It was spitting snow this morning. I think I'll wait.

Skibby where are you generally?

I am also hardening off my tomatoes for planting this weekend. Most will be in the ground and a few in pots. The forecast in my area is predicting lows at 50F or above for the week so I feel comfortable putting them out.

I'm zone 6 b now and I wouldn't. Even with warmer weather New England's weather personality hasn't changed enough for me to plant tomatoes before May 30. I've done it and they just sit there and sit there. But what do I know about gardening on the North Shore?

I have some thick black plastic down and was thinking of cutting holes for the tomatoes. When it gets warmer I would remove the plastic.

attended a workshop yesterday on Heirloom Tomatoes. The grower grows over 100 varieties and supplies restaurants in the Manchester and Concord area. I hadn't even heard of most of his favorite varieties that he will have for sale later this month. He doesn't believe in putting out plants early when weather can be iffy although he covered several suggestions for keeping plants warm. His trick for getting early tomatoes is to start them early and then keep re-potting into larger pots so by the time they go outside, they have a large root system. I think he said 6" pot is the final size. I have plants in the large Red Solo cups right now. I started hardening off a batch of tomato plants today and some were wilting in an hour. I'm in NH, zone 5 but I'm going to try planting in my high tunnel next week but just a couple of plants to test. I also have Agribon to swaddle them if it looks like a cold night. Local greenhouse owner said her double layer plastic greenhouse stays 10 degrees warmer than outside night temperatures but I pointed out that she has concrete floor that holds heat.

The tomato plants I just picked up from a local grower are only about 6" tall but I've always had good luck with her plants and her timing. They won't be terribly root bound in 2 weeks but will probably be ready for more root room.

Good advice. I think I will pot up the ones I have now and wait to put them out.

I'm in 6a and I put my tomatoes out April 15th. I keep an eye on the nighttime low if it looks like frost I'll put a plastic cup over the tomatoes. I didn't have to do that this year.

I can tell you this for sure, they don't die and my plants grow very large and have great yields. I'll also add that my tomatoes in the greenhouse are much bigger than the ones that are outside.

defrost49, can you give more info on the heirloom tomato sale later this month?

Thanks!

Rusty's Heirloom Tomatoes on Stark Hwy in Dunbarton. He has a basic website. The list of tomatoes is only about 2 dozen that he has for sale. The website still shows 2015. List is slightly different for this year. There are two varieties tempting me: Moravsky Div fro Moravia - a compact potato-left plant - 2-3 oz fruit, determinate, 70 days. Impressive product for a potted plant; and Indigo Cherry Drops which are new for 2016, a 1 oz cherry, regular leaf, small indeterminate plant suitable for a large pot, 70 days. I started some tomatoes from seed but mostly ordered some individual plants from Robin Sweetser in Hillsboro. I wanted a variety of paste tomatoes since I had such good luck with dehydrating them,

BTW, I'm 6b. I just repotted my tomatoes and decided I will wait a few weeks to put them in ground. We have such a short growing season I'm always trying to find a way to streeettcchh it out somehow LOL.

I started my tomatoes way too early this year and have had to keep potting them up. Of all years to do that! Next year, I will be starting them much later!

They're a pretty good size right now, in clay pots and most have tomatoes on them already. I was going to try putting them in the ground this weekend, but I saw Eric on WBZ say we could possibly have frost on Monday and Tuesday night. So I'm in delay mode again.

I did plan on using wall of waters to get the tomatoes out a little early, but now the tomatoes are too large for them. [g] I'll use them for the peppers instead. This weekend, I'm going to try to rig up some protection with an upside down wire tomato cage and some plastic with clothes pins and get them into the ground by next weekend. I've had black plastic on the ground heating up the soil for a few weeks, which I will remove when I plant out.

The peppers on the other hand, will wait for overnight temperatures to be consistently above 50 degrees.

I missed the WBZ frost warning but I overheard a plant grower warn some others yesterday that there's a full moon May 21 and to expect a couple of clear days which I took to mean no cloud cover. May full moon is usually our last time for frost but I'm up in NH, zone 5ish and in a bit of a valley that's cooler than my neighbors. Last year I bought a large tomato plant at the local nursery "4th of July" and put it in my high tunnel. It had the first ripe tomatoes so that's the easiest way for me to get early ripe tomatoes. I grew Stupice before that but its no longer available and was a poor producer.

I grew '4th of July' the year before last. It was quite a producer. I just hoped I could find a tomato with a little bit more taste. It was acceptable, but I'm still looking for a larger tomato with more flavor. This year, I'm trying 'Mountain Princess' for an early tomato, 'Pruden's Purple' for a larger tomato, and 'Black Prince' for some reason I don't remember. [g] Last year, 'Sungold' was my earliest, my tastiest, healthiest and my best producer, as it always is. I just want a large tomato that is as successful.

Ok everyone, let's talk trellising. Every year I look for the perfect way to tie my babies up and usually fail miserably.