The first tray of tomatoes is coming along nicely: Juliet (the fine saladette hybrid in the pic) and Striped German (a beautiful, big, bi-color heirloom), as unlike each other as can be, both in my top five all-around tomato picks of the last couple of years. I started this set early as a risk crop: if the weather looks at all promising, I’ll get them in the field in early May with row cover, and maybe gain a week or two on the “safe” last frost date (May 18). Hundreds of the earliest seedlings are at that stage where they have a few leaves now and are about to really shoot up! (On the lettuce-and-mouse front, no action with the traps I set out last night, and no more lettuce casualties: maybe the heady new smell of PEANUT BUTTER startled them off…for a while, at least.)
frost
Floating row cover!
It’s around 8:30 in the morning and I’m about to uncover the early lettuce. Floating row cover is a very lightweight spunbonded polyester, light enough not to crush seedlings when laid down directly on top. It lets in water and sunlight, and also retains heat, to differing degrees depending on weight. This one is medium weight, my all-purpose cover. It transmits 85% of sunlight and keeps the temperature 3-4°F warmer when the surrounding air is around zero. Over the last couple of nights, the greenhouse low was 19°F (-7°C)—the lettuce can take a little freezing, and would probably manage without cover. Still, every edge helps, and this one’s easy. Floating row cover is a common sight around here throughout the year, it’s my main organic alternative to pesticides (it keeps out certain flying insects on certain crops at certain critical times) and also gives you an edge in getting things out early and keeping them out late. Beat that frost!
Onions and cabbage
The days are getting short, the weather’s cooling down, and average first frost is only three days away. It’s still officially summer, but I’m in fall mode now. Green onions and the brassicas, like this open leaf cabbage, are hardy mainstays of the fall harvest.