SO my question is does anyone have any tips for beating the heat? We have tried early gardens but last year it got to 100 in april and the year before we had snow in late may so hard to predict. Our weather is increasingly erratic, last year during the winter we got several feet of snow and down to -25 but this year we are dry and in the 50s-60s. We are crazy to even try to grow a garden? It wasn't 10yrs ago and we had so many tomatoes, cucumbers, corn, etc. that we gave it away all day long, canned hundreds of jars, frozen it, etc. and some still rotted before we could get it up. Now.....I can't remember the last time we had more than a dozen small tomatoes, cukes or corn none the less melons!

Any thoughts?

The tomatoes in my normal planting area, which usually goes gangbusters, were sad and disappointing. Hardly any fruits, and the ones that did fruit were spotted and unpalatable.

But the tomatoes, cucumbers, green beans, peas, and peppers that were in and near my hoophouse all grew like crazy! And that's in spite of daytime temperatures in there getting to be 118 degrees F!

I've read that high temps and low humidity can prevent tomatoes from setting fruit. Perhaps the steamy conditions of the trapped moisture in the hoophouse (in spite of opening all three doors and venting the sides) helped somewhat with the fruiting. My back hurts remembering all the heavy fruit we picked out of the tomatoes.

Also, how do you water?

I generally favor drip irrigation, but if you needed to raise humidity for fruiting then some misting might help? I heard that pollination usually occurs around midday, so misting prior to midday if the humidity is low could do something. I have NO experience trying this--I'm just postulating about that.

The green beans not coming up sounds like a more basic problem with the germination. Perhaps this summer keep a close eye on the beans at germination time, and if they don't come up, replant immediately.

For the cucumbers, mine always have a few productive weeks and then decline, especially if the cucumber beetles infect them. Since I have a young cucumber monster in the house I plant about three to five relays of cucumbers every summer, ripping the vines out mercilessly once they start to produce misshapen cucumbers.

I HATE cucumber beetles.

Oh, and the basics of:
-mulch, mulch, mulch! (with a non-rock mulch for coolness)
-water early in the day

Other than all that, I would need to get more blow-by-blow details to figure out what might have gone wrong. I bought shade netting last fall that I intend to implement this summer over the hoophouse.

Instead we need to carefully investigate all the other aspects of our gardens - location of the garden, nutrient levels, improving the soil quality and water retention ability, changing the plant spacing used, more flexible planting times, closer weather monitoring, much more hand pollinating, different methods of water application, using 2-3x as much mulch, a different mulch, etc. etc.

We can't dictate or control the weather but we can have a very direct impact on all these other factors so that the weather, whatever it is, has less impact.

Dave

Also, especially in containers, watering just before the hellish heat of the day has shown to cool roots and help ease the plant's comfort, though some of that water is "wasted" as it leaves the leaves. This action also cools the immediate environment around the plant, too, though...so it's not that "wasted."

Substitutions in crops is something to look at, too...such as growing "Armeninan" cukes (melons, actually) rather than traditional cukes during the mid-summer.

On the other hand, my fall garden did well & I managed to get at least some tomatoes. My winter garden is peculiar--lettuce & some greens bolting, broccoli making loose heads, etc. In January. Just enough cold weather for my cabbage to start heading finally.

I have planted a couple of cool weather tomatoes in hopes they will survive, but the others stay in for now. Most of the black tomatoes will continue to produce in heat & a few others.

I find myself freezing more now so I know I will have it. Last year was a sure cure for complacency!

Temps way over 100 cannot be fully mitigated of course, but there is no chance at all without windbreaks, maximum fertility, moisture management, and appropriate crop choices.

As an example of that last, looking a little bit outside the temperate latitude world for crops can be useful. Vigna and some other legume families offer great options for very hot summers. Cajanus cajan (pigeon pea) has some day-nuetral short-season varieties, and that puppy can take almost anything but frost.