Frost roulette

Tribe's Tobique tomato

The average last frost date for Lethbridge is May 17.  The many websites that consistently provided this information also warned that, of course, the actual date of the last frost is not so consistent.  One should add two weeks just to be sure, or almost sure, that the garden is safe from killer frost for the next three months (Is that all??!!).  Nevertheless,  the weather has been great, and I figured the sooner the baby plants get out of their little pots and into the ground, the faster they will grow.  Two squashes and four tomatoes were selected last weekend to play frost roulette.  Another five tomatoes, two squashes, and a few herbs - cilantro, thyme, nigella, sage - followed a couple of days later.  One fairly cold night I drew the plastic cover over the hoop bed and placed little plastic tents over the tomatoes in other locations.  They looked a bit scary in the morning, but seem to have sustained no permanent damage.  I once heard (once!) somebody say that a plastic covering can promote frost.  Maybe a vapour-permeable cover would have been safer.  I don't know what frost is, or how it works, just that it can maim and kill plants that weren't meant to persist in this climate.  There is another topic for me to research.  A serious gardener should have a working knowledge of frost.

Costata Romana zucchini, in better days

 After a week it doesn't look as if the transplanted tomatoes or squashes are doing any better than their potted siblings.  In fact, the Costata Romana zucchini appears to be done for and the potted cilantro is in better shape that the one in the ground.  Another sixteen days to go to average last frost plus two standard deviations (or however they worked out the additional two weeks safety margin) and then we will see if there was any point to putting these plants at risk.  If early transplantation does make a difference, it might make sense to plant the full garden in early May, if the two-week forecast looks good, and have a full set of back up plants in case the killer frost does happen.  More work, though.  Another kind of backup plan is the one we used last year, when transplanting was done a week before the end of May (because I was going away for a few days and the plants didn't stand much of a chance in  pots) and then it snowed - Greenhaven Garden Centre.

Caution: Worm at work (2010)

Sowing seeds in May isn't scary like doing live vegetable transplants.  Following the demise of all the early cauliflower transplants, a line of cauliflower seeds was sown on the north side of the south pea fence.  It's hard to know if there will be enough room for them; they definitely aren't getting the regulation spacing for their kind.  Last year, the cauliflower and brussels sprouts plants were swarmed by delicate white butterflies and then devoured by their ravenous offspring.  Two inch cauliflowers had developed by October, but overall, it was a bit of a waste of space.  These ones might have to try growing under a shroud of row cover fabric.
In other pest news, the spinach leaf miners are probably quite excited about the upcoming feeding frenzy in the raised bed.  I had finally topped up the soil level in the bed - it had sunk considerably since been built on a bed of uncomposted organic matter some years ago - and sown several rows of spinach family seeds: Kaleidescope and Silverbeet Swiss chard, Detroit Dark Red beets, and Bloomsdale spinach.  Then I looked in The Vegetable Gardener's Bible to see what good companions I might eventually fit between the rows and wished I had done that half an hour earlier.  Above the "good companions" list was "rotation considerations". For all spinach family plants, one should avoid following spinach family plants.  What was I thinking?  The leaf miners know where to look and can't wait for the first leaves to open.  Maybe enough interplanted onions will put them off.  One can hope.

pea - riscope

garden cress

 Yesterday I felt terribly behind on the sowing.  It would be easier if I knew exactly where everything was going to live for the summer.  Sticking with easy decisions, I added two more cages of Schweiserreisen peas, and then more radishes, garden cress, and Black Simpson lettuce next to the existing rows of the same.  Plenty of vacancy in all the garden beds right now, but there are also plenty of reservations.  The time to assign specific accommodations is fast approaching.