….And The Results of the Freeze. Plus a Word on Thermometers!

So the Tomatoes fared very well last night. Unfortunately I did not, I’ve been running fever for two days now. The foretasted low outside was 28 degrees F. As you can tell by the picture, the recorded low inside the low tunnel (which was inside the high tunnel) was 35F. I kept a few tomato plants uncovered in the high tunnel just to see what would happen. The result was a mostly dead tomato plants. Some of the inner leaves made it; none of them outright died.

We have a few more cold days coming up. 27 is the lowest forecast, I think on Friday, but these things change so fast.

Anyway, I’d appreciate it if you all pitied me greatly for having to feed chickens and cover and uncover 150 tomato plants while running fever. It really sucked. I have a load of cell flats that are probably in need of watering, but I need to wait for the Dayquil to kick in before I do that. Ahhhhh! Dayquil!

The thermometer/hygrometer in the pic is sweet. 10 bucks on Amazon, and works well, recording both daily high and low. It’s not an outdoor thermometer, but works great in a greenhouse! I want to buy a slew of them and put them everywhere.

Freeze Tonight…

Time for the high tunnel to prove itself! The forecasted low is 28…I have low tunnels with row covers set up over the tomatoes inside the high tunnel. And I have thermometers everywhere. Keeping my fingers crossed!

Growing Oyster Mushrooms on Straw is the Easiest Thing I’ve Ever Done in My Life…

Seriously.

I may be speaking too soon,  since I haven’t actually tasted one yet, but I just noticed a bunch of fruit-bodies all around the bag. Some are pretty big. So I opened the tops of the bags to let them do their thing. I started the bags on the 15th, methinks. So, what’s that? Like three weeks. I know mushrooms grow fast once the fruiting bodies form, so maybe another few days to harvest? Can’t wait!

There’s something unearthly about mushrooms and the way they grow.  I’m fascinated by their growth in ways that I never am of plants.

How I Plant Tomatoes- First Transplants In The High Tunnel

I spend the bulk of today transplanting the very first tomatoes I grew from seeds this year into the ground. Here’s the step by step process of what I did to give them a little boost and ensure they’ll have a happy, productive life. I hope?

1. I took a soil test. Soil tests are important. I know this because everyone says so, so in my struggle to please everyone, I always make sure to do this. Rarely do the results cause me to do anything other than what I was planning to do anyway, but sometimes it will point out a glaring deficiency that can be easily corrected. They are easy to collect and inexpensive. Contact your Extension service for info on where to send your test. Most tests come with recommendations, so be sure to tell them you’re growing organically (you are, right?)

2. I mixed in manure. We live nearby a race horse stable so this is easy. There’s a literal mountain of old horse manure that I can take as much as I want from. It isn’t pure manure (oxymoron?), rather stable bedding, so the majority of the mix is wood shavings from the stable floor. I would usually lime at this point, but my soil test showed my soil ph to be optimum

3. I used Symbex, a liquid ground-applied  product that claims to increase microbial activity. I think it’s sugar water. I bought some a few years ago, while planting blueberries, from a persistent salesman who thought it was awesome. I disagree, but am a sucker for confident salespeople. Why don’t you skip this step?

4. Make sure your plants are hardened off properly. Introduce them slowly to the outdoors, a few hours a day, increasing the time each day until they get a handle on things. I…heh…had some problems with this recently.

5. I planned for a cloudy day. Keep an eye on weather forecasts and shoot for an overcast day to transplant. Ideally a few overcast days in a row. When you transplant something from a container into garden soil, the root system will become damaged no matter how gentle you are, and the plant will have trouble taking up water till the adapt to their new environment.  Cloudy skies will ensure less water loss by transpiration. Yes, transpiration. Google it.

Also, you want to avoid any hard rain shortly after setting them out….DUHZ!!!

6. Mulch, Mulch, Mulch…I used red plastic, you use whatever you want to use. Wood chips, hay or grass clippings, newspaper, plastic mulch, corncobs, bagasse, whatever agricultural or yard wastes you can get you hands on. I can’t stress mulching tomato plants enough. Even moisture is essential and mulch helps you not have to water every five minutes.

7. I gave them a little pick-me-up in the planting hole. We have a can-o-worms, which is exactly what it sounds like, and although our worms are particularlly lazy in the excrement department, I was able to scrape together almost a five gallon bucket of worm castings (weirdest euphemism ever). I put a handful in each hole.

8. I dug the tansplants deep. Tomatoes have the abiliy to grow roots along their stem when it comes in contact with the ground. I clipped all the leaves of the plant except the top two (or four, due to my whimsicality on pruning decisions) and planting each plant all the way so that only the top leaves were showing. This ensures a good root system.

9. I mixed a few gallons on water with concentrated fish emulsion, which can be acquired at most garden centers, and poured about 3 and a half ounces on each plant, letting it hit the leaves and soak into the soil for a shot of nitrogen.

10. I gave them each a collar for cutworms. Cutworms are a big problem here (albiet not this time of year, still old habits die hard, and I know the minute my back is turned…) and I hate the stupid buggers. Without a collar of some kind around the base of the plant (cut up toilet paper rolls work best) they hew your price plants down like a freaking beaver. I lost a third of my tomatoes in one night due to these uncivilized and disrespectful caterpillars.

Yup, Yup, that’s what I did. Now to keep an eye on the weather. Both eyes. A cold snap could be my undoing, even in the high tunnel. I have plenty of row cover on hand, so hopefully…….

Roll Out The Red Carpet- Red Plastic Mulch for Tomatoes

Plastic mulch rocks. It warms the soil, keeps weeds pretty much 100% down, protects your drip tape, etc. The only thing that sucks is it’s pretty much not reusable and isn’t excatly sustainable. Rick, on the previous post, mentioned biodegradable plastics made from cornstarch. For the fall season I will defintely be giving these a try, but for now I had already purchased a 600 foot roll of regular red plastic film.

So why red? To quote Iowa State: