Hello everyone. I have been lurking here on and off for a while. This is my 2nd year with a small raised bed veggie garden. I started some tomato seeds and eggplant seeds back in March, and they are thriving indoors. Problem is, they are getting quite big now (one is almost 2 ft tall) and we've been having unusually cool weather lately. Is it still too soon to put them out in the garden?? Has anyone else in my zone put their veggies out yet with success?? I don't want to kill them or anything--but I'm really ready to get them out of my bay window and into the ground!
Thanks!
Is it too soon to put transplants outside in 7a?
Karen ~ have you been moving them out some to harden them off? If not, I would start doing so. That will toughen them. If you have, I would consider planting with a means to offer them protection by covering them should you have any more frosty nights.
This link http://davesgarden.com/guides/freeze-frost-dates/index.php?q=Long+Island+New+York indicates the frost chance should be over. If the nights are still cool, your plants will sulk and not grow in ground but will take off when the soil warms. Good luck. pod
Thanks Podster. I'll start hardening them off this week. Today it's raining so I'll start tomorrow. Hopefully by Sunday I'll be able to plant them. My windowsill is starting to look like the deep jungles of Brazil or something. ; )
In your area, I think the best date for planting is Memorial Day.
Karen, I have to ask -- what size pot are your tomatoes in? If they are long and leggy, are you aware that you can plant them fairly deep in the garden? Meaning, break off most of the bottom leaves, make sure the roots aren't going round and round (if they are, break them up some), then plant the tomato deep into the ground. All the little fuzzy hair-like things on the stem will become roots and help anchor the plant. I also am in zone 7a -- in Texas. Amazing to me how NY can be zone 7. I am just now getting tomatoes in the garden, but they are in fairly large pots, following the above information. I already have tomaotes on some of them. Yum!
Karen, I'm in the same zone and I sowed my tomato seeds on March 15th and planted them out in the garden on 5/11 after the last frost warning. I put my peppers (sown 3/5 along with my eggplants) in on the 13th and my eggplant in on the 19th. I had been hardening them all off in the daytime and putting them back in the greenhouse only if the temps were dropping below low forties. I think we're safe now, though!
I just wanted to add a note to what Gretagreenthumb said about plantng tomatoes deep. You can also plant tomatoes horizontally in a trench if the stems are long - depth - maybe 5" down, 7" or more wide. you lay the roots and stem from left to right and them take the end of the plant and stand it up and fill in the dirt so it grows straight up. The entire stem sets roots and the plants become more stable and able to stand up to the wind.
Thanks everyone. I will definitely plant some of the taller ones deeper. The plan was to plant them this weekend, but I still need to add some soil to the bed--and it looks like I won't be able to get that accomplished for a few more days. They are still going strong in the pots, and I have been hardening them off since Thursday.
Having just gotten back from vacation, I got the last of mine planted out yesterday. I bury all of mine as deep as I can get them, up to their tiny little necks, if possibly. They will grow bigger and stronger that way.
Best of luck to you!