Kenny,
The weather is like a roller coaster ride around here. Fortunately I like roller coasters! I've been debating taking the WOW's off the tomatoes, but now I'm worried about frying the plants. I think I'll make them a sun shade this weekend. I'm off next week, so I'll have time to baby them.
The swamp cooler is a great idea!
Barb

We got red flag warnings, high wind warnings, low humidity, temps in the high 70's and 80's for the weekend. As in, don't light a match weather.

A couple of weekends ago, things were similar but not that hot, and we set out a few hundred assorted alium slips - green onion, Candy, leeks. The first ones in the ground were dried out by the time we finished. I've watered them enough now that they're coming back, but still.....

Can't wait for this extended period of 70-80+ temps to really get things going finally!

I took my WOW's off my tomatoes last weekend. Might have been a little early to do that, but they seemed to be getting squished inside and needed to stretch out a bit. I'll probably get some cukes, zukes, and peppers planted this weekend and use them on those.

A large, commercial greenhouse is essentially a swamp cooler in a glass box. Go for it, Kenny!

Up here near 49° North latitude: 33.6°F this morning, 30.6° yesterday. 50mph winds 3 days ago. I can think of better gardening conditions!

Today, I've still got every tomato under a bucket with a rock on it. Well, some of them are under large pots. That doesn't work so well - should have plugged the holes. There was a little frost damage yesterday but the plants really should have been covered during that wind earlier!

I wanted to take advantage of the clouds, rain, and cool conditions to limit transplanting shock. Hadn't given enuf thought to wind . . . It is a little surprising how much better the tomatoes in the greenhouse look compared to what went into the garden. . . . dismay . . .

Some will be replaced - ALL of the cukes and some of the squash/pumpkins will be replaced but I've got those extra plants, too. Surprising that some survived but the sprinkler didn't save them all and I felt lucky to have 60+ pots and buckets to use.

Zinnias were protected adequately by a plastic tunnel. The replacements here at home are terribly root-bound but may not be needed.

The furnace is on in the greenhouse again. Ah well, no roller coaster here . . . in the sub-polar regions.

Steve

Yep! 85* here today, 41* overnight LOL. Go figure. Crazy Colorado. I'm out there to put out my plants today, and by the looks of it I should start early so I'm not baking myself.

I've still got some to put out but think I will hold off. Forcast is for high wind today, tonight and tomorrow. I feel sorry for that poor little tent type GH when the wind blows, but it seems to take it.
Melons and cuks just don't sprout for me until the ground is really warm.
KennyP

Low temp at the house this morning:: 64ºF. Windows already closed at 9.15 this morning, and not just because the 35kt gusts are blowing everything everywhere. Peppers still in their pots, I wired the toms to their strings as they weren't staying on. My buddy in Eastern WA was saying they were getting 3days/wk of 50+ kt gusts lately...sigh...

Dan

When I was little we used 1 gal cans with the bottom cut out for small plants. A rich friend made his with 4 pieces of 2 by 12 about a foot long. I now use 5 gal buckets with the bottom cut out and a steel fence post across every two. I am running out of buckets.
KennyP

3:00 PM Sat. Greeley Co
temp 89* F humidity 12%
Wind 22mph with gusts to 30.
Not a good day to put out tomatoes
KennyP

So I had to bring in the peppers and one tomato, as I didn't have anywhere that wasn't getting the gusts to 45 kt. while temps were 86ºF and 9% humidity...NWS forecast sez windy thru Monday.

Gah.

Dan

Follow uo on Sun morning.
It was 41 degrees theis morning. Heater in my GH came on a bit.
No wonder my furnace was running when I woke up.
Never a dull moment in Colorado.

Dan,
Gah is exactly right! A wall of water blew down sometime yesterday and beat up a tomato pretty good. I'm not taking the rest down till this wind dies down, Tuesday is the last prediction I heard.
Kenny, my furnace kicked on this morning, too.
I said to heck with it Friday evening and planted my peppers, unprotected. I may regret that, but they're still standing so far.

I am exhausted from bad weather. . .

There were 3 frosts between the 20th and 24th. Prior to that, there were 3 days of really bad winds - or one day of bad wind and 2 days, leading up to it.

Do not use large pots to cover your tomato plants! Especially, do not use if you have wind while it is freezing! Or, use duct tape to close the holes in large pots when covering plants!

It looks like the 55+ tomatoes that were under the buckets are mostly okay. Those under pots will be replaced.

The most success I had at fending off the freeze was under a "hoopie" of pvc pipes and plastic film over the zinnias! Now, I've had bok choy freeze to the point of scarring right thru that kind of contraption so don't think that they can go down to low 20's or something.

The bok choy, spinach, etc. etc. seem to have gotten thru the frosts fine in the open garden. Wish I could say the same for the cucurbits that I didn't have enuf buckets to cover . . . there are more plants in the greenhouse for replacements.

Potatoes and dahlias (hurrah!!) were protected simply by running the sprinklers!

Well, it was forecast to be a 34° morning but the temps didn't drop below 40°!! Tonight a warm (& healing rain) may move in with a predicted low of 50°!

I should be able to get the peppers/eggplant out of the greenhouse for a little hardening off about 10am, load the pickup with the reserve tomato plants, and head off to the big veggie garden!

I said earlier that we weren't experiencing a roller coaster up here in the north but -- I completely forgot about the above normal temperatures and sunshine in the middle of the month. Bad weather can beat you down, you know . . .

steve's digits . . .

I ran out of rocks. Found a couple of my buckets in the parking lot down the street. The buckets with a steel fence post over every two held OK. Did I say that I have out 41 tomatoes with 37 varieties?
Neighbour lady went to Calif. for the week end. Got back to find a crack in her picture window and several windows in her car busted from the heat. Forgot to crack open a window.
I'm too old to put up with this s -- you know what.

KennyP

"Only" gusting in upper 20s-low 30s today, quite the break from being bombarded with projectiles yesterday. Drove around the District with an arborist today, lots of fun wind-blown things: lawn cushion in tree, umbrella far from home, recycle bins moving to Nebraska, lawn furniture askew...sure would like to put the peppers in the ground.

Dan

After narrowly escaping the tornado-spawning weather yesterday, it's supposed to get up into the lower 90s up here in Fort Collins. Time to get out the shade cloth (and anchor it down securely, just in case...)

We're forecast to get down to 34º on Sat night. Around here, if the forecast is anything below 40º, its gonna freeze. Time to move all that the potted egg plant and cucumbers and other sensitive stuff back inside. They changed the forecast from two days ago, when I moved all the stuff out.

One year, I'll get organized, and put all my potted plants on little carts with wheels that can hook together like a train, and then hook that onto the riding mower, and it will bet a lot easier. Toot toot.

David, if you ever do that, we need a picture :-)