This year has been strange weather wise.
70's and 80's for a week then 3 days of 50's to low 40's at night then like last week,pushing high 90's now high 50's low 60's...
Mid 40's at night tonight.
It'll be in the constant 100's in a few weeks.

Plants,hardened off or not just ,won't have the root structure yet to deal with these hot spells we'll be getting without a decent spring.

Same but opposite up here in Wisconsin. Very cold April but now this week we are supposed to reach the 80's. Lows above 50 almost all week. We are talking about degrees above normal this time of year up here. I saw it was 97 in NW Iowa today. Yikes. Of course, when we get warm weather in the spring around here, you can count on a storm. My cold frame isn't coming off anytime soon.

first off, i feel you guys! this is my first season of super hot growing and i jumped the gun, now i am dealing with a couple shocked plants.

Smoke, where do you live?

smoke is in Van Nuys, up in LA. :) And I'm just a little south of him in Santa Monica. :) My mom lives in San Diego, near the SDSU campus, just off of 8. :)

Rudy

Hello, my southern neighbors...!

Rained today...but at least that knocked down some of the pollen in the air.

Nights are in the 40F's up here, and this is standard for the first half of May.
It's always a rough time of year for new plants. If you have cold-frames, use 'em!
Yellowing leaves are common while the soils are moist and the ground temps still cool.

Josh

Smoke, I was thinking the same thing about root structure. I planted too early and I
was worried about stunted plants but now I am hoping the roots will have an advantage
since we are likely skipping spring. Spongey, maybe this will help you out too.

The annoying thing about the cold nights is that it hit 90 multiple times last week,
so the plants are getting all sorts of temperature fluctuation. When it got to 93
they were fairly wilted with freshly watered soil, blech!

Josh, Davis is brutal right now! I don't even get allergies and I am a mess.
My classes are all about 30% capacity and you cant hear the professor over the sneezing.

Thanks rudy,
I live 1 mile from mission bay but have a south west facing balcony so I get from 1 till sunset sun. This whole.week daytime.high of.maybe 70, if I can get my.2 plants.that are badly shocked( lost 8 of 10 leaves) and one I noticed has wilted leaves but no drop yet, back up hopefully by then the weather will be more consistant!

Hey, Phil, I remember the awful allergies I had when I was going to Davis...
the yellow pollen would form inch-deep drifts in the parking lots. It was awful!

For me, I don't plant before May 1st anymore - the weather just doesn't co-operate.

Josh

Less than 2 weeks ago, I had night temps in the mid - upper 30's, now, high supposed to be 90 / lows around 60. Have been working on hardening off for this past week and getting ready to plant out. But, rain is possible starting tomorrow and sticking around for the next 4-5 days. I'm afraid with my clay around here, they'll be drowned! haha!

Sheets, I have really serious adobe clay stuff under my garden, I mulch heavily and dig trenches to avoid flooding.

It's finally starting to feel like Spring here..."sunny with chance of thunderstorms"...
I've spent the day potting up my babies from cell packs to 8oz and 16oz cups. I've been putting some outside for a while the past few days, but I don't have my containers or my raised bed ready yet, so not officially hardening off. Some will go back under the light(the ones that will fit,lol)My kitchen is filled with peppers and toms...leggy, but otherwise healthy...and the deer are just waiting...

You got the deer peeking through the window with anticipation?? :-)

I got most peppers planted last night. This year I'm trying raised rows/hills to help with drainage / drying. Even later in the year when it stops raining, I think the peppers will do fine. Plus, I've got a couple rain barrels and the hose as a last resort.

"You got the deer peeking through the window with anticipation?? :-)"

Pretty close to it! Our apartment building is next to a vacant wooded lot that is one of their thoroughfares. The back yard is fenced(along lakefront)and they literally circle the building in the evening and wee morning hours. They will come up the walk just a few feet from the front door to browse my plants. They pretty much stroll through town sampling the fresh garden goodies. Last year there were 6, this year there are 10.
So between the storms(which are rolling in currently)and the deer, gardening is quite the challenge.

Woke up to a thunder crash and pea-sized hail pummeling my plants...lay year it was 100 degrees right now. Pots had a good half inch of hail in them by the time I moved em. SPRING YOU ARE A JERK.

Hey, Phil!
Yessir, thunder and lightning and powerful rain all night and into the morning.
Rain means slugs....so I dumped a bunch of Sluggo around my plants when I got up,
then covered them with the Alhambra jugs just to keep the temps up around the foliage.
But the cold, wet soils of May always spell yellowing leaves for peppers.
It is what it is....

There was snow in Grass Valley, so I guess I'm lucky that I missed that disaster.
Temps have been hovering in the low 40F's.

Josh

Some of my plants are taking the cold much better than others. The Hungarians are definitely yellowing the most. I think I will clip all the fruit to help them take this cold.

Hey, Phil!
Yessir, thunder and lightning and powerful rain all night and into the morning.
Rain means slugs...
.. and worms :) Rain brings lots of those too.

Now I've asked this before but didn't really get a response. So I guess I'll try again. I read that allium family plants, like tulips, onions , garlic etc will keep slugs away. Has anyone else heard of this? Or did I misread this.

I was in Hungary some years ago, maybe 10, in the spring. And noticed that everyone partitioned their gardens with Tulips. I thought it was kinda cute that everyone would enjoy growing tulips so much that they would all plant them as subdividers within their gardens. Then recently I read the above and it started to make more sense.

Rudy

I don't know about slugs, but I planted garlic, onions, and marigolds because the same was said to me about their relationship with aphids and whiteflies. They did not work, at all. The marigolds protect the whiteflies from my spray, and the aphids killed some of the onions before I noticed them.

I would try it to find out, but don't hope for too much.