess water. I haven't grown tomatoes in containers (yet), so I can't advise about fertilizing. Mulch is always a good idea. In your case, the most important advantage of mulch is that it reduces evaporation from the soil and keeps the soil cooler. Other advantages are that you don't have to weed, and it reduces the risk of disease-causing microorganisms splashing up when water hits the soil. And most mulches will add nutrients to the soil, though slowly. You can use almost anything for mulch. Grass clippings (as long as they don't contain weed-killer). Shredded newspaper or office paper. Weeds that you pulled up a couple of days ago. Composted kitchen scraps. Speaking of cooler, if the buckets are black or a dark color, they'll absorb more heat. You can counter that by wrapping them in something white/light/silver. Good luck!