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Rocky Mountain Gardening

Too Early?

flowerpotdreamer

13 years ago

I have only been back in Montana for 4 years, I grew up here, but my mom did all the gardening.

My question is this, all of the low temps on the 10 day forecast are in the mid 40's and 50's. The lowest temp is 42. Now I know that on day 11 of this same forecast, it could be 30 degrees. But for some reason, this spring has seemed to move in my area MUCH faster than normal. For instance, the lilacs are blooming this morning...they do not usually bloom until the first week or 10 days of June!

I have had my garden now for 3 years, and I have waited until the end of May to put all of the veg in, because temps were much lower.

If I did risk it and put my tomatoes and such out, could I just cover with 5 gallon buckets or a floating row cover if things got freezy?

Thanks for your help!

Comments (3)

david52 Zone 6
13 years ago
You can, but I'd make sure you have enough buckets to cover everything. A 2nd consideration is that they aren't going to do much until the soil warms up.

I'm still in the 32-ish forecast for the next 10 days, although the neighborhood tomato guru has his out already. I'll wait until the first week of June.
Dan
13 years ago
I'm waiting for June as well...been burned too many times by the fickle Colorado spring weather! The extreme weather changes this time of year are amazing, but don't make for good gardening. You have to be made of strong stuff to garden in the Rockies!
upat3again
13 years ago
Have you tried "Wall-o-Water" for those warm season vegies? They work really well along with black plastic to warm the soil.

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