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howdy everybody!

I went back through last week’s thread and my freepmail and I think I got everyone added to the list that requested on it.

I did manage to get 13 varieties of hot peppers seeds started this week, although I have been slightly hampered with having a sick child at home...........the fun never ends!!!

Since I never had a “normal” TV station on (stuck with Animal Plannet and Disney) on Monday it was not until I got to the Moose Lodge around 6pm that I found out we were under a tornado watch and parts of the Hampton Roads area of Virginia had been devastted by tornados.

Suffolk, the hardest hit spot is where my husband used to frequently work. If he were still working for IBM he would have been right there Monday afternoon/evening when it happened. I received an email message from the church secretary about the relief fund that has been set up by the diocese, as we are a part of the Souther Virginia diocese.

I’m not in a position to help out financially, but I am keeping all those people in my prayers.

Well, I tried with the tomatoes. We had a hard freeze last night; 22 at about 3 AM. Even though I covered them well, it wasn’t enough. I have plenty of backups though and the long range forecast into the middle of May looks good.

I sure hope that this didn’t take out the fruit tree crops. I don’t know where the trees were in setting their blossoms and all, but it will be a big hit for some of the growers if they lost their crop for the season.

So we have another chance for frost or freeze again early next week.

Time to punt to save the tomatoes.

The buckets and straw helped some with a frost and didn’t do a thing for our freeze, but 22 is pretty tough on most stuff, except the peas. Didn’t bother them at all.

Anyway, I’ve been racking my brain trying to think of some way to insulate the tomatoes against the cold without resorting to those overpriced water holding tomato shields.

My new brainstorm is those cheap styrofoam coolers you can get in the supermarket for summer picnics. I think if I place a bottle of warm water next to the plant and cover it with a cooler and make sure there’s no gaps at the soil line, they should keep it warm enough to get through the night.

I’ll let you know how it works.

But man I hate to find another reason to justify keeping junk......

Thank you for the ping.... This weather stinks... second frost in a week's time last night... I had not paid attention to the weather yesterday and when I got inside (as the sun had set) found out we were under a frost advisory.... Oh how I debated with myself about covering my strawberries filled with bloom... and so in almost virtual darkness went flying out and pulled out my old swimming pool cover and several pieces of plastic sheets and began to cover....

Now the sun is coming up and I get to go out in a few minutes and pullllll offf all that covering and spend more time folding after I allow the moisture to dry off than it took to unfold and cover.... Fun, I sure hope I get some strawberries....