Left everything covered up / inside

Mostly overcast and cool day, so left all the blankets/pots in place.

And left all the indoor-brought things indoors for the day.

D'oh -- the Scotia tomatoes are determinate

Not sure why I didn't research them before choosing this variety!

I wonder what height they'll max out at, and if they will produce before the rambling squash leaves become enormous and overtake them.

"Determinate tomato plants will reach a predetermined height and not grow beyond that height. They are relatively compact and produce a full bushy plant. The plants flower, set fruit and ripen in a short time so that the main harvest is concentrated into a few weeks. Examples of determinate varieties are Scotia, Celebrity and Tiny Tim. These are great varieties to grow in containers on the patio."

It dropped to 4 degrees last night

Confirmed by the weather website, went to 4 degrees last night, and was sub 10 degrees from 9pm through to ___am.  (placeholder...  at 7:30 as I write this it's still only 6 degrees)

Tonight is supposed to be similar, a low of 4.

4 degrees predicted for tonight -- most tenders under cover -- containers brought inside

Used old sheets, pillowcases, dog bed cover, cloches, and upside down pots to cover most of the tenders.  Sheets/pillowcases over top of upside down pots in some cases.

Containers brought inside:  big potted ground cherry (the most sunburnt one which now looks like the best one), big potted Sweetie tomato, big potted basil, all the not-yet-transplanted zinnias and squashes/cucumbers, the nasturtiums, and the potted ageratum.

Tenders not protected:
- Sweetie in central bed -- has a few tiny tomatoes on the way, will be interesting to see if the plant will be affected
- Ground cherry in north bed east of compost bin
- Most beans:  Kentucky Wax along north wall, Great Northern along west wall, and Tendergreen Everlasting at south end of west wall

Broccolis are looking good! Might produce?

Wow, the ~four broccoli plants that made it into the garden are looking good!  Healthy and vibrant.  No sign of actual broccoli yet.

Replaced the killed sunflower

Used one of the last remaining, skimpy/leggy sunflowers to replace the one that was killed yesterday.

Heat wave comes to an end this weekend, nights to go down to 4-5-6 range Sat night, Sun night, and Mon night

Nice and HOT this week, temperatures in the high 20s / low 30s plus humidity, and warm nights.

This is about to come to an end... weekend on the cool side, especially at night.

I plan to try covering most of the tender things with a mix of sheets, upside down pots, and floating row cover.

Insect report: May 28th

I will use this as a running "tally" of the various insects I've seen in my garden, mostly ones who eat the plants but a few other interesting ones as well.  For future updates I'll copy this list and build on it.

The dates indicate the first day I saw them

Lupin aphids:  May 23rd (first time I've seen these in person)
Flea beetles:  May 24th (actually I think I saw them a few days prior)
Three lined potato beetles:  May 24th
Slugs:  May 26th
Yellow wooly bear moth:  May 26th (first time I've seen one of these in person)
Clavate tortoise beetle:  May 27th (first time I've seen one of these in person)

One of the fence-front sunflowers killed!!!

Was fine this morning, then when I checked later on the east-most one in front of the fence was taken down about an inch above the ground.  Maybe cutworm?  I didn't check in the soil.

Potatoes generally growing well, but some dead growth. No insects seen.

Will have to keep an eye on this.

Many flea beetles, mostly on zinnias and tomatoes

The occasional one also on ground cherries and basil.

Ground cherries in central patch still looking sad

Funny enough, the ground cherry in the pot, for which I deliberately chose the worst looking, most sunburnt ground cherry, is looking pretty darn great (it was transplanted May 18th), whereas the ones in the central patch, not so much (they were transplanted May 23rd).

I wonder if those five extra days in their too-small pots are a factor. 

Transplanted two zinnias, and one sunflower, into front bed as test

To see if they survive (1) the lupin aphids (which are almost all gone but finding a few more each day) and (2) the groundhogs (the three sunflowers transplanted a few days ago still look fine).

Peas rotting/wilting/dying at the tops of some plants?

Oh no!  Some of the further-advanced (ie indoor-sprouted) peas have what looks like rotting/wilting/dying at the tops of the shoots of some of the plants.  The plants are about 1.5-2 feet tall.

Will try giving them a good watering in the morning in case they're just thirsty... but it looks like something else might be going on...

Clavate tortoise beetle found on tomato plant

So cute!  Looks like a miniature turtle.  I left him/her there on the plant.  (Sweetie cherry tomato in the central bed)

Yellow wooly bear moth (snow white, fuzzy) on ground cherry plant

Cool!  I might have never seen one of these before.  Google seems to say the moth isn't much to worry about. 

Slugs eating Great Northern beans as they emerge -- struggling

Baby slugs all over those Great Northern beans (along the west wall), which I didn't notice until today.  Relocating the slugs, hope the beans will recover.

Lupin aphid update: none found this morning

^^^

Reference: Video on using upside-down tomato cages to contain zucchini

Ooooh, I want to try this!!


https://youtu.be/JlRdxLTawo4

Used floating row cover to shade tomatoes and ground cherries that were transplanted yesterday

Really easy to use clothespins to attach the cover to the tomato cages.