Another week, more cold weather. I think the purple leaves in the tomatillos are a symptom of the cold, as I had the same problem with my tomato seedlings earlier in the season. (Colder temperatures prevent tomatoes from taking up phosphorus from the soil, so if you see the leaves or stems start to turn purple — warm those puppies up!) My cucumbers are slow-growing and looking sad, and the newer leaves on many plants have a weird yellow coloration on them (as seen on the lemon basil below). "They" say warmer weather is heading our way by the end of this week, so I am crossing my fingers that I can recover the season. I can’t believe we went from freakishly warm, spring-like weather in late winter to a cold, rainy start to the growing season. I will be researching season extenders like row covers and cold frames by fall to see if I can get back some of the time I am losing now.
There is a guy with a fantastic front yard garden a few blocks from us, and we were wondering why his area was still laying at rest until just yesterday. Maybe he knew more than I did!
The late cool weather is extending the season for my spring crops though, like broccoli, cauliflower, peas, radishes and beets. The downside is that some things did not make it — for example, I am headed to Territorial Seed for a refund on a Sentinel Apple today because one of my columnar apples is fine but the other got too cold on the store lot and it didn’t recover to get leaves after planting. At least they are being very nice about it!
Click on any image to see the full gallery.
