Garden Fleece/Frost Protection???

Feet are to make sure the pot drains properly - if the pot is wet AND gets cold then it will freeze rather than just getting cold (and there is risk that the pot is damaged because of that, as well as the plant roots being unhappy!)

But, yes, if there is an air gap under the pot them cold will get in via that route if the weather is cold for a prolonged period - if, like today, there is a sharp frost and then a sunny day the temperature will rise, its when the temperature doesn't get above freezing for several days that damage is more likely as the cold will penetrate the pot and freeze the roots (whereas for plants in the soil the cold is only likely to penetrate a couple of inches into the surface - so lower parts of the plant can survive, particularly if covered with some insulation such as straw).

 

All our patio pots are on plastic Sankey "pot movers" but I've drilled a hole in the centre of them so that any water drains out of them. I'll stop up the hole with silicone when the weather improves in the spring. The trees are up against the wall below the kitchen window and are "huddled together to keep warm."

 

Sounds like a bale of straw to wrap round the pots might come in handy in extreme weather then, keep the roots cosy.

Would a greenhouse heater be any good in a polytunnel or would it just leave you with a tunnel & no poly?

 

I do, if the gulf stream diverts around the west side of Greenland again, like it did last January :snpl:

 

Thanks a bunch!

 

Sorry DH, have you got your bag of salt/grit sorted yet ?

The harbours down here iced up for the second year in a row, not done that since winter of 62/63

 

I rember 62/63, we were living near Tottenham. The snow was still three feet high in places between each of the single open carriageways of Stamford High Road, the main road out of London, days after it stopped snowing.

 

Blimey DR, bit too young to remember outside on account of only being a baby, do remember mum kipping on the setee with me next to the coal fire(only heated room in the house)

Just found this for you...

http://uk.cars.yahoo.com/16112010/36/ice-resistant-road-invented-0.html