Frost Alert

It's forecast to go down to 2 deg C in the nearest town tomorrow morning and the next morning (27 & 28th), and forecast even colder up North. It's probably going to fall below zero at my outskirts of village plot so I've just brought loads of stuff back from my tunnels and have it all stacked in deep crates in the living room (Mrs Scrungee is not happy).

 

I've been a bit crafty and built a tunnel, within a tunnel to protect my tender plants at the plot, we had a frost last couple of nights and these plants are all good. Mostly peppers and aubergines with a few cucumbers and courgettes too







Steve...

 

@Steve R Have you put 2 max/mins inside the tunnel and inside that internal cloche to check how much higher the temps are in their? And have you considered putting a candle in there overnight? (or a sack of rotting horse poo/urine soaked straw?)

I'm going to check the difference between the inside of my 3 x 6m tunnel and a Wilko ' mini greenhouse' erected inside. I've got 5 Aladdin paraffin heaters that I can use to give my tunnels a bit of heat overnight, but as nothing is planted in the ground yet it seemed easier (and cheaper) just to bring it all back home, take it back tomorrow morning, bring it back home late afternoon, etc. and save my paraffin for emergency use when stuff has been planted in the tunnel borders.

 

crap. Up until now our forecast was saying frost Tuesday, which was going to give me time to go get some fleece. I'm got sprouts, calabrese broccoli, cauliflower, broad beans, pea, parsnips, onion, garlic, strawberries, lettuce and kale all planted outside up my allotment.
Do I need to be overly worried about any of these? The more tender/temp sensitive stuff I've kept in my back garden either in a cold frame or covered overnight.

 

Most of those should be ok if they've already hardened off, might wilt a bit.

 

If you're going to cover anything, cover the strawberries if they are in flower. I've got about 200 plants in open ground coming into flower, but wont bother with them as I've got about 30 in a polytunnel border to provide early strawberries.

 

Do you think tomatoes will be ok in a cold frame?

 

My strawbs at the allotment have yet to flower, but I've got a couple in the backgarden which are, so I'll get them covered over. Thanks!

 

I thought that, but when my old greenhouse collapsed I had nowhere else to put them but in there. Oddly enough they seem to have been unaffected even on the really cold nights and are growing quite happily. It may help that I've put some weed barrier as a slug shield behind them, and the whole coldframe is against the back wall of our house and gets sun from around 11am-5pm everyday. It's a real sun trap! I've been having to fully open the frame even on cooler days to prevent the temps skyrocketing. I opened it later this morning (about 10:30am) and it was already 54c in there!!

 

I have bought in some of the most tender. Other things I've moved back into the greenhouse and covered with several sheets of newspaper or fleece.

 

Nope, none of it. I know by opening the door and lifting the polythene there is a temp difference, and from experience of previous years it will protect my plants. So no need to run around to collect plants etc.

Steve...

 

Minus 3 deg C at the plot this morning at 6:30 am, only a couple of degrees above freezing in the polytunnels but the sun was already starting to warm them up and from leaving a temperature datalogger in them overnight I know the temps inside are rising by 6:00am (even though they're still falling outside).

I would've lost all my tender plants if I hadn't brought them back home.


P.S. It only dipped to 1.9 deg C in my garden, which goes to show you cant rely on thermometer readings at home to let you know what's happening at an allotment site.

 

I left a couple spare Cannas and a few Tomatoes in 2 polytunnels overnight on Sunday to see how they fared, at both low level in biggest tunnel and on staging in smallest and the low temps wiped them all out despite closing them up early to try and heat them up before temperatures dropped.

 

Well that photo brings home what frost can do ! Will the canna recover?
I have a paraffin heater in the greenhouse which seems to be keeping all my tender annuals OK . The GH is in a very sheltered spot , I presume an open allotment will be a lot colder.

 

This is a really good illustration of what happens to tender plants when the temperatures drop and how important it is to pay attention to weather forecasts and temperatures on our own patch. Thank goodness you took your plants home!