Tomatoes and Cukes...

[nooby]

So good people... I trust you are all staying safe and looking after yourselves?

I have an allotment but is quite a way from home so we have decided just to grow some bits at home and see how it goes... I managed to get potatoes, onions, carrots, beets, chard and a few other bits in before the lockdown.

I am based near the south coast and have some tomatoes which are getting very tall, and some cukes that re also getting restless, the toms have buds and the Cukes the same, well miniscule cuke buds...

I plan on potting them in large lovely warm teracotta pots, in a very sunny sheltered spot,. Can I do this now? I mean normally around now I would put them in the ground in the poly. I know it should be may, mid may but will it hurt if I keep an eye on the weather and cover them if need be?

I already know the answer I think, but the lockdown is making me even more impatient... I just dont think it is plausible to keep them indoors for another month.

Thanks in advance...

[nickdub]

I'd say put the tomatoes in the bigger pots now outside and give them a bit of cover at night if the forecast shows a likely temp of 6 C or less. It's a slight gamble but tomatoes hate being root bound at the early stages of their growth. The cucumbers you have more leeway with to put in bigger pots and keep inside for now if you have the space, as they will stand rather lower light levels than toms.

[bramble]

Nooby, I know how you feel.
I started my tomatoes, peppers and cucs too early this year.
I have moved them into the greenhouse, some yesterday and some today.
Personally, I think the nights are still too cold to plant them out in the outdoors.
Good luck whatever you decide.

[SarrissUK]

I'm very, very cautious with planting out so my tomatoes are still indoors and my cukes haven't even germinated yet. I don't think we've seen the last frost still here and I won't put anything outside for at least another month, if not half way through May. Some will go out in the greenhouse before that, but they will be protected

[peanut]

I would pot them on, keep an eye on the temperature and be prepared to bring in on chilly nights. Terracotta pots are lovely but dry out very quickly, to help with this you could mix some water retaining granules in or line the pot with some newspaper, card or even bubble wrap.

I'm a bit behind this year, only started sowing last week, but things are popping up already so won't be long till I get going.

Have fun!

[nickdub]

Normally I'd agree that it's too early to be chancing tomatoes outside, but this year the weather has been around 5 C warmer round her than normal. My tomatoes are all out in an unheated PT and seem to be as happy as Larry. Of course if we get a sudden cold spell I could be in trouble but that's gardening for you. Of course, it also depends on where you live, but south of Birmingham the weather seems to have been unusually warm for the last couple of weeks.

[Jungle Jane]

It’s a bit cold overnight though,six degrees,I’ve been putting them in the blowaway in the day for the shade,if they stayed on the patio in direct sun the tender leaves would burn in this sun,my plants aren’t hard yet. Then bring them back in at 7ish,there’s about a hundred little pots to carry. Usually there’s not much time for everything but with isolation there’s loads of time to do this,it’s horrible losing plants it happened to me last year (tomatoes) & that was 8 degrees,the plants looked fine for ages but they just didn’t grow anymore,like shock,the other tomato plants doubled in size & they were still in shock,i haven’t sowed cucumbers yet but will do soon

[SarrissUK]

I noticed this post on Instagram last night and found it really enlightening:


I found it interesting, and I am doing that same experiment myself, though I just realised I forgot to take pictures of them together, before I put most of them in the house, and some in the cold frame.

[nickdub]

It's a complicated subject. I had all my tomatoes out in my big PT when we had a ground-frost earlier this month - the temp inside registered 1 C on a max/min thermometer. As I knew the temp was due to fall I put all the plants on a bench in the centre and covered them with a thick blanket the evening before.

Now, a few weeks later they are all growing away fine except the Marmande which look half dead - the others are Roma, Principe Borghese and Harzfeuer BTW. Of course it may be down to the relative positions of the plants on the bench (they were all together in a pile) but I'm going with the assumption that Marmande is more sensitive to cold shock than the other 3, which means I probably won't grow it again unless the invalid plants recover.

Happy gardening :-)