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First dry, then cold. What are we supposed to do?

Posted on June 5th, 2009 – 10:11 AM
By Connie Nelson

When it comes to gardening in Minnesota, if it ain’t one thing, it’s another. The Twin Cities metro area is officially in a drought. That means we’ve had to water, water, water. For much of the spring, the temperatures have been cooler, which has helped a bit. If it had been hot, our gardens and grass would be even drier than they are. But now we get a forecast that calls for nighttime temps in the 40s, even colder up north. Yikes!

Tomatoes, peppers and other heat-loving plants like basil don’t like this weather one bit. They shouldn’t get zapped — unless the mercury dips down into the 30s — but they aren’t going to be happy. These much-loved plants love temperatures in the 60 to 90 range. (Hey, so do I.) Unless the weather warms up, they could be stunted or just not perform well.

So, whatcha gonna do? Are you going to wait and see? Cover at night? Replant later? How you are going to help your warm-season veggies make it through this not-so-warm spring?

This entry was posted on Friday, June 5th, 2009 at 10:11 am and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.

10 Responses to "First dry, then cold. What are we supposed to do?"

MNmom says:

June 5th, 2009 at 10:52 am

I think we’ll be fine in the Cities, but it’s no fun looking at little plants quaking in their root balls and just not flourishing. Maybe I’ll throw a sheet over the tomatoes and try not to think of the money so enthusiastically spent this spring.

Connie Nelson says:

June 5th, 2009 at 1:00 pm

Yeah, I’m hoping that my peppers and ‘mates will do OK. If not, I’m going to go to the garden center and buy new plants. It’ll only cost a few bucks and, in the end, it’ll be better than watering and feeding straggly, stunted plants.

Connie Nelson says:

June 5th, 2009 at 1:01 pm

I’m hoping that my peppers and ‘mates will be OK.
If not, I’m going to wait a week or so then go buy new plants. It’ll cost a few bucks, but it’s better than struggling along with sickly plants.

Julia says:

June 5th, 2009 at 1:20 pm

Luckily I haven’t put out my peppers, tomatoes, or basil yet. I am doing that late next week.

Eric says:

June 5th, 2009 at 2:07 pm

First those 90º days fried my lettuce and roquette into oblivion. Now these colder days are shrivelling the tomatoes. I haven’t put out peppers or chilis yet. My melons and cucumbers appear to be stuck.

The gardening thing is tough business!

dsdsaint says:

June 5th, 2009 at 5:04 pm

I planted my basil and tomatoes in large containers. Now I tent them with plastic bags w/hole at top to keep them in their own hot house.

Sue says:

June 5th, 2009 at 11:19 pm

I put my tomatoes out a month ago each in a teepee Wall of Water to warm them up. Great device. They are huge, flowering and I even have one tomato set. It is time now to take off the Wall of Water because the plants are so big, but I am worried that this cold weather will slow them down.

DebW says:

June 6th, 2009 at 8:34 pm

My spinach bolted waiting to get some weather that was suitable. The tomatoes just got put in as I was afraid that they would get nipped, the peppers go in Sunday. I may write off cucumbers or just scale waaaay back so I have enough to eat but no more than that as time is getting short. The cole crops even are waiting to go nuts, the romaine is looking grumpy too.

Amelia Sprout says:

June 8th, 2009 at 10:48 am

My tomatoes that were larger plants are looking OK, not great, but OK. Lush but small? I have nipped flowers off once, since I want them bigger. The peppers were looking ok, but the jalepenos looked sad when it got cold.

I am taking advantage of the cooler temps and got another raised bed in and planted peas, as well as more lettuce.

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