The cold weather THIS WEEK. Arghh. Warning

TravellingAbuela

I looked out at 5.30 this morning and the grass around about was covered in frost, as was the top of the cars. Am I glad I took heed of the local weather forecast and brought all my tender plants into safety!

mardatha

Same here, grass and cars were white, chickens water iced over. But lettuces look fine :j

peter_the_piper

Luckily, down here its just coldish but cloudy so no frost.

Catherine_Johnson_2

I suppose we're fortunate (south facing garden on the Isle of Wight) but we've been able to put most things out in the garden by now - the larger tomatoes plants, a couple of courgette plants, onions have been in for a few months and runner beans are a good six inches up their poles now. French beans only went outside this week as I feel their more sensitive. Still in the greenhouse are cucumbers, smaller tomatoes plus the lettuces (I grow them there in trays and just take the leaves, not as lettuce hearts).

Main problem is lack of rain - no rain for probably two weeks or more and the water butts are just about run dry. Luckily, I think we're getting rain over the weekend.

It always amazes me the different weather we get across what is, after all, a very small country.

Primrose

Our local garden centres have been selling tomatoes, peppers, aubergines and courgettes and I'm sure that a lot of people have bought them and plantthem outside already, tempted by the exceptionally warm weather we had over Easter. I expect by now these plants are all dying and will never amount to anything even if they survive. It really won't be reliably warm enough to plant them out until early June, but I expect the garden centres make a nice profit by not warning people about this, because all the plants die and people end up going back to buy replacements.

dizziblonde

Primrose wrote: »

Our local garden centres have been selling tomatoes, peppers, aubergines and courgettes and I'm sure that a lot of people have bought them and plantthem outside already, tempted by the exceptionally warm weather we had over Easter. I expect by now these plants are all dying and will never amount to anything even if they survive. It really won't be reliably warm enough to plant them out until early June, but I expect the garden centres make a nice profit by not warning people about this, because all the plants die and people end up going back to buy replacements.

My toms (the experimental sacrificial ones) have been out ages on a sheltered patio and are thriving. Only put 2-3 out, have more coming on from seed in a covered propagator outside - but they've survived everything thrown at them so far. Mind you - I wasn't precious if they didn't make it but my "darling we really need a greenhouse" campaign hasn't reached full level yet.

[Deleted User]

I have also decided to `experiment` with some of my tomatoes as I have dozens, all sturdy and looking good and several with buds starting to form. 2 alaskan fancy are in a bag with a cane each and the bag is in a polycarbonate greenhouse which is a decent size. 2 are in a haxnicks bag which can hold 6 canes but I only put 1 plus a cane topper on each corner and used growpots and have now covered for the night with a haxnicks very large green poly bag with holes in. 2 gardeners delight are in a pop up small grobag greenhouse which is very sturdily fixed with supports and they are in growpots. So 3 methods all different and all with potential for covering in case we get the usual wet summer

I am so itching to plant the squashes out but am sitting on my hands

brogusblue

Very blustery tonight 35mph winds .. Lows of between 7-10c

[Deleted User]

we are expecting wind speeds around 17-20 and are very used to high winds here as it sweeps across from the bristol channel. I am hoping to get 2 more pop ups in place today but it takes quite a while by the time they are fully secured. I have separated my strawberry towers so they are all exposed, as I think we may have light rain later. All potted sqashes are out to catch the rain and all vents open as it is mild. Got to do a few tweaks on the polythene cover support but it all looks very promising. I think we won`t be getting any more cold scares here

annie123

More cold nights expected next week, even here in london, lows of around 2-3c,
check your ground temperature here:
http://www.netweather.tv/index.cgi?action=frost;