Tomatoes in New England

Has anyone planted tomatoes or peppers yet? I think I'm going to wait another week to be safe.

My tomatoes were stressed so I planted them out over the course of last 10 days but they don't look happy about living in the 40's at night & uncovered.  Peppers are hardening off and will go out maybe this weekend.  I'd like the nights to be mid 50's for the peppers but we may not see that til July 4th here.     

But don't follow my lead...I'm always pushing the envelope...   

CC

This is the sort of situation where Wall o Waters are handy, or milk jugs full of water placed around the plants.  The water will help moderate the temperatures near them.  A cover at night might be appreciated as well.  Even though these are not freezing temperatures they are unhappy tomato temperatures.

Our weather is holding up here. I have planted all of my tomatoes and peppers and they all seem to be doing well
Glad that we have a few days of rain to toughen them up a bit.

We have definitely transitioned into tomato and pepper weather. A week ago we had 3 days of frost (after a month of none), but suddenly our lows are in mid to upper 50's with a few 60's forecast. Peppers and tomatoes are staying out on the side porch again overnight, and hopefully tomorrow afternoon I will get them in the ground. Tomatoes are leggy, so I will plant them deep like Llama Mama did, and the peppers will hopefully fare well. They are the best pepper seedlings I have ever grown!

GG

So GG   did you chop their heads off?   The peppers that is.

GWN wrote:So GG   did you chop their heads off?   The peppers that is.

I have not, as yet, but I did just put them out in their permanent home! They are still small, too small to give a crew cut, but I am hoping our next week of 80's and sunshine will change that! I put out 8 peppers (4 each of 2 varieties) and 12 tomatoes (4 each of 3 varieties) today. Still have 1 variety of toms to get out, but do not have that box ready yet. May give all the seedlings to a friend for her garden as they are cherries and I am more of a saucer than a snacker.

GG

I transplanted some of my toms and peppers yesterday, the 25th.   We usually have our last frost date close to Memorial Day but this year my last one was on April 20th tho its been consistently cool with high 30s and 40s nites.  Strange weather this year.
Anyway, I've begun transplanting the warm-weather crops.  I'll have them all outdoors in the next few days and sowing my squash and watermelon seeds and placing them under cut-out milk jugs til they germinate.
I think its time here in zone 5a Maine.

We all have super spring fever out this way - our 2013 winter started off in a big way with an OCTOBER 5th BLIZZARD. That storm was a brutal sucker punch that really knocked everyone on their butts - not to mention taking out a lot of livestock and many, many tree branches 8/ 

In an effort to counteract my general malaise (weather-induced and otherwise) I transplanted my peppers, tomatoes, eggplant and ground cherries a couple weeks ago...the plants have done better than I was expecting despite what has seemed like excessive wind/breeziness (even for sodak) and evening temps are still dipping a little lower than I would like...

my bigger mistake than planting out a little early is inadequate shade the first few days (even for a couple of my peppers). The highs have generally been what I thought to be mild and I had transplanted in the late afternoon/during cloudy skies...but a few struggled - never underestimate the intensity of sunshine on a tender plant (or one's skin!) I guess... live it. learn it.   

elysia.....That's why I usually drape some cheese cloth over the new transplants for a couple of days.  Even if they have been hardening off outdoors for a  week, they can use the extra caution.  By the 3rd or 4th day they can handle it undraped.

I'm struggling with the other end of that problem. Here in Southern California our weather has been so warm, so sunny for so long that I have a volunteer paste type bush tomato in my 2x5 foot bed.  Not sure if it's just a plain Roma type or a San Marzano type but after what should have been a near fatal blunder pruning a couple months back (accidentally snip through the bent over mainstem  instead of the lateral) it has basically gotten big enough to be threatening to choke off the last two melon starts in the far corner. It's  waist high and until a mass pruning tonight again basically covers all ten squares.  After pruning I'm down to just eight squares. 

And really large amount of tomatoes

Other I'm just struggling to do late starts on anything.  Heat boils they to death or slugs munch them before they can grow. I'm running out of beer bait. And that's really annoying.

Sanderson.....Another use for cheese cloth or light insect barrier.  I stick bamboo stakes in the ground between tomatoes and the sunshine and clip either of those items to the poles.  They provide enuf shade against the heat of the sun to keep from losing the plants or for them to stop production. 
Another reason this method helps is because in the late afternoon I can move the barrier cloth to the west side of the plants to keep the afternoon sun off them.  Easy peasy.

Can I assume that the cheesecloth or tulle will also help prevent sunscald on the ripening tomatoes - if there aren't enough leaves to protect the fruit??

Thanks Quiltbea!    Def going to be more protective in the future. 

You poor SoCals - I have been hearing about your drought conditions often!  I will keep you in my thoughts when doing my next rain dance...

Judy....When we had temps in the 90s last year I used the insect barrier cloth and never got sunscald either.  So I guess it works.
I didn't lay it over the plants because I didn't want to capture any heat under it so I just clipped it to the bamboo poles as sheeting in between the plants.
I'd post pix but can't do that with my new Win8.1 puter.  Its making me crazy.
Sorry I can't help with pictures.

especially the volunteers that have popped up in places in the garden. And I cut a couple of new tomatoes off when I thought I was just cutting some damaged leaves.  Darn, darn, darn... My eyesight ain't what it once was.

Just a reminder, this is the New England regional forum.

My tomatoes did horribly this year.  Not sure if it was because I planted them out too early - hi's still only in the 40's at night - or if they were so stressed out at planting time from holding them inside for so long, or if this summer was just too cold all around.  Probably all of the above.  Fortunately the seedlings I gave away at the beginning of the season were planted in warmer areas, produced well and some of the fruits were gifted back to me.    So I have one bag in the freezer for winter use.

Next year I won't plant as early indoors, and I won't put them outside so early.
(didn't I says this last year? )

CC

CC, I am guilty of all of the above as well.  It is so hard to wait when the early crops like lettuce are germinating and I think, well they are growing so everything else should be okay.  Oh, it is so easy to plant tomatoes, peppers, etc too early.  I am guilty and know better but keep doing it.  lol

It was a bad year for tomatoes, fer shure. I can say that apart from the Sungold cherry toms, the rest took so long to ripen that now I have a huge tub o' green toms and have maybe--and I'm being generous--eaten about 6 ripe toms all season.

I'm looking into a dedicated tomato, peppers and eggplant bed next year where I can make a mini-greenhouse with hoops to try to extend the season on the front and back ends.

"Think it'll work?" "It would take a miracle."

But hope springs eternal, LOL!

mollyhespra wrote:I'm looking into a dedicated tomato, peppers and eggplant bed next year where I can make a mini-greenhouse with hoops to try to extend the season on the front and back ends.

"Think it'll work?"  "It would take a miracle."

But hope springs eternal, LOL!

That's a really good idea!  'Cept not liking eggplant, I would do tomatoes, peppers & cukes.  And maybe another for summer squashes.

So I vote YES!  I think it would work...and I would cover way before planting to warm up the MM.

CC

Yes I place plants together that have similar needs. Pepper, tomatoes and aubergine all near each other so its easier to cover in fall and is the warmest spot during the growing season. The same with all the brassicas, if I can.

I tried planting that way this year and feel it worked out nicely. It worked particularly well with the brassica family and netting the whole bed against the cabbage moth. No worms this year at all. I will be testing out the plastic cover to extend the life of the pepper and eggplant bed shortly.

Lyndeeloo, what type of netting did you use?  I'm getting a little tired of the tulle not lasting thru 3 seasons...