[Pony Girl]

I want to start hardening off my tomatoes shortly with the aim of transplanting them into the polytunnel by the end of April / beginning of May.

It says in my book to do this on warm days and bring them back into the house overnight. So what do you do if it's colder than average or wet and windy? Do I just delay everything and only put them out for hardening when we're likely to have a dry, sunny day? I work full time so can't put them out for just a couple of hours or so.

My polytunnel is on my allotment and unfortunately I can't go up there every day and don't have space for a coldframe at home. The tomatoes are on sunny windowsill at the moment. I recently re-potted them into larger pots and they're doing extremely well. Some of my 100s and 1000s cherries have their very first tiny flower buds. They're destined for hanging baskets outside though so I don't know if it's too early to start hardening them off?

[shokkyy]

I've been putting my tomatoes and aubergines outside in the daytime for a week or two now. This morning I didn't put them out because it was still very cold with frost on the ground, but that's the only day in the last couple of weeks when I didn't put them out first thing in the morning. If it's wet and windy I still chuck them out. When they're outside, they're next to a wall so they're reasonably sheltered, and a bit of rain won't hurt them. They've been out in quite heavy rain and even a hail shower or two and it hasn't done any damage. I'd be careful about putting them in a spot where they catch a lot of wind though, you don't want to get the stems damaged.

Obviously don't chuck them outside for the first time when it's a chilly day, aim to start them off with a nice sunny day, but they'll start to acclimatise after a day or two and they don't need the weather to be perfect. I always think they instantly start looking stronger and putting on a growth spurt when they're outside in the daytime. The forecast overnight temps for my area are not looking too bad for the rest of week, so I'm going to start leaving a few of those tomatoes in the tunnel (in pots under fleece overnight) at the end of the week, with the aim to get everything in there by the end of April.

[Pony Girl]

Thanks, Shokky, that's really helpful.

Typically the forecast for the next few days seems to be heavy showers and quite windy.

Should I risk starting them out somewhere reasonably sheltered (they are tied to little canes) or wait and hope for a warm sunny day with the risk that we might not have one for a couple of weeks?

[lazydog]

Just be aware when they are in the tunnel if the sun does come out even if its only briefly temps can rise very quickly to above 30C and the plants can get burnt

[shokkyy]

If you've got a nice sheltered spot where they won't get battered, that sounds fine. We're getting a lot of showers and wind at the moment, and forecast for the next few days, but there's some nice sunshine in between the showers and it's actually quite nice and mild.

[sunshineband]

Mine are staying safely inside until this wild windy spell is over, as I don't want them getting battered as soon as they venture out  :blink:

[Pony Girl]

Yeah, I did think about putting mine out this morning but then I wimped out!!