Frost this weekend!!!

[Scarlet]

Your grape vine is already in flower??? That's early.....

[greenishfing]

Your grape vine is already in flower??? That's early.....

I've got two, both in greenhouses, they are black Homberg, the flowers are there, some nearly ready for opening, pollinating-paint brush ready. I lost them all in May 3 years ago.

[Scarlet]

I have a vine outside on a south facing wall but it's a long time before I will see flowers, the grapes aren't usually ready until late sept.

[greenishfing]

I have a vine outside on a south facing wall but it's a long time before I will see flowers, the grapes aren't usually ready until late sept.

I have one outside too. It's still pretty much dormant, it used to live in the greenhouse until I discovered it only gave little grapes with big pips. It got dug up and fastened to the south side of the shed. That gives grapes in late September,

[Penellype]

I've been out this afternoon covering all my potatoes and strawberries, and my apple tree (dwarf) with fleece, which I will leave there until after tomorrow night. A couple of years ago I lost all of my apple blossom to a frost at this time of year. I've also brought the runner beans in from the growhouse for the night and will do so again tomorrow. The forecast for my location tomorrow night is around -3, which would make it the coldest night of the "winter".

[AllInContainers]

My midget melons which are still just in 4" pots waiting to go out must be getting pretty root bound now and have started trying to flower ... NOOOOO!!! I've got to nip the rest of the flowers buds out and hope I can get them out soon, as potting them on and keeping them indoors is currently impossible unless I chuck something else equally frost tender out in the garden

[TrialAndError]

May frosts for the Midlands and upwards occur frequently, hope always springs eternal in a gardeners heart but facts prove this to be true. There are two sites out there I know of which attempt to predict the last frost of the year for different areas of the UK, they are:
Guide to UK first and last frost dates - GardenFocused
and
Gardening and weather - first and last frost dates in the UK, Australia and USA

The second one seems to be overflowing with ads nowadays though and it doesn't always work.

I certainly take note of the last frost days the first one gives for my area even though many other fellow gardeners see a good day in early April and rush out to plant spuds and the like. It's a triumph of hope over reality unfortunately. Frosts in late April happen down south and frosts in early May happen in the Midlands and frosts in late May happen in the cooler parts of the UK. A bit of a generalisation I know but that's the truth.

[Kristen]

A bit of a generalisation I know but that's the truth.

My approach is to have a plan, and then I can just put it into action when frost is forecast. Very rare for us to get a frost in May (I'm guessing once a decade), but we have had -6C in May ... even a double layer of fleece isn't enough for that and I have straw and lawn mower clippings piled so that they can be used on the once-in-a-blue-moon that they are called upon.

[Mr Gardener]

All a bit of panic over nothing for me, checked the greenhouse this morning and the minimum temperature was recorded as 7 and everything was smiling away at me perfectly happy... that said it's supposed to be colder tonight and you're better safe than sorry.

More of the same precautions for me tonight and I hope I wake up tomorrow to nothing of concern again.

[Bren In Pots]

We're going to have either 2c or -1c as an overnight low depending which weather site I read.

[gardening_gal]

Guide to UK first and last frost dates - GardenFocused

I like this site, not only does it give a frost indication, it also gives an idiot's guide to exactly what to do when. Suits me to a T. I've bookmarked it. Thanks.

[Bill HH]

I planted my spuds in containers in the last week of Feb, kept them in the GH through march and then they went out, the foliage is 18 inches high now. No possibility of putting them back in because the Gh is full of other stuff. So old Billy boy is up the creek without a paddle if we get a frost. But we wont, not in sunny Devon, will we? I needed to get a move on with my spuds because I had blight last year and need to at least get some sort of crop before that strikes again. I have Rocket, Orla and Sarpo Mira. The Rocket will be ready in mid June, the Orla maybe in August and then the Sarpo Mira which are supposed to be blight resistant can go on into October. That's the plan, just need to get past this chilly spell.
My wife is praying for frost because we have our back yard so full of containers you have to do a slalem to get through them. She would happily buy our spuds from Sainsburys. Looking on the bright side its win win, I either have spuds or a happy wife!.

[RaptorUK]

Tonight (Fri/Sat) is my only current concern as far as I can see . . .

Met Office say +2C
BBC say +3C
MetCheck say -3C

So there is a 6C difference between the BBC and MetCheck . . . the only thing I'm concerned for is my first row of International Kidney spuds, they are up by about 1-2" so I might go and cover them over with an inch or two of soil.

[Kristen]

All a bit of panic over nothing for me, checked the greenhouse this morning and the minimum temperature was recorded as 7 and everything was smiling away at me perfectly happy... that said it's supposed to be colder tonight

Dunno what the forecast was for Up North last night, but for me it is tonight and tomorrow that is forecast cold, and last night was "normal"

BBC Weather - Sheffield

says 4C for you - that might mean an air frost?

Tonight (Fri/Sat) is my only current concern as far as I can see . . .

Met Office say +2C
BBC say +3C
MetCheck say -3C

So there is a 6C difference between the BBC and MetCheck . . . t

Even at +3C you are likely to get an ground frost and damage to spuds I would think? thus if it were me I would be protecting any spuds, and moving anything tender under cover, of fleecing it.

My greenhouse aisles are full of everything that has been being left out at night for a couple of weeks ...

[Martin H]

Metcheck gives me the chance of a ground frost tonight and again tomorrow, so I'm up the lottie in a minute to cover stuff up. Earthing up and/or newspapers will do the trick, I'll tidy up on Sunday. Better safe than sorry, I reckon.