Topic: Don't put the fleece away just yet folks!

[xena]

Hi all i'm new!! :P

I am a keen veggie/fruit gardener and i'm also a bit of a weather geek too! 8)

I use some land to grow stuff which i got through 'Landshare' and also a small amount in my back garden too.

Planted most of my stuff outside now apart from greenhouse veggies/fruit.

Just looked at the long range forecast for next week and its gonna drop chilly again...i'm praying we may escape a frost but i reckon it will depend on where in the UK you live.. ::)
I will leave putting up my broad bean poles til next week just incase i need to lay down some fleece..
Fingers crossed folks ;)

[Squash64]

Hello and welcome to A4A!

I think the end of May/beginning of June is the most stressful time of year for me.  The greenhouses are bursting.... the tender plants are growing so quickly....but I'm too worried about a late frost to put them outside! I definitely remember a frost here in Birmingham in the first week of June a few years ago.

The only thing I have risked so far is one giant pumpkin.  I planted it out today but put a frame over and covered it with fleece.  Then I put straw around the bottom of the frame, just to keep those nasty draughts out.

[amphibian]

Metcheck is currently reporting -2 over night for my area next Wednesday. I don't believe it at all, but there you go.

[Robert_Brenchley]

A few years ago - I think it was 05 - we had frost on June 16th. It hit some of my toms, but they recovered. I'm not taking any chances at the moment!

[caroline7758]

The forecast at the end of GQT today said possible grass frost on Wed. What's the difference between grass frost and ground frost?

[landimad]

I bow to thee the frost gods and say sorry.
I believe there could be some more frost on the horizon from the 25th onwards for a few days at least. :-[

[Robert_Brenchley]

I think a grass frost is the same as a ground frost; you get dew freezing on low vegetation.

[javahart]

I don't have a greenhouse or much in the way of coldframes, so everything is out now including the squashes.  Given that we hit nearly 30 degrees in Cheshire today, it seems so unlikely we will get a frost in three days but who knows!

I'm building polytunnels for next season that will fit over any of the regular beds.

[gaz2000]

forecast for birmingham seems ok

night temp will drop to 6 or 7 degrees next thursday and friday,then climb again

[pigeonseed]

I thought that grass frost might be hoar frost, and the BBC weather centre says this (it's more than anyone wants to know about frosts!)

Air frost
When the temperature in the Stephenson screen reaches zero, there is said to be an 'air frost'. Even with an air frost, the ground can sometimes stay above freezing. This often happens in early autumn, when the soil still retains some of its Summer heat. Normally though the temperature at ground level will be significantly colder!

Ground frost
Sometimes the air temperature at night dips to 3 or 4 degrees, but the forecaster still warns of a 'ground frost' and the need to de-ice your car in the morning. This is because the ground can reach freezing while the air temperature remains above.

Hoar frost
The white crystals seen on the grass on a cold morning are neither a ground nor an air frost. This is a 'hoar frost', which forms when the air cools and water condenses onto the grass.

Hoar frost is very different from frozen dew, which is dew that has frozen after it has formed. They are very different to look at, frozen dew looks like frozen water droplets, and a hoar frost is a delicate icy structure.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/weather/features/understanding/frost.shtml

[Duke Ellington]

I felt so silly today I planted out my climbing beans and surrounded them with some fleece ::) Then I came home and found my planted out sweet peas scorched and the tomatoes in the greenhouse gasping for some water even though I watered them first thing and put up the greenhouse shading yesterday :o

[bruno]

Went for it yesterday - runner and french climbing beans on the lottie and courgettes in the garden. Next to go out will be the sweetcorn and squash. I hope weve seen the last of the frost.

Bruno

[amphibian]

I really don't think we'll see a frost now.

[earlypea]

I think we may well get frost - depending on where you are (I'm in the balmy SE) but also how sheltered your plot is.  Mine's totally exposed and I was shocked to see the decimation of my spuds last June.  I can get light frosting of them at between 6-8 degrees and the BBC is predicting a low of 5 for Wednesday night.  What caught me out in the first couple of years was that it's measured at head height not spud height which is colder.

I'll be chucking everything over everything on Wednesday.

I never believe Metcheck - they seem to have such melodramatic weather compared to reality.

[kippers garden]

Yesterday the bbc weather said there would be a night temp of 4 degrees on thursday but i have just logged on and it now says it will be 7 degrees

[Maria Staal]

Hi all, I am also new to this blog. I am Dutch, but have lived in York for 4 years. I am now back in the Netherlands and have a backgarden, which is part ornamental, part vegetable. The weather has been really cold here as well, but we have just had a few nice days.

I have no coldframes or greenhouse, so I sow everything direct. I am planning to sow my runner beans and squashes today. Possibly also my sweetcorn. I have been waiting for a long time to do this. It's nice to see things growing again after a cold winter.

[OberonUK]

Yesterday the bbc weather said there would be a night temp of 4 degrees on thursday but i have just logged on and it now says it will be 7 degrees

I've been watching the BBC weather closely for the last few months and it does seem that their tendency is to err on the cautious for their longer range forecasts, which they then 'improve' closer to the time. Maybe they don't want to risk being accused of promising a BBQ Summer again (OK so that was the Met Office, but they use the same data). But there does seem to be a lot of scaremongering. Maybe it is better to be cautious though - we'd soon curse them if they DIDN'T warn of frost!