50 degree soil is too cool for tomatoes anyway so I'd suggest you wait for 70 degree temps in raised beds before mulching. The mulching will cool the soil as you know and reduce the warming effect in the daytime. Plus raised beds have a tendency to cool off faster all on their own - unlike in-ground beds, they quickly react to air temps.

In your zone I would guess you are still having some cool night temps so you don't want the soil any cooler than it has to be this early or you'll just get stunted plant growth or none at all. next year you may want to hold off planting until the soil temp 4-6" down is well into the 60's minimum. Patience in planting out pays off in the end. ;)

Dave

g'day,

i can't comment on when to plant seasonal crops for your area but i would plant summer cros if the frosts have gone and the plants will get going when conditions suit them.

but our raised beds don't dry out any quicker nor do they cool down any qicker that tilled soil beds, temp' wise my reckoning is they could even warm quicker, but that could also be dependent on the orientation and aspected site of the gardens more than the type of garden.

we mulch heavily usually around the 6" to 8" thickness, this keeps the soil insulated ie.,. cooler in summer and warmer in winter as well as keeps the beds from drying out, much would be the case if we opted for tilled beds, the main differnce between the 2 styles of gardens is the lack of all that digging when using raised beds & leaving the soil structure undisturbed.

len

Here is a link that might be useful: len's garden page

Hello neighbor, it is way too early to mulch, specially tomatoes. They need the warm soil (the same goes for nearly every other summer veggie, though some greens would tolerate this early a mulching). I usually do it around June 15, and given our long winter and cold spring this year, probably June 30 this time.