I started my tomatoes, cabbage and broccoli less than 6 weeks ago, so plan to hold on to them until the weather warms just a bit more.

Mary,

Most of this coming week looks warm enough, although tonight will still be near 40 or cooler in much of NE Oklahoma. However, we have a cold front coming later in the week that may lead to a pretty chilly morning Friday morning. It probably won't be cold enough to freeze, but a good frost is possible. I'm waiting until next weekend to plant out in Tulsa.

Lee

Next year, I will shoot for the 6 weeks instead of 8 weeks on my "seed-to-plant out" dates. I, too am watching the weather. I have row cover enough for it all to buy me about 4 degrees. Thankfully, I started my peppers at the same time as my tomatoes, and they aren't taking over the lights yet, but are ready to plant. I will start hardening them off after that next cold spell. These plants really took off and surprised me. They are big (most are 12-15 inches root to tip), and they are blooming. There is a massive megabloom on one of the black krims, but I am picking off the blooms and putting them deep into raised rows (raised about 10 inches or so). The soil has been warming great, so at least that isn't an issue. I just never thought that my seedlings would take off like they did, having never grown from seed before.

I will be planting out pole beans, squash, and cukes on Monday. Everything else next Saturday. James

I have a half dozen more broccoli plants to put out, but several were planted when the cabbage went into the ground a week, or so, ago, but they are under Abribon 19 row cover. I have only planted one tomato plant so far, but I am thinking about adding a few more since I can easily cover them at night. It will be a long time before I plant peppers. They are still very small and I only started the hardening off process a couple of days ago. I normally don't plant them until 2 weeks after the tomatoes go in, and this year I got a late start with planting my seed. My average freeze date is next week, so I am really not late, but it seems like it when we have nice warm days.

I have been busy in the garden because I have added blackberries, strawberries, rhubarb, elderberries, raspberries and a new asparagus bed. It has been a lot of work this year, but should make next year an easy one. I think my garden is going to be very crowded this year, but I kind of like it that way. I will be able to add a few more things after the potatoes and onions and peas finish, but I won't have an inch to spare until then. I hope I can squeeze in everything that I have planned.

I'm probably still a couple of weeks away from planting seeds for the first of the summer things.

I put the last of my stuff out yesterday. Tomatoes, peppers, corn, and a new crop of brocolli. Beans, peas, and greens have been going strong for a while

I'm at the other end of the state from you and haven't planted my main crop of tomatoes yet, but the early plants have been in the ground about 3 or 4 weeks, or maybe 5. I don't remember when I planted them. Those early ones have had to be covered up one or two nights a week ever since I planted them, which explains why I haven't put more plants in the ground yet. The covering/uncovering gets old pretty quick, so I haven't been in a hurry to plant more rows of tomatoes that will need to be covered/uncovered on whatever cold nights remain.

Having said that, since I'm in southern OK, I'll probably begin transplanting my main crop of tomato plants into the ground either tomorrow or the next day. We aren't (yet) expecting to get quite as cold down here late in the week as y'all are likely to get up there. If our forecast deteriorates and our forecast low drops, I'll be covering up more tomatoes late this week, but I hate to put off planting them any longer because we're so warm already down here.

I always pay attention to what Lee posts about upcoming weather because he's a pro and knows what he is talking about. He keeps us updated on what the models are showing, and I appreciate that so much.

All my cool season crops, except carrots, were planted no later than the first week in March because we got so warm so early, except for the 1 or 2 cold nights weekly. I planted corn and bush beans last week, and thought I'd get cucumbers planted, but the area where I'm going to plant them is still too wet, so I'll wait a few more days for them. Other than that, I'll be planting warm-season crops as the soil temps and forecast, in combination, allow. I know my soil is plenty warm because volunteer southern peas, squash, gourds, tomatoes, and peppers have been sprouting. It is just the occasional cool night that has me dragging my heels a little bit.

NE Canadian County here. I planted 14 tomatoes today in two hoop houses. This year I started them from seed for the first time ever and am very pleased. They were planted February 7th, so they are way to big. I plan on buying other varieties from the store this week (along with peppers) and filling up the other 2.5 houses.

I attempted bell pepper from seed this year, bought a variety called " Ace " from Johnny's Select Seeds, it was their most popular seller.

And man, this things grow slow ! It took four weeks to germinate. I planted them Feb 9 and the two strongest plants are no more than 1.5 inch high, with four leaves.

They are no where near ready to plant.

My farm is in Lincoln County and I planted 11 tomatoes this weekend in a 12" raised bed. My concern isn't the cold, but the hot wind. Planted mustard, a variety less susceptible to bolting from the wind and harvested more spinach. This week I'll add more tomatoes in a different area (8' deer fence) along with squash and cukes.

The early heat is worrisome. I keep thinking that if we are having days this hot in winter and early spring, what does that say about what weather may be like in summer? When we get those first deliciously warm days in January, February or March, it is so wonderful and so welcome, but then the more 80-degree or 90-degree days that start popping up here and there way too early, the more I start thinking "this is just wrong".

Some of my dill is blooming already, which is just crazy. Overwintered fennel is blooming, which of course is normal. The earliest lettuce plants, planted in January, are trying to bolt already, which is aggravating, and I need to hurry up and harvest the spinach this week before it tries to do the same. I get the feeling the leafy cool-season crops aren't going to last as late into late spring as they usually do thanks to all the early hot weather. Oh well, if they finish up early, that leaves room for more tomato and pepper plants to go into the ground.

Even if I didn't want to put tomato plants in the ground this week, I have to do it. They're too big to stay in their current containers any longer, and I don't want to pot up all of them when it is time to go into the ground anyway. I'll still have to pot up the back-up tomato plants, which likely will end up at the Spring Fling at the end of the month.

Peppers are a lot slower from seed, but I feel like it works out okay. By the time they are large enough to put in the ground, the ground is plenty warm and the cool nights are no longer quite so cool. If I wanted to put peppers in the ground at the same time as tomato plants, I'd sow the pepper seeds a month earlier than the tomato seeds, but I just wait and put the pepper plants in the ground 2-4 weeks or even 6 weeks after the tomato plants go into the ground. Since pepper plants aren't fond of cool to cold nights and don't tolerate them as well as tomato plants do, it all works out well in the end.

cochise, I'd be worried about your hot wind too were I in your shoes. I hope it doesn't beat up on your tomato plants too much. Our wind is only forecast to gust into the low 30s down here this week, and I know it is supposed to be worse further north. We are in a fairly sheltered location with woodland very close to the garden on both its north and south sides, so we have a decent windbreak when winds are out of the north or south, and less of a windbreak if they're out of the east or west. I kind of hate to put plants into the ground today knowing it will be so windy tomorrow and the next day, but it is time to plant. I doubt I'll be planting anything in tomorrow's stronger wind and will work on other stuff while waiting for a calmer day to resume planting. I hope to get a lot of tomato plants in the ground today so it won't hurt so much tomorrow to take a day off from planting because of the strong winds. We are so green here out in the fields that I believe our wildfire risk is really dropping. The most recent fires in our county have been much slower-moving and easier to extinguish quickly, and that's a good sign here.

When it comes to perennial and reseeding annual flowers in the garden, the warm-season flowers are up and growing so early that they're competing with the cool-season flowers they usually follow. They're just going to have to share space this year and compete to see who wins. It is abnormal to have zinnias sprouting at the same time as larkspur and poppies, and it looks like the zinnias may outgrow the other two. So far, the late cold nights haven't knocked the fruit off the fruit trees, so it might be a fruitful year here. That almost worries me because often the peaches and plums are ripening at the same time as the main tomato harvest, which means a lot of harvesting and canning happens all at once.

Spent the day planting cukes, squash, tomatoes, radish and lettuce. Here's one tired fellow. James

I hope I didn't kill my tomato plants today. I put them outside almost all day, but they were sheltered on the porch and hardly got any sun, but it was windy...but not much more than the ceiling fan on high speed that I've kept them under for the past week. The leaves look a little bad.

Tomorrow is going to be VERY windy statewide. Protect your young tomatoes if you can.

Lee

I went outside this morning intending to plant today. First, though, I had a lot of cool-season crops to harvest, wash, sort, and then prepare either for fresh eating or for blanching/freezing. By the time I was done with that work, it had gotten fairly hot already and I decided against planting today. I'm glad I made that decision. I felt uneasy planting them in this heat and in advance of the windy days, and we aren't even going to be all that windy compared to most of y'all. Since I have no indention of transplanting tomatoes into the ground in Tuesday's/Wednesday's winds, that makes Thursday my tomato planting day.

Hazel, Was it their first full day out? They ought to bounce back, but I'd be very careful where I put them tomorrow. They will need either a very sheltered location to protect them from the combination of strong wind/heat, or they might be better off inside a building. I'm planning on leaving everything in the greenhouse tomorrow, with a large fan running to keep air moving so the greenhouse won't overheat.

When plants look to me like they took a beating from the outdoor conditions, I give them the day off the next day to recover, and generally the day off consists of staying indoors on the light shelf or in the greenhouse under the 50% shadecloth.

Lee, The maximum wind gust numbers for a large portion of the state are sort of scary. I've had wind in those ranges break onion necks before. I hope it is not a bad fire day statewide (or anywhere).

Dawn