squash - can I not plant these out and protect them??

[antipodes]

I have four Jap and three Queensland Blue pumpkins, they have got their true leaves now and are becoming triffid-like by the hour. Could I really not plant these out on the allotment, even if I can cloche them in some way?
What does Jeannine think? I just feel they will do better outside but i don't want to kill them off either!!

(same goes for my courgettes)

[antipodes]

[bupster]

I'm looking at the weather forecast for Cambridge and the next couple of weeks (once May is underway) look frostless, so I might risk mine outside either this weekend or next, subject to regular paranoid visits to metcheck. Will probably protect them at first though.

[antipodes]

well I looked at the 10-day forecast, OK it's not really teh most reliable, and there are no night time temperatures below 7 -9 degrees. They say here that around May 12 is the dangerous time, but surely even if the temperatures did fall, if the plants had plastic around them, would they really be damaged??? Note that they will be in "hot beds" with loads of manure under them...

[saddad]

I would have thought so... in those conditions and in France...
;D