FROST TONIGHT - Tuesday 03-May

I expect you've all had an eye on the forecast, but just in case anyone has not, and given what a warm Spring it has been, lulling us into a false sense of security!

Generally the ground is 4C colder than the air, so an air-temperature forecast of 4C will generally mean a ground frost - and sometimes it will be colder than forecast, or you may be living in an area that has somewhat colder temperatures

Tender plants will not be happy even close to freezing - so Squash, Courgettes, Runner beans, Tomatoes, Cucumbers, Sweetcorn and so on will all need protecting. Cover with fleece, or grass clipping if yo0u have any (but don't use any that have been treated with Weed & Feed, or a weed killer like Verdone, recently)

This bit is a bit late, sorry!, but I closed up the greenhouse particularly early today (4pm), so the heat soared a bit, and hopefully stored more in the ground to mitigate the overnight lows.

I have bought indoors the plants that have only been hardening off for a short while, so they don't have to struggle with low temperatures

I have earthed up my spuds (if you haven't don't feel bad, I have earthed them by torch-light in previous years!)

I have put fleece over my Strawberries. Strawberries are a hardy crop, of course, but any open flowers will be damaged by frost, so I am trying to mitigate any reduction in crop from the frost

And, I've just remembered!, I have Pelargonium, Canna lilies, and Fuchsias hardening off outside the garage ... I'll go and drag them into the garage for the night.

But the good news is that the forecast is 7C - 10C minimum for the next week, so this may be the last frost of the season "down South"

Wrap your plants up warm, or bring anything in for the night that is in a pot :thumb:

 

Good post, Kristen...hopefully you dont get it afterall.....we are getting both frost and occasionally snow here, still.....infact they are calling for flurries here tonight.

 

Just come from the allotment after covering potatoes ,if we have a frost as expected it may be an almost total wipe on our allotment plot as no one has covered thier potatoes ...
Not had much outside at home but it is now in the greenhouse ..

Dave

 

Have covered spuds & french beans, forgot about the strawberries, cheers Kristan, just done them

Have remotly protected the tomatoes on the for sale bench by phoning the boy & getting him to put them in.

Definate chill in the air here on the South Coast, no clouds & stars coming out.

 

A gardener friend down the Bourne Valley here in Hants says that if his (rather large) potato plants get frosted; as long as he is up before the sun gets on them and washes off the frost (i.e. with watercan), they will be OK. Anyone else ever heard of this? It seems to work for him...

 

I have heard of this too, did it once last year after a late frost and it did minimise the damage; only the tips of a few individual potato leaves got frosted. I've also read about watering plants before a frost too; something done by fruit growers apparently....

 

The Met Office forecast for last night was +4 deg C for the local town.

When it forecast +5 the previous night my max/min thermometer left out at potato top height showed it had been down to +3 deg C overnight, so yesterday evening I covered my potatoes with fleece, net curtains, sheets, etc. A small patch already had some straw around the leaves, but they had grown through it.

Just come back from taking the covers off. All the potatoes have been frosted under the covers. It's even got the the tops of brambles & honeysuckle. Checked my thermometer and it had gone down to minus 4 deg C ! If the forecast had been accurate I'd have spread a couple of bales of straw around them.

 

My greenhouse MIN was down to 5C last night

Wunderground weather stations around here were showing between -1C and 2C - 3C at 2am ...

 

No snow here lastnight, however we did get some frost though.

 

No frost here in Scotland.
Not even a heavy due My fruit plants are doing well.
They are prepared for the heavy rain and thunder we have to get in the next couple of days.

 

Just over fifty years ago I was working for the Forestry Commission in Norfolk. One morning we had a severe frost. One of our workers had half an acre of potatoes and he was up at 4.00am watering them. It saved his crop.

 

This is what -4 deg C did to my spuds despite covering them up.

150 like this (95% damage) that had a single layer of net curtain, sheet, etc. over them:



And 40 like this (approx 50% damage) that had some straw around them and a double thickness of net curtain, sheet, etc. over them:



Luckily 10 B&Q rubble bags planted with 2 each of either International Kidney or Charlotte were put in my polytunnel and were untouched.