04/05/2021
Posted by Happy Dirt Friend, Amy Belanger
from Zone 10, but revised for Zone 8
Can I Plant My Summer Veggies Yet? Gardeners are having a "moment." I'm seeing eager and anxious posts in my gardening groups, and a few friendly debates between dare-devils and safe-players. What's it all about? When to plant tomatoes.
Ashland and Medford are seeing sunny days in the 70's and even 80's, and Spring is announcing itself with sprouts and buds everywhere! The garden beds are built, the compost is sifted, and the seedlings are outgrowing their little cells. Surely, we can plant tomatoes? Yet, some nights are still in the mid-30's, and that won't change in April. Ashland & Medford could still get frost through mid-May. Even if you protect your plants from the frost, those cold nights can weaken young seedlings. What's a good plant parent to do?
First, remember that not all veggies are alike. Some enjoy these cooler nights, and some (like kale) actually taste better after a light frost. Veggies folks in Zone 8 can go ahead and plant out in your beds (if you haven't already) include lettuce, peas, cooking greens, most brassicas, and most roots. Be ready to use row covers until mid-May. You can start heat loving plants like tomatoes, peppers, eggplant, corn, and beans indoors, now, if you haven't already. But hold off transplanting them outside until soil temps are above 60F, and preferably between 65F and 70F.
The fate of heat loving veggies planted out earlier depends on several factors, including how healthy and mature they grew indoors or in the greenhouse before being planted into the garden, whether you hardened them off properly, the variety (some are more cold hardy than others), your micro-climate, your garden infrastructure, and whether we get a frost.
If you're a new gardener, and you're dying to plant out those tomatoes, take a chill pill, or take a risk and possibly lose your hard work. Keep reading to find out a couple of ways to give your veggies a leg up on the season.
First check the planting calendars for your zone: the Ashland & Medford areas are in Zone 8. Here's a highly detailed planting calendar for Zone 8:https://portlandnursery.com/docs/veggies/VeggieCalendar.pdf
Here's a simpler one: https://www.ufseeds.com/zone-8-planting-calendar.html
But our own neighborhoods, yards, and even sections of our yards have micro-climates which can vary from what's generally expected in the Zone.
Urban areas, for example, can be several degrees hotter on average than outlying communities with more tree cover and green space. An unshaded yard against a west-facing wall may have hotter average temps and soil temps than the rest of the block. And a shady area with the right density of tree canopy might be much cooler and more humid. These details can influence whether your yard will get frost when others do or whether your soil is warm enough to plant out those tomatoes.
Once you grok micro-climates, you can design yours to some degree by adjusting soil composition, placement, and garden structures. Clay soil, for example, retains more heat than do well-aerated, looser soils. So a raised bed surrounded by clay or asphalt may be warmer than one surrounded by lush, green ground cover. Planting tomatoes near a south or west facing wall will ensure warmer soil temps. And planting lettuces in those cooler, shadier areas can keep it cool enough to avoid bolting in the summer.
One of the simplest and most dramatic ways to impact the micro-climates of your planting beds is with hoops (or similar structures). Adding hoop structures over your plant beds allows you to attach a clear cover to retain warmth and moisture, protect from frost, and prevent soggy soil during heavy rains. It also allows you to easily switch out the plastic with shade cloth in the hottest days of summer, protect your produce with netting as its first tender fruits appear, and protect your winter garden with frost blankets.
Hoop structures can be found in various dimensions, shapes, and materials online. They can easily made and attached at home without any handy-person skills and few tools. PVC is cheap (around $3 for a 10 ft pole), flexible, and can be easily cut with a special, handheld PVC cutter tool (costs around $15). Then it can be pushed into the soil or slipped over rebar on each end and across the center of the bed.
If you want a more eco-friendly option, do the same thing with bendable branches cut from shrubs or small trees, or curved bamboo, or old tent poles, or other natural or upcycled material. Your plant bed cover can be rounded, slanted, squared, or peaked, so long as you rainwater can drain off. Some folks use clear totes, turned upside down, and propped up a bit or with drilled holes to allow airflow. For small plantings, some folks use gallon jugs, cut in half and placed over individual plants (cloches).
In my garden right now, I have four planter beds with PVC hoop structures, two with lean-to type structures from a fence, one with an upside down clear tote, one with an upside down mesh basket, and one with a half-hoop structure supported by a fence. All can support greenhouse plastic, bird netting, frost blankets, or shade cloth, as needed (attached with zip ties or clamps).
Take a look at this short video demonstrating a few options for hoop structures. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pHru4eZI1VA
When you're ready to plant those hot weather veggies, consider getting your veggie seedlings from Happy Dirt Veggie Patch. Like this page and return for notices of Happy Dirt's farmers market days. Happy Dirt seedlings are grown with love, care, and organic methods.
https://www.groworganic.com/blogs/articles/how-to-build-a-low-tunnel-hoop-house
Zone 8 has a long growing season with hot summers. Most vegetable varieties will have no problem maturing before your first frost date.
