The importance of fifty degrees

Here comes may --- the ladies in my family always started to set out plants on the first of May with the same diligence that they applied to planting peas on St Paddy’s day.  But they also covered their plants at night to protect against the chill in spring evenings (and clear skies). All the greens are happy in this weather, but your summer plants simply do not like extreme cold.

If you want to put out your started plants, harden them first for a couple nights under cover (even newspaper) and then watch the weather.  Nighttime lows below 50 degrees will set back your young plants, unless you cover them as well.  The soil should be 50 degrees minimum as well (don’t throw out that old thermometer) if you really want to be sure. One way to ‘cheat’ is to warm the soild with anything black (there is no science about black plastic, by the way) that the sun heats up nicely.  You don’t see them so much anymore but the old boys used to use ‘tomato caps’ to cover, and now they sell expensive ‘wall ‘o water’ covers. Nighttime setbacks will give you spindly plants and less harvest.

For my opinion, it is worth the wait for a couple of weeks if you can do a cold frame against the side of your house – summer plants love full long sunshine and degree days and we are not there yet.