Wimpy Veggies

My large, but wimpy tomato plant

There was a lot of weather predicted for the Chicago area yesterday. There was a 70% chance of heavy rain, strong storms and large hail. We got none of it where I live and it turned into a fairly nice, if a bit windy day.

I took precautions with the garden bringing in everything except the blueberry and cranberry bushes, and I covered those. When nothing materialized, I unconvered the berries, but kept everything else inside.

I mentioned it on Facebook and a friend of mine wrote back:  "Plants can survive the rain." I wrote back: "Hail?" He replied: "OK fine, if you want to raise wimpy veggies."

I guess my veggies are wimpy and my Facebook friend isn't all wrong. There are such things as "wimpy veggies". If you start your garden inside for eventual removal to the great outdoors, there are steps you need to take. You have to slowly acclimate indoor seedlings to the outdoors. I didn't do that with a set of beans or with my peppers and they drooped when I put them outside.

A successful move outdoors can depend on the plant. My lettuce was happy to go outside despite the unseasonable cool and rainy weather we had in May. The onions were fine too while a couple of very small seedling spinach plants died in the hard rains. The rest of the spinach bolted. I've recently started all over with new spinach seeds.

When placed outside on Monday, my now huge tomato plant rattled against its cage  in the wind and became bruised. I ended up staking it as well. It seems ok now and is laden with flowers for expectant tomatoes.

If it gets very windy, you also have to consider the neighbors. The heavy planters will most likely stay put in all but the most extreme situations, but the smaller ones could go flying. They should be brought inside or secured on very windy days so they don't go flying and clunking anyone on the head or through someone's window.

I enjoyed starting my seedlings inside. I was able to start them earlier than if they were outside and I've already have had a couple of harvests of lettuce and beans. However, when putting indoor raised seedlings outside, you have to consider the effects of sudden wind, rain and temperature variations. To help plants learn to live outdoors, you can slowly acclimate them to their new homes by taking them outside for an afternoon or two before making the permanent move. You should also make sure the plants are secure in their planters considering increased winds. Upper floor balconies can be windier than the ground floor. You should also consider keeping very small seedlings inside until they are large enough to withstand more weather than they've been used to.

My plants will remain inside until Friday because my condo association is spraying for bees and wasps tomorrow. No use growing my own if I let them be poisoned on the balcony.