Today's Weather

[Topcat]

Had a quick look and couldn't see a weather topic but if there is one then happy for this to be moved.

Today it has, so far, hailed, drizzled and now it is snowing!

Yes, that's right, 5th April and it is snowing in Hampshire.

Wonder what the rest of the day will bring :-)

TC

[Plot70]

In the east midlands it is sunny and cold with very few clouds.
Not good for planting tender stuff out but very good for digging the beds over.

[Purple Primrose]

That's definitely unusual down your way, TC! It's always interesting reading about the weather others on here are experiencing and how it affects their gardening. Many years ago, when I lived in London for a while, I remember being surprised by snow at Easter.

Reading about folks who live in southern England, France and Spain being well on with their planting always makes me feel like I'm getting a bit behind and should have planted lots of things out by now. Then I look outside at the ice on the water butt and remember why I haven't. We usually plant tatties on 1st April and then begin sowing seeds outside if the soil's warm enough. Not this year though - we've had force 8 winds all night and this morning with gusts of 50 mph. We also woke up to snow, with the blizzard causing intermittent white-out conditions and visibility of about 2 metres. The forecast is for the same until Wednesday morning.

Yesterday morning, I took in everything I could but the pots of tulips, wild garlic, snowdrops, pansies etc that I had left in the 'protected' outside my kitchen window have suffered badly. Oh, well... the joys of living on a small Scottish island. When it's calm and sunny, I wouldn't want to be anywhere else in the world. When it's like this, I stay indoors, sort out my seed packets and make plans for when the weather improves. The forecast for next Monday looks like it might be good enough for planting tatties and beginning hardening off the broad beans. The days are rapidly getting longer, the ground will quickly begin to warm up and soon I'll be able to be out in the garden with enough light to keep planting things until late in the evening. In mid-summer, it's light enough here to be gardening at 11.30pm and I can still the other islands about 10 miles away.

[Snoop Puss]

Reading about folks who live in southern England, France and Spain being well on with their planting always makes me feel like I'm getting a bit behind and should have planted lots of things out by now.

If I'm one of those folks, PP, I'd better let you know that everything I've sown comes indoors at night. There was a thick layer of ice on the water in my watering can this morning. Still very cold. The problem here is we go from extremely cold nights to very hot days in next to no time, it feels. Last frost here is usually around 10 April, but can be as late as second week in May and last year we even had the woodburning range going in June.

Today it's bright blue here, but there was a very hard frost on the ground.

Topcat, Penellype has a 'weather channel' that she updates and which people chip in on here: https://www.growfruitandveg.co.uk/gr...hannel-2/page9

[Nicos]

We used to have a daily weather thread, so I can’t see a problem people making comments on here as well as Pen’s thread if that’s what people want again?

I’m in northern France. Our last frost is usually during the first week in June!!!!

[Snoop Puss]

I’m in northern France. Our last frost is usually during the first week in June!!!!

Wow! That's late. When's your first one? Ours is usually mid-October.

[ameno]

I'm worried about the frosts due the next couple nights. I tried covering my apricot earlier, to protect the tiny fruitlets from the frost, but it was just too windy. I had no confidence that the fleece would actually stay in place, even tied in to canes, and if it came adrift then it would likely do more harm than good (knocking of fruitlets as it flaps about), so I decided to just give up and keep my finger crossed. Apricot fruitlets can apparently survive down to -1 without sustaining damage, so hopefully it gets no colder than that.

[Nicos]

Wow! That's late. When's your first one? Ours is usually mid-October.

Anytime between mid September and mid November.

[ameno]

I managed to cover my apricot in the end. Went out again at about 8pm when the wind had died down, and used an old bed sheet as well as fleece, all securely tied down. I actually seem to have a half-decent crop (unlike on my old tree), so I don't want to lose them.

[Nicos]

Very heavy frost this morning, but gloriously sunny, blue sky and no chill wind thank goodness!

[Topcat]

Nice to see what others way south of here go through.
Only real issue today is that our boiler died overnight.
The joys of spring.

[Mr Bones]

Only real issue today is that our boiler died overnight.
The joys of spring.

Ouch, there's never a good time for that to happen..

Ice this morning but little in the way of frost. Clear and sunny now but with a cold wind. 4°C

[Nicos]

Just had a quick flurry of snow!

It did look more like blossom blowing off the trees though....and now it’s gone....along with the blue sky

[burnie]

We have a saying in Scotland that you can get all four seasons in one day, but we don't usually get them all at the same time, now I know you can get a rainbow, but can you have a snowbow?

[Nicos]

^^^^ apparently you CAN!!!!