It's Sunday! And that means my clothesline looks like this:
And on the seventh day, she washed face masks.
Also today, the backyard garden looks like this:
So green! So verdant! So doomed.
It's going to be 95 degrees today. It's going to be 95 degrees tomorrow. But Tuesday? Tuesday, our high--our high!-- is forecast to be 54 degrees.
A 40-degree drop in one day is extreme even for this place of extreme weather. But even more extreme than that? We're forecast to have a freeze Tuesday night.
No, 29 degrees on September 8 is not normal, nor is it appreciated. I spent all summer watering those tomatoes in the above photo to keep them alive so I could get a good harvest, anticipating that the majority of the tomatoes would be harvested in September. There are a LOT of green tomatoes on the plants. But they will not survive 29 degrees.
I'll cover the ones that have the most tomatoes on them as best I can, but I don't have enough material to cover all of them. Anyway, our forecast also calls for 30-mile-an-hour winds, which is going to make it hard to keep them covered.
Oh well. Mama N. giveth, and she taketh away. Such is the nature of gardening.
Still kind of sucks, though.
Maybe something will shift--but I did look at some weather maps, and the patterns are certainly ominous.
ReplyDeleteHopefully too, the heat from the house that it has stored plus a small breeze inside the fence may ward off the freeze of doom.
ReplyDeleteGreen fried tomatoes in the future. I bet you could even freeze them for later use green.
I just did the tomato crazy this past week. We cheated though and went to a u-pick farm and got 150 lbs of San Marzano's, plus a whole bunch of other veggies. Also, picked 60 lbs of Elberta peaches at a nearby orchard. Spent the last week pickling and canning and now have over 100 jars canned and tons in the freezer and the dehydrator is still running with the last of the peaches in it.
ReplyDeleteI'm hoping you get to harvest at least some of those tomatoes. That's a whole lot of work you have already put in to get the plants this far.
For next year try investing in a bundle of professional row cover material. If you take care of it it will last for years. Have A. come of up with hoops or staking for it. Can plant early and grow late with the covers. Think..your lettuce early! I've saved my maters more than once with the covers. I live in a mild climate so tend to push the boundaries of winter. Some years we get these weird unexpected hard freezes 2 months early. Row covers save me every time.
ReplyDeleteThis is what I bought at least 10 years ago. Most of it is still just fine. I don't remember what grade I bought though.
ReplyDeletehttps://www.johnnyseeds.com/tools-supplies/row-covers-and-accessories/