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Ours is usually around 10 April, but a couple of years back was 10 May... Not good. I always leave my 'Mediterranean' vegetables till a bit later than most of the locals, as our valley is very cold. But lots of people got caught out and had to start again with a new round of plug plants.
Have you ever been caught out WG, or is it always then?
Mine is generally around the last week in May…I’ve been here now for 15 springs and for least 6 of them we’ve had a frost at the end of the first week in June …bad enough to turn the potato plants black . The latest ever was 9/10 June
Mine is usually late April, but we've had some later ones in recent years (early May last year, and mid May the two years before that).
That said, although the last frost is usually fairly early, I never plant out tender stuff until at least mid May. Partly because there's a risk there may still be a frost, but mostly because even without frost, the nights are still too chilly for tender veg before then. I wait until night temperatures are consistently at least 8, and ideally 10 degrees or over.
I have completely given up with "last frost dates" as they seem to be meaningless here. I tend to plant my potatoes in March unless it is very cold or a very cold spell is forecast, and I cover them with a plastic cover until the weather seems to have warmed up. The more tender plants get planted out when a bed is free from spring or overwintered crops, which is usually some time in May or early June, by which time the danger of frost has almost always gone. I have in the past planted tomatoes under blowaway greenhouse covers, but I've about given up with that as they are a nightmare to remove and make staking the plants really difficult. I am lucky in that although I am in Yorkshire, the village is a degree or 2 warmer than the surrounding countryside and late frosts are rare. I have more problems with fruit blossom than summer veg.
A life is like a garden. Perfect moments can be had, but not preserved, except in memory. LLAP. - Leonard Nimoy
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