Allotments 4 All
Allotment Stuff => The Basics => Topic started by: boxingtortoise on May 06, 2004, 10:58:34
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When, generally, will the last frost be? Wanna plant out my sweetcorn, chillis and toms you see. Need a bit of guidance on this!!
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where abouts are you? I heard on the radio yesterday that we could get some ground frost in the next few days in exposed parts of Berkshire, but I think give it a couple of weeks and you should be pretty safe in the South
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Down in sunny Surrey. Probably plant stuff out on the next May bank holiday. How does that sound?
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Oooo how I look forward to that long weekend! That is my official plant it all out weekend. Course, we will then probably get a frost on the Tuesday! I shall be using pop bottle cloches for most of the tender things, just until the get hold, then fingers crossed for a bumper harvest!
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*small voice* when is the bank holiday?
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Last Monday of the month.....May 31st. Hoorah for the long weekend. ;D
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Look in the excellent sites so often mentioned here.
And Garden Action has a good guide. = Tim
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Where in Surrey are you Tortoise ?? Im in Surbiton (yeah yeah The Good Life etc etc )
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You could try clicking on the 'Zones'section of my website for some indication.
http://www.thegardenersalmanac.co.uk
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You should be OK for 31st May in the lovely SE - but there was once a killer frost on 1st June. The daytime temperatures can also be quite nippy for newly planted out tender veg. If you can, I'd rig up a 'windbreak' type of affair around them with bamboo canes and fleece or thin plastic dust sheet (I use pegs to keep the fleece/plastic on the canes). Keep in place for two weeks or so - looks very Heath-Robinson (but OK on a lottie :D) and keep an eye on the forecast ......
AC
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Dont want to be spiolsport but it is not just frosts you have to worry about. Its cold (but frost free) nights you should also be wary of. Cold temperatures can harm young tender plants as much as frost can.
Down our way (Dorset) we havent been having frosts but have had penty of cold nights all the same. I have things like tomato plants ready to go out, but am still having to keep them under cover untill the nights warm up a bit as i cannot take any chances. This means though I am fast running out of protected growing space ::).
I would always err on the side of caution until the end of May even if the last frost for your area is a few weeks earlier.
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We all need to move to Spain I think.
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Can we, can we??!! ;D
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Altogether now......
'We're all off to sunny Spain, viva Espania, doo dee dar dar doo dee dumdeedum.....oh viva Espania...' ;D ;D ;D
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EJ, Does that mean adamhill is paying, cos he was the one that suggested it!! ;D ;D ;D
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Most definately Doris, I will supply the sloe gin, you can supply the home made vino, Budgie breeder supplies the food :P and off we go! ;D
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Sounds good to me love ;D Must remember to pack me castenets and marraccas! ;D
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I'd absolutely agree Richard F - hence the suggestion for a protective barrier - I've had robust and well hardened off tomatoes grown in the garden go blue overnight on the lottie in early June!
AC
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For those who want to move to spain: YOU ARE ALL RAVING MAD!! ;)
If you go there you miss all the wonders of the british climate (the wind, the rain, the snow etc ;D), plus our wonderfull GREEN countryside. And you SERIOUSLY want to give up your lottie as well?
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See thats the thing Richard....I couldn't give up my plot :'( So stuck in dear old Limey land for a few years yet!!! ;D
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Perhaps you could be like Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall, Dottie - get yourself a polytunnel and use it to do a bit of sunbathing in the buff! 8)
AC
PS - Be alert for red ants, tho! :o
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i'm sure that we can find the odd acre or two to grow our veggie in at the bottom of our estates.Come on girls my bags are packed dont need much persuading after the torential rain of April and Up to now May.
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Hahahaha, Would scare all my plants AC!
I suppose BB, we could have a vineyard, :) then we would be growing something!! And maybe the acreage could have a polytunnel that we keep cold to grow our English type veg!! What we need is an allotment commune! Ok, off to re pack my bags, sunscreen top of the list! 8)
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- in the bit of green that's left, Richard? = Tim
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Perhaps this spring is the time we should all be brushing up on hydroponics ;D
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- in the bit of green that's left, Richard? = Tim
Plenty of it around here (at the moment) Tim!
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Frosts passed?? Don't be conned by this weather!
This is the coddling for our first lot of beans. = Tim
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After one or two 'hiccups' ie when i got too confident re: frost (mainly with border plants - lost two established plants in the winter because i pruned them too early). I am now being super cautious with putting out half hardy plants, even though we havent had a sniff of frost for weeks (cold nights though).
I have to say that the last frost chart on "The Gardener" 's website is spot on. It says last frost end of april for my part of the country, and guess what? our last frost was well before that date! ;D
Thanks 'Gardener' ! :)
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It's the next one that I'm worried about, Richard!! = Tim
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There will be no more frost in West Deeping-well I will be well miffed if there is as stuff is eventually going out.
Stephan.
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Me too stephan, in spite of my earlier comments there is still a chance. Which would be devastating since I have little frost free space at present, and most of the stuff is out or nearly out (eg in an open cold frame)
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Can't possibly be another frost in our part of Essex. On the plot today the 'older chaps' have planted all of their marrow, toms, beans and corns, and they have been allotmenting there for over 20years! Still, I am in no rush to get all of my squashes and toms out.....another week or 2 won't hurt.....
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Was going to risk putting in my runner beans this evening (in Surrey) and did a quick 5 day forecast on the BBC weather page. It gives a glorious week but there's an ominous 0 degrees in the minimum temperature column for Friday ... is it a warning for us all? Rgds, Paul
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2 degrees in Essex E-J :) fingers crossed as I put my corn &c. in yesterday -I wonder of Dyas stock fleece? I foolishly used mine to shade the greenhouse last year, no it isn't strong enough.
Still Friday is a long way off, half the time they can't tell you what it's going to do 4 hours later, never mind four days.
Jeremy
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My tomato plants are crying out to be planted, they are growing in, 3 1/2" pots and are all about 18" tall! However i am being cautious and restraining from planting out for as long as possible. Dont want to tempt fate!
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I was warned that the temperature was going to drop on Friday Jeremy, typical! Glad I have not planted my squash and toms yet....but my beans :'( I may take some fleece up tomorrow and protect them as best I can.....problem is, I am away from Friday, not back until Sunday, so after tomorrow, I will not be back at the plot until Monday! :'( :'( At least the fleece won't do any harm.
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BBC is often very ominous in the 4th or 5th day forecast :D
I prefer www.weather.co.uk, although even they are predicting some low temps (for me in Kent over weekend as low as 4 - which toms etc might survive but I might just not risk it just in case!). Dont panic yet :)
Alot at my place have set out beans, corn, tomatoes, etc. They keep telling me there wont be no frost now.... they must know something I dont? lol
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I have tomatoes, aubergines & basil planted out in the garden now, but am a little concerned about a forecast for a low of 2C on Friday. The fleece will be coming out.
I think give it a week and all my tomatoes, squash and beans will be hitting the allotment.
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Oh good grief.....Its nearly JUNE !!! Why not just grow evrything in a green house !!!
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Now why didn't I think of that -if in doubt get a different forecast ;D
Online Weather have a low of 7 on Thurs and 5 on Fri. I feel much better.
I wonder which site the weather god prefers? The one that uses tea leaves or the one that uses goat guts?
Me I'm off to find a virgin to sacrifice -oops, forgot, I live in Essex ???
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Now why didn't I think of that -if in doubt get a different forecast ;D
Online Weather have a low of 7 on Thurs and 5 on Fri. I feel much better.
I wonder which site the weather god prefers? The one that uses tea leaves or the one that uses goat guts?
Me I'm off to find a virgin to sacrifice -oops, forgot, I live in Essex ???
(the sound of sucking in over teeth) oooh derbex! thats a bit below the belt isnt it?
True though....... ;D
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Great to be able to choose your weather!! = Tim
PS Our nearest reporting station is Lat51.9: Long -2.07. Please, someone, remind me how to read l&l? And where is that - somewhere near Cheltenham?. Yet, if you go to Google, it's near Warminster!!
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I hope it will be warm and sunny in Kent over the weekend-we are going to see some of Jen`s student haunts-humm,-never trust the OH-one is told she will be 50-more like 35 I reckon ;D
stephan
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well my runners are going out on saturday before they start making their way accross the ceiling and back down the stairs! can always fleece them if necessary. my first early potatoes are itching to get out of their fleece, could i let them yet do you think?
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Potatoes - why? No rush? But I do have to remove it to mould them today.
Met Office? They tell me that the 5 day forecast starts at 85% accuracy & falls to 35% on the 5th day. So - if you said it's going to rain, that would give you 50% accuracy?? = Tim
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I think i am going to risk a few things. Like my bush tomatoes (sub arctic plenty). I have a site all ready for them and the plants are itching to get going. There is always fleece after all.
Cant do runners for various reasons. a) the bed is currently a nursery (!), b) no frame and most importantly c) not enough plants yet!!! I may have said my first batch failed and am still waiting for movement on the second batch. >:(
I also have some courgette plants, but these are still being hardened off. Currently only just gone into minigreenhouse outside, having started on windowsill then to outbuilding/indoor growing area. Are ready to plant once hardened off though ;).
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I keep thinking about my tomatoes. but I would be so gutted if they got frosted and died, I did so well just to manage to grow them from seed myself this year!!! So they stay in the coldframe.... They are like 18-24" high tho and still in a 3" pot so sunday/nxt week they must go out!!!
The melons are massive too (7 big leaves) so they really want to go out hahaha. booger off frosty!!!!
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Might be a good idea to give them a gentle drink of general fertiliser to tide them over??
If they are producing side-shoots, do nip them off. = Tim
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Hi y'all :o
I'm super cautious about when mine go out as I feel I've invested far too much time and effort to risk losing the crop. End of the first week of June, beginning of the second is plenty early enough for me here in the South East. My garden (where the plants are hardening off) is very sheltered and probably several degrees warmer at night than the allotment.
A frost will likely kill tender plants stone dead, but nightime temperatures below about 6-8 degrees can really set growth back too. A lowish daytime temperature with the wind blowing might also knock plants back a bit!
AC x
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I have now taken the plunge and planted my outdoor bush tomatoes. 7 Sub arctic plenty's in half a raised bed each with a cane and a pot for watering, interplanted with lettuce. ;D
Keeping a close eye on forecast and have fleece at the ready!
BUT woe betide jack frost if he comes my way!!!! >:(
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This is the Met office for E. Anglia this evening :
Any showers dying out, then dry, clear and chilly. Risk of ground frost in west. Minimum temperature 5 deg C.
Although that is at odds with their Chelmsford forecast of 3 deg.
I might just wander down with a couple of old sheets this evening. As others have said it would be a shame to blow it now.
Jeremy.
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Unless they've changed the way it's done, the forecast temperature is for the air at the level of a Stephenson Screen, which I think used to be 4', though it's probably been metricated now, so 2/3 Celsius at that level doesn't preclude a frost at ground level, and when you get into the mountains (like Danbury Hill), the air temp is likely to be a full degree colder (but the frost will roll away into the valleys).
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>:( >:( >:(
Don't you just hate it when the forecasters get it right?????
When I finished work at 5am on Saturday, I had to scrape the ice off my car before I could go home!!
I live in Bucks, and thought that we were relatively 'safe' now. Never mind, lesson learnt (and boy am I glad that I kept some plants back 'just in case'.
Tina
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Hmmm my garden must be milder than i thought it was. We have been forecast cold nights (with the associated threat of frost), but have turned out not to be as cold as forecast for the region.
It annoys me sometimes when (at this time of year) forecasters make generalisations as to the likelyhood of frost.
For example I have frequently heard 'possible frost in rural areas' given as a forecast for england and wales. How vague is that?! >:(
Rural areas WHERE EXACTLY? I the north, the south, the midlands? They claim to be doing us gardeners a service but this kind of forecast is no service at all. :o