When should I plant my tomatoes?
Another frustrating spring with ambiguous weather... is it warm enough yet to plant tomatoes?
Posted May 17, 2019, 4:14 PM UTC
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You want a soil temp above 50F. Stick a thermometer in the ground 4-6" first thing in the morning to check it. It doesn't hurt to wait a week or two for warmer weather once the soil hits 50. Raised beds stay cooler, so wait a little longer if that's what you have. They won't set fruit until overnight temps hit 55F, but they'll grow leaves and roots in the meantime.
So basically, now is good! Mine have been out for 3 weeks now and are doing fine.
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Maybe I should get a thermometer. I have a garden in the ground, in the sunniest part of my yard (which still doesn't get as much sun as I would like). During this bit of sunshine, I weeded and turned the soil to mix in the winter leafy mulch, and added some chicken manure. I was concerned about the cool evenings, though, and now all this cold rain.
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Raised beds stay cooler
Srsly?
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Yes, but "cooler" may be the wrong word. Their soil temperature swings more than the ground. Cooler when it's cold, hotter when it's hot.
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In general raised bed farmers would be able to plant earlier than those planting in the ground.
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"In general" being the important part. A cold snap or certain shade/moisture/evaporation conditions can drop temps down again faster than in-ground. The point is: don't guess, measure.
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We have planted starts mid May in our raised beds the last 4 years and have never had any issues. Everything is doing well right now.
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just wanted to be done with it.
I did that last year, and I think maybe I planted too soon. My peppers didn't do much, and I feel like my squash didn't either. The tomatoes seemed ok, though. I even managed to keep them evenly watered, and had no blossom-end rot, yay!
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[deleted]
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Oh I get you, and it's a more helpful comment :)
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Now
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We've had starts in the ground for 2 weeks, even when it's been colder, they've put out more leaves compared to when we got them.
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Mine have been happily chugging along. I had them in a plant tunnel for about 2 weeks, but I've since removed it. I am growing the "siberian" variety - not actually from Siberia, but they are cold-tolerant.
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I’ve had tomatoes out under cloches in my raised beds for about 4-5 weeks. I put them out real small and i’ve just removed the last cloches this week.
Started indoors from seed and most are a foot or so high now. Just making this shit up as I go along but it seemed to work.
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cloches
That sounds mysterious to me... I'm a "put it in the ground and then remember to put out slug beer" kind of person. Along with soaker hoses on a slow drip. I learned a long time ago that if I don't "set it and forget it" I will kill anything I plant, because I just have a hard time being consistent over long periods.
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My old gardening book (printed in the 1970's) was very adamant about never planting tomatoes in Portland before Memorial Day, as the risk of tomatoes being stunted by a cold snap were deemed to big of a risk before that magical date. Welcome to climate change and hardier varieties of tomatoes I guess. After some numbers of years of sticking to that date and watching everybody else get a three to four week head start ... Go for it! May 1st still seems kind of early to me. But it's May 17th now. Get 'em in the ground!
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last week.
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I planted mine about a month ago, using these:
Kept them on until the plants poked through the top. They’re enjoying the late rain.
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Partly depends on how willing you are to hover and cover.
If you leave town often, tend to get really busy/preoccupied, or need to keep your gardening work within certain free hours, waiting might be good.
If you're willing to monitor the weather and get out in the middle of the night with tarps and such, then earlier is fine.
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I planted starts a couple weeks ago and they’re doing well.
Awesome! A trip to the nursery tomorrow then!