How we PacNW have to start tomatoes and peppers

I've been in the PacNW  (pacific northwest) for 17 years! One of the most endearing qualities (and I sincerely mean this) of this great region is that you have MANY days in May and even June where the daily temps stay in the mid-60's. As someone who HATES hot weather, this is a blessing.

However......this is not a blessing for a vegetable gardener. I've only been seriously growing fruit and vegetables for a few years now and I understand why PacNW gardeners lament over "cold" spring temps. With cold soil and unpredictable rainfall, we have to figure out methods to trick our plants into thinking that it's okay to start growing and producing.

This is the first year I've done this and so far so good. I bought a box of black yard trash bags and I folded each bag up and laid them flat over the beds I'm going to put the tomatoes and peppers in. I laid some rocks I had laying around the yard on the corners to secure the bags and then basically let them m sit for a few weeks. When I went to go plant, I cut a crisscross slit in the bag and planted the plant directly in the dirt. The soil felt incredibly warm despite the outside temp being 63°. I tucked the plastic back around the base of the plant until daytime temps are consistently warm (prob around mid-June). I also have plastic milk jugs with the bottoms cut out that I put over the plants for cold nights.

Hopefully my efforts will pay off and I'll have tomatoes in late June!