Tried to cheat and put 2 store bought plants outside way too soon.
Frost got to them and they look like the wicked witches feet under the house.
Hope they recover.

And they weren't cheap either.
$13.81 ea

Vegetable plants for 13.81 each??? Were they gold plated?

Most of CT is under a freeze warning for tonight (radar.weather.gov).

I will have to do a snip snip here,snip snip there.
Pre global warming our last frost date was april 15th.
I think the power companies even go by that old rule for delaying shutoffs.

39.1 °F Now
Feels Like 28.1 °F

Last frost date here in CT has always been May 15 as far back as I can remember

I'm never in a hurry with tomato plantings. I don't know what a typical last frost date is, here, and I don't care to know. June 1st is always my goal.

slugworth wrote: ↑Tue Apr 23, 2024 2:36 pm Tried to cheat and put 2 store bought plants outside way too soon.
Frost got to them and they look like the wicked witches feet under the house.
Hope they recover.

Once my tomatoes were nipped by frost, and most came back from a lower truss. They were slightly delayed by a week or so though. I've also experienced my entire garden being hailed out many times. As long as the growth point is intact, they will grow and actually bush out wonderfully. Loose some, win some big time if patience is in your nature. Best to have a backup and snag 2 cheaper plants as backup if you have room so you don't have regrets down the road.

Tormato wrote: ↑Fri Apr 26, 2024 6:21 pm I'm never in a hurry with tomato plantings. I don't know what a typical last frost date is, here, and I don't care to know. June 1st is always my goal.

You direct sow, don't you Tormato? That might be the secret sauce. I would miss the insanity or "experience" of the whole growing process, I've succumbed to buying plants on sale or nearly free in June but they have a tantrum in the heat and produce little or nothing. If my neighbor PaulF half an hour south is reading I wonder if you have success with planting transplants after June 1.

- Lisa

greenthumbomaha wrote: ↑Fri Apr 26, 2024 8:31 pm

Tormato wrote: ↑Fri Apr 26, 2024 6:21 pm I'm never in a hurry with tomato plantings. I don't know what a typical last frost date is, here, and I don't care to know. June 1st is always my goal.

You direct sow, don't you Tormato? That might be the secret sauce. I would miss the insanity or "experience" of the whole growing process, I've succumbed to buying plants on sale or nearly free in June but they have a tantrum in the heat and produce little or nothing. If my neighbor PaulF half an hour south is reading I wonder if you have success with planting transplants after June 1.

- Lisa

No direct sowing, here.

I start seeds indoors, about May 1st. Expecting them to emerge within about 3 to 4 days, I'll look at the 10 day forecast about 4 days before sowing. If the weather looks like at least every other day the seedlings can be outside, I'll start them on the 1st. If the weather looks horrible, I'll delay until the forecast is promising. If it is slightly warmer outside than inside, seeds sown in their containers go outside, that day, during the daytime. Everything gets moved inside overnight until night temps get to the mid/upper 50s.

If it's windy and rainy, even if warm enough, seedlings stay inside. Transplants are ready in about 28 days with ideal weather. The variety Cole can be ready in 23 days. I would compare these to 6 (or more) week old plants grown indoors. With no indoor crud, no hardening off, etc...it works very well for me most years. A year with horrible cold windy wet weather, not so much. I did find out that newly emerged seedlings can take 12 days being indoors without any sun. I finally moved them out on the 13th day, so I don't know if they would have made it 13 days indoors. If kept inside for about 3 days, new leaf growth can get some sunburn if moved out into strong sunlight the next day. I've learned to give them only a half day of sunshine on that day. And, with young seedlings, only a half day outside in 90+ degree weather, too.

To me, the biggest problem is wind. Everything can stand up to a mild breeze, so everything stays outside. Nothing can stand up to a strong wind, so tiny seedlings stay inside even if it is warm and sunny. The problem is the gusty days, when I don't know what's coming. Seedlings roughly 24 to 48 hours old, that are tall and thin (about 3" to 4" tall) will mostly kink collapse and die, while seedling under 2 1/2" will virtually all survive. So, if I have "important" varieties that are tall and thin, I have to take the time to repot them about 2 inches deeper. It's not the easiest of work.

If only weeds would react the same way.
Instead of breeding for color and flavor they should make them frost proof.

I replaced the plant with one from a similar food store,but after a few days in the direct sun it got sunscald.
Curses,foiled again.
Moral of the story,even if it is a store bought plant it still has to be weaned into direct sunlight like ones you start from seed.
Especially stores where the plants are under roof eaves or fake greenhouses not in direct sun.
The sad part is;I had new cheesecloth I could have used over the plant like in Godfather 1
Makes the $64 tomato look like a bargain.

slugworth wrote: ↑Mon Apr 29, 2024 4:51 am I replaced the plant with one from a similar food store,but after a few days in the direct sun it got sunscald.
Curses,foiled again.
Moral of the story,even if it is a store bought plant it still has to be weaned into direct sunlight like ones you start from seed.
Especially stores where the plants are under roof eaves or fake greenhouses not in direct sun.
The sad part is;I had new cheesecloth I could have used over the plant like in Godfather 1
Makes the $64 tomato look like a bargain.

You seem to be off to a rough start, this year.

Me, I haven't even selected what to grow, let alone sow any seeds, yet.

I seem to be off to a slow start, this year.

Last frost date? How does that determine planting date? I haven't seen frost in the last few years. Does that mean I can plant any time of the year?

I was out weed whacking and I saw a large tomato plant! Maybe four feet tall if upright. Nestled at the edge of a tree which hung to the ground. Extremely poor soil covered with a lot of mulch but the plant looked good. There were blossoms but no set fruit.

I try to time my plant out date by looking at the ten day forecast and the temps. What good is a large tomato plant with no fruit? Why do the seed sellers insist on using frost dates?

Night temps are about 50°F /10°C and day 67°F / 19° C so I have started planting out.

I’m a believer in very specific vegetable planting calendars for very specific areas. Luckily, our county ag extension service has put a very good calendar for our local area. When I look around at other areas, it can be difficult to find specific area vegetable planting calendars.

With The Farmer’s Almanac, Almanac.com, for example, one can plug in their zip code and there will be a calendar generated, but in my opinion their tomato date is three to four weeks late in the spring. They are two to three weeks too early on okra. Fava beans, they are laughably late, six weeks late. Broccoli, wrong, cabbage, wrong, celery, wrong, carrots, wrong, the wrong dates list is way long and not by days, but by weeks and even months in many cases.

I just wonder how many folks are getting steered wrong by this calendar or other ones like it?

zeuspaul wrote: ↑Mon Apr 29, 2024 12:49 pm Last frost date? How does that determine planting date? I haven't seen frost in the last few years. Does that mean I can plant any time of the year?

I was out weed whacking and I saw a large tomato plant! Maybe four feet tall if upright. Nestled at the edge of a tree which hung to the ground. Extremely poor soil covered with a lot of mulch but the plant looked good. There were blossoms but no set fruit.

I try to time my plant out date by looking at the ten day forecast and the temps. What good is a large tomato plant with no fruit? Why do the seed sellers insist on using frost dates?

Night temps are about 50°F /10°C and day 67°F / 19° C so I have started planting out.

Last frost date determines when I can put potted plants outdoors to take advantage of the sun.
Walk on the ground barefoot.
If the soil feels fine it is fine for your plant.
The slugworth rule of foot.

4th of july hybrid I would have to have outdoors by May 1st to have tomatoes on my lips 4th of july.
it is a 60 day tomato.

The garden center in Westport, CT had 4th of July plants that are about 6” tall if you are anywhere near there. I bought 2 there yesterday.

I grew those from saved seed over a period of about 7 or 8 years and they reverted back to original.
I could tell because normally they have RL and one of the parents must have been PL.
From then on I would save and grow the PL producing seeds.
Not delighted with the results.
They looked like a smaller version of the Costoluto Genovese.
I named them july 5th to segregate them from my other experiments.

Colorado State University Extension has a great set of white papers that include panting calendars for most of the state. It’s really helpful but not super easy to find. I point a lot of people on Colorado gardening social media to it this time of year. I took CSUs master gardener program and it was exceptional and the extension provides so much great information free for the public.

karstopography wrote: ↑Mon Apr 29, 2024 1:51 pm I’m a believer in very specific vegetable planting calendars for very specific areas. Luckily, our county ag extension service has put a very good calendar for our local area. When I look around at other areas, it can be difficult to find specific area vegetable planting calendars.

With The Farmer’s Almanac, Almanac.com, for example, one can plug in their zip code and there will be a calendar generated, but in my opinion their tomato date is three to four weeks late in the spring. They are two to three weeks too early on okra. Fava beans, they are laughably late, six weeks late. Broccoli, wrong, cabbage, wrong, celery, wrong, carrots, wrong, the wrong dates list is way long and not by days, but by weeks and even months in many cases.

I just wonder how many folks are getting steered wrong by this calendar or other ones like it?