I fully understand where you are coming from! This year has been a real challenge to say the least. Record lows followed by record-setting highs followed by days of record-setting lows again. Then there was the low rain fall which is now followed by the the constant day-after-day rainfall and flood warnings. Record setting heat is now forecast for the weekend.

But I finally bit the bullet and planted all the tomatoes out almost 3 weeks later than normal and had to trench in more than 1/2 of them and I hate having to do that.

So far (fingers crossed) all the tomatoes onions and potatoes are doing ok if they ever dry out but all the spinach and lettuces bolted while still small, the cabbage may never form a head, and all the broccoli buttoned. Only the weeds and all the fungus organisms are truly happy! Already running low on Daconil.

Been over 15 years since I had to deal with weather like this and it wasn't a good year at all.

Dave

PS: oh, we do have a record-setting crop of ticks this year. :)

You forgot the tornadoes! At least we don't (often) have to deal with those here, and it's supposed to be a calm hurricane season. We did have quite a few flood warnings, I don't worry b/c we're on high ground but relatives near river and have to be careful driving anywhere.

I've had a few ticks already this year, got them off right away. Got bit by something on inside of forearm near elbow the other day, circular rash but it faded, I'm sure it was a gnat (teeny bug, big bite) b/c I would have noticed a tick hanging on in that location. BTW, there's a new tick-borne illness ID'd lately, 1 more reason to wear long pants and socks sprayed with DEET.

We got the chicken coop last night, maybe chickens will keep the ticks down in the yard (though the wild turkeys haven't been). Hazards of living in the woods...

I've never put tomatoes in before June 1. (zone 5a). And usually the second weekend in June...but the weather has been so nice.
I don't have my notes with me, but we had a late hard frost the first week in June, maybe 98-99? Early frost third week of August around that same time or 2002ish.
Those dates haunt me...though nothing like that since.

Seems the nursery folk banded together and did a weather dance. Last weekend my local nurseries were buzzing with gardeners. I feel for it and put in a dozen toms. Some pole beans, salads, basil starts, (haha-dumb)... I did hoop and double remay.
Though left the toms on their own.

I feel for ya getting antsy to plant. My toms have been ready for a few weeks.
I stumbled and dropped that first tray just inside the garden, steps from the tom bed...i was even singing the 'don't trip' song in my head...just lost a few...
Saw an unusual snake on the path to the garden...it froze, i froze...rather than stare and take a mental note of the markings, i fumbled for my iphone to pic. Camera shy, it slithered off...copperhead or timber rattler. After good study i'm thinking copperhead.
Not happy about that but if it takes care of the bunnies i'm cool with it.

ps. ticks are not nice. one is too many, and i've had that already.

Still building beds - I got a deal on punky cypress last year, now it's really punky - the carpenter ants got to it. Almost done with 1 side of the tunnel, came up for lunch. Will finish attaching stakes to the last few pieces (12fters or so - some are longer than others, some ar 8" wide, some more than 10") and THEN Sat I guess I can start loosening the soil (compacted from leveling with bulldozer) and put the fronts of the boxes on, fill with my composted manure.

Still too cool to plant - could put in bush beans, sandy soil almost 70, but the manure is 60, and so is the bed I wanted to put pole beans in (DH had mulched with shredded leaves and covered with burlap). But beds in the house garden where I planted the cucurbits are almost 80 (of course those are the same beds I put my lettuce and kale in so we'll see how long those last - I figured by the time the squash and melons got big enough to take over, the lettuce would be done and so would the kale - or it would tower over the melons).

sleevendog - aren't you near LI Sound? Figured it would be warm enough to plant out Mother's Day around there every year?

AJS Mama,

You need Guinea Hens to take care of ticks - if you can stand the horrid noise that they make!

Linda

We got the plants that went into pots and raised beds in (13 plants), but still have 6 for the main garden sitting waiting. It was JUST dry enough the other day that they could have gone out, but of course I had to go to work instead, and then came another monsoon. Not sure if the ground will be dry enough to walk on or dig in even by Sunday. Jeesh!!

ajsmama, yes, chickens LOVE to eat ticks. Glad you are getting a flock!

Edie

I am sorry to hear about your woes... big thanks to Dave last year for pointing me towards microbial inoculants, I have changed a bit how I prepare beds in spring and so far my garden is much better than before. Last year I had my first green tomato June 18... this year by now I have greens on Biyskaya Roza, Moravsky div and Indian Summer. Plants in WOW really took off this year and above 2 feet tall with many blooming.

Back yard is a little soggy, of course we're expecting rain tomorrow and most of next week. Coop is in the bed of the truck from last night, waiting until it's dry enough to drive across (and DH levels a spot, have to get some pavers). I can't believe we're still almost an inch below normal this month. I guess we're just getting it 1/4" or 1/2" or 1" at a time!

ediej - LOL on the flock - it's a very small coop (about 3x4 not counting nest boxes), my uncle said he has 2 1-yr old hens the others are shunning so we'll buy those from him to get started. DD is so excited, we ALL had to go last night to pick it up. Good thing it was only 1/2 mile down the road, I felt like the Clampett family driving home!

(My uncle also had guinea hens - no thanks, the Tom turkeys are bad enough at 5AM LOL!)

lindalana - what is that, micorrhizae (sp?)? I'm using ProMix BX to pot up this year, most of my beds are pretty well-established but I'm hoping that gives the plants a boost. Not sure about the composted manure - it's been covered so no weeds grew in it, lots of OM but I don't know about microherd so we'll see but my dad has grown in the same stuff past few years, even the first year he had good results.

I started my Moravsky Div April 6 and haven't even started hardening them off yet - I didn't want to put them out and then not have room in the garage if I had to bring everything in at night. Though I suppose I could just leave my car outside. But next week I'm starting to harden those (and the peppers)! Tomorrow will probably be potting them up, even if it's in Solo cups (all my small pots are full, and I can't see potting the older plants up to quarts if they're going out soon).

Sure, we all need break.

Weather, we can all talk about it but cannot do anything about it. Have to learn how to live with it. My tomato plants have done that to some extent.

After nearly 2 months of plant out (starting April 4 first batch) just last night our low was 44F. I pushed my season ahead by about 6 weeks. we've seen many lows going down as low as 38F to 40F in April and May. But one should not under estimate tomato plant's toughness.
Rain is another thing. Up here in PNW we get plenty of it ALL THE TIME. Our annual rainfall is close to 40 inches. During the course of a year we get about 140 rainy days and many more cloudy days on top of that.

Ok, so when you said you picked up a chicken coop from your neighbor, it now makes sense. I was wondering how one simply picks up a chicken coop. Here's the one I built 15 years ago. Now a storage shed. I'm building a coop for my buddy in Bethlehem with wheels, so he can move it week to week and spread the goodness, and offer his hens renewed and refreshed pecking.

Going OT now but that looks like a nice shed (nice landscaping too). We'd love to build a chicken tractor too if you have plans (I have an old garden cart with 2 large wheels, the OSB bottom and sides are shot but wheels and full-width handle are OK, have to check axle).

You can email me through GW - I'd appreciate it!

Last year Dave gave me few links to microbial inoculants which is fascinating topic. It is a bit more than just mycorrhizal fungi but yeah, I add endomycorrhizal fungi from BioOrganics to the root, as well as use EM Probiotics from the SCD. Just brewed whole batch from mother culture. Am loving results I am seeing. Smiling gardener on his website offers great explanations what when and how and so far it looks great. Now I have to decide if I am going to use something like Daconil or we can get away with just boosting immune system of the plant to fight its own war.

This post was edited by lindalana on Thu, May 29, 14 at 21:02

"sleevendog - aren't you near LI Sound? Figured it would be warm enough to plant out Mother's Day around there every year?"

Catskill mnts. 5a. Altitude maybe 1900ft. Where my garden/farm is located....
City home is 6a near NYC.

I definitely feel your pain, though, my frustration this year is hardly unique. 2 weeks ago we had almost a foot of fresh snow. Then it was 80 degrees. Then 4 days of hail storms and drowning rains, and this week we're hitting 90 degrees. Last Friday my entire property was underwater after it POURED on us for 4 days, now everything is pretty close to bone dry again. The worst part is, this is all pretty typical around here. We don't actually have a "spring" per se, ever. We go from freezing cold to blazing hot pretty much over night.

Gosh, I must be living on another planet. Central NY isn't that far from NW CT. We've had really nice growing weather here. I've had similar trouble when waiting for the perfect day to plant out. Never seem to get that stretch of cloudy warm days that the plants would love. I think you should just go for it and plant out whatever is hardened off. You have to be way past your last frost date. I realize that WOWs might not be practical for 100' of tomatoes, but maybe you could try a few next year. I plant out May1 with protection, and after a couple of weeks remove protection. My few plants have been on their own for 2 weeks now and they are flowering, and one has decent sized tomatoes.

Talking about break,

We are getting it after all.
For the next 10 days , SUNNY, highs in upper 70s, lower 80s. And the lows mostly around 50F.
This trend should give a boost to my tomatoes and pepper.

I hope ye'all getting a break too.

This post was edited by seysonn on Fri, May 30, 14 at 6:45

Zach - if that's a typical spring I'd move!

sleevendog - oh, thought I remembered you're near NYC but didn't realize you had garden/farm in another location - yeah Catskills must be colder than here. Now I understand the snake concern too.

edweather - it's been fairly nice (warm and overcast) for planting out, just not sunny enough to really harden off since I know those hot bright days are coming, and I'd like to control how much sun the plants get at first. Then along comes a downpour, or a night in the low 40's to wreck all the planting out plans! I'm starting Sunday. Plants have been out at night (on the nights it hasn't fallen below 45) and are inching out into the back yard (east) for more sun every day (with a few getting burnt - don't know what's up with Mark Twain, they were among the first to go out but are getting bleached and not growing as well). Yeah, it's 2 weeks past the average LFD here, should be putting out peppers by now!

Next year definitely planting out early, under cover - I got my sample of cross-connectors on Tuesday, have to order them but should have them by the end of June. Was going to wait until Sept to put the plastic on. But we'll have it for next spring!

Still working on building my raised beds (this photo a couple days old) and DH says he'll take a pickax to loosen the soil where the beds are going tomorrow - compacted from bulldozer.

I'm going to start putting out the sprawling indeterminates and cherry toms that are hardened off along the fence where I had beans last year, and once we get some manure moved here the others are going in the middle of the tunnel with T posts, the beds (west side shown here) are getting peppers and determinate tomatoes.

Today and tomorrow I'm planting beans until the Tstorms hit this afternoon.

Hope everybody gets a break in the weather - Zach sounds like he sure could use it!

I hate to brag but we're having fantastic tomato weather here in NE KS. Highs in the mid 80's and lows in the mid 60's for the last 2 weeks and the same in the long term forecast. We're also getting nice, short, heavy rains every few days. That's a welcome change from last spring. It was cold and cloudy and too wet.

Gee, I'm actually ahead of some folks for once. Usually it seems like I'm behind, regardless of the crop (darn my constant procrastinating!). It's been near perfect weather here as well. Planted some of my tomatoes on the 18th. Planted the rest on the 23rd. The highs have been near 80's, lows around 50. And with the extended forecast having lows in the 50's and 60's I've started planting peppers.

Rodney

Oh yeah, rub it in! ;-)

I figured most people would need a break, want to vent, though I'm glad the weather is nice for some of us.

T-storms never materialized (watch, they'll hit in the middle of the night and I'll be out there trying to get my plants in) so tomatoes were out all day. They'll come in for tomorrow night since the forecast still says 44 now 5AM Sunday but then they are being transplanted!!!

Looks like a good year for the wild blackberries if no SWD problems, the wild and cultivated raspberries are getting flower buds, the strawberries and blueberries are berrying ;-) though my Triple Crown blackberries don't have any flower buds yet.

Not many apples though - winter was too hard.

Honestly, I don't whether it's better to concentrate on perennials or annuals!

I did move, I spent 3 years in Hawaii and I would never, ever go back lol.

It's tough gardening due the weather being so extreme and unpredictable. But, I have found we do tend to get a break when it comes to bugs and disease because of the aridity. Plus, we get to look out at the Rocky Mountains all day, can't beat that!

I hope your weather breaks soon! I know how long that wait can feel. But, just think, not too long ago, we got snow in June! And up in Leadville, where my in laws are from, they have 10% chance of zero frost free days every year! Surely it's got to be better than that!

Forecast low of 42 here for tonight, strong radiational cooling. I'll go into the upper 30s. Arrr! I seem to have been able to control some early blight on my containerized plants with judicious pruning, Daconil, and moving them to keep them dry. Ground planted indeterminates have no signs of disease, though they're still getting their twice-weekly mist of Daconil, too.
It's been a bad East of the Hudson Valley" spring. So while Edweather in central NY is doing fine, we're swimming in damp cold. Just the pattern we have. Today is another example. Low pressure meandering off the Cape and throwing back showers today to, well, right about 50 miles west of us. But our day will come!

Patrick...very nice description of your weather pattern. Hopefully it will change soon for you folks. Yes we have been fortunate in our little doughnut hole this year. Usually have huge May flooding rains, but not this year. Our nights have been chilly but the days make up for it.