Cold tonight

You have me a panic @JWK, I've just checked our forecast, looks like we won't get a frost...thought I was going out to fleece up in my pjs!
Your garden is looking super

 

I've been out with the fleece too JWK. I have so many things well into growth/flowering after a very warm spell, there will be tears and much swearing if we get frosts gggggrrrr.

 

I can't be bothered fleecing anymore - it's mid May ! All I can say to any of my feeble little plants shivering in their beds is _ MAN UP !

 

Eeeeek! We're in for 2c/36f tomorrow and sunday nights.

Frenzied potted plant moving to happen tomorrow. I don't own any fleece so what can I do to protect my ingound plants? I do have some plastic....

 

I've left all mine on out on the patio table last few days. Pepper and toms are back in though

 

Pray

 

just wondering if this weather pattern continues (back and forth all the time) how will plants and flowers adapt to it?

 

Depends what type of plants. Hardy herbaceous plants like Hostas will have their new grow ruined by frost and have to start growing all over again after a bad frost like here last night. The plant will recover but won't increase in size compared to if it hadn't been frosted. Others which have less fleshy leaves are usually unaffected. If a plant is flowering when there is frost the chances are the flowers will go brown and fall off. If the blossom of Apples/Plums etc gets frosted just as they are flowering then you are unlikely to get any fruit, there not being enough time for the bees to have done their job. Tender plants are likely to die off. Things like Tomatoes and Peppers, if they get very cold but not necessarily frosted can stop growing and sulk for ages. Their growth can also be deformed. Certain trees like Acer Griseum start into growth quite early and the sap in the trunk starts to rise. If there is frost the sap can freeze and we all know what happens when water freezes. The expansion of the sap can cause bark split which will weaken or even kill the tree. When choosing plants for your garden, it is important to know your type of weather patterns and buy plants which suit your location. I have in the past ignored what a plant requires and they'd be ok. It is a bit of trial and error but knowing where a plant originated from is a good clue as to whether it will do well with you or not.

 

Only went down to 5.2 degC in my garden, but I brought home 150 tomatoes, french beans and courgettes from my tunnels to spend the night on our living room floor.

You have to remove it before the sun gets on it and fries the leaves just underneath it (solarization).

 

Looks like 1 deg C warmer tonight (Sat) then another degree warmer Sun night, so everything might go back in the tunnels on Sunday.

I'd much rather waste a couple of hours each day for a few days than lose hundreds of plants sown up to 10 weeks ago, including risking the wrath of Mrs Scrungee who doesn't like the living room disabled by the floor being covered with trays of plants from early evening to mid-morning the following day, so I have to keep reminding her that the vast majority of them are for the early tomatoes, French beans and courgettes that she's so looking forward to.

 

@Scrungee wouldn't it have been easier to have put a small portable electric heater in the poly tunnel with the cable run off an extension lead rather than fill up the lounge floor with all those plants? If your poly tunnel gets any sun during the day then it should absorb enough heat to get the plants through a frost tonight or you could have draped a bit of fleece over the plants in the poly tunnel which would have kept the frost off of them.

I wouldn't be a happy bunny either if Mr Kandy put trays of plants all over my lounge carpet,in fact I would go ape sxxt if he did

 

Okay, I've got all of the hanging pots into the greenhouses. Hooked that gas heater back up in the bigger one and filled the paraffin lanterns to use tonight in the little ones. Put plastic down in the living room and moved the two blow aways in there - I mean, really, why not just bring the whole thing in and save horizontal space . And all this after starting work at 5 this morning and working through until the p.m. Now I'm pooped but I've still got to find something to stake down some plastic over the more tender in-ground stuff. I have some beautiful hostas and a couple of tender ferns survived the winter that I don't want to lose.

Thanks for the tips and info.

 

There is a theory that if you water the leaves of frosted plants before the sun gets on them it lessens the frost damage.
Not tried it myself, but was once told this regarding potatoes.

I do know that spraying with water during frosty spells also lessens the effect, but this is only for temps above 0C