Allotments 4 All

Sorry - was modifying my answer when you posted - please see above.

got it, thanks barnowl for clearing this up for me :D.

It's not dumb at all - I find it all quite confusing! The other thing is that water expands as it drops below 4C, so the cells of some plants & fruit burst even without a frost... as seen with strawberries in a cold fridge.

I have a thermometer probe hanging a foot off the ground and if it goes below 4C, I assume there's been a "frost". We got 3.7 last night.

Well I haven't a clue if we've had ground frost - but I wish it would hurry up because I want to dig my parsnips up!  Apart from sprouts, that's all that's survived the Noah's Ark weather down here!

I got to the allotment this morning around 10.00am to find that a pool of water on the plastic sheeting covering the compost heap was frozen solid!

Blimey! We thought it felt cold last night... don't know that we would have had a frost here in super-warm London, but it was the first night that I've really regretted not having gloves when I went out.

Below zero in the shelter of the house last night. Well below in the open?

 Was gobbsmacked to see a frost at 6.30am this morning!! we hardly ever get them right down so close to the sea  on the south coast !

We had a bad frost in early October (East Sussex) and all our beans and squashes and sweet potatoes shrivelled instantly. But on my other two plots, 10 minutes drive away, no sign of a frost and all the beans/squash still thriving.

The same happened today, heavy frost at home, none 10 minutes away, beans still flowering.

That's telling me something: overwinter my broad beans at the more distant plot, sow early spring and autumn crops there (and sweet potatoes), save the nearby plot for summer crops. Lovely to have a choice. It's taken me 2 years to notice the difference.

No, still not had a frost, but I think we've been pretty close.

valmarg

some of my non frost hardy plants are showing burn marks so i quess that we have had some frost. We have sleet forcast for next week so glad i dont have to go out :)

Sleet!?   Better get my chillies inside.

I though you were getting paranoid over frosts. We just don't get them until really late, even then they are gone before the sun comes up. Due to being surrounded by warm salt water.

This morning I had to pop up to Guildford and it was nice to eventually see some Autumn colour in the trees. I take it this is down to the low temperatures you are getting there. We are still green with a bit of mouldy brown down here.
But loads of leaves dropping because of the winds.

Yes, quite a good one last night.  Roofs were white over.

valmarg

And if that aint enough, they are forecasting snow for Wednesday.  Brrrr, brrrr

valmarg

Quote from: ACE on October 25, 2008, 17:22:36
This morning I had to pop up to Guildford

Did you feel dizzy coming this far North?!  :P 

Got up to the allotment last night for the first time in a week.  French beans (climbing and dwarf) have turned up their toes,  as have courgettes and squash so it must have got fairly cold. Funnily enough the runner beans are still going but tonight is forecast to be around freezing.  Better fleece up the brugmansia and spud bags.

It's arrived in East Finchley, North London, at last. Very cold cycling to and from choir practice last night.  Thick frost this morning and lots of car windscreen scraping going on.

Even though it kills off the summer cropping stuff - is frost and cold weather not welcomed amongst us to kill off the bugs and stuff?   Had our first frost today in Dartford.
twinkletoes

Quote from: thifasmom on October 22, 2008, 11:59:57
first frosty morning today :(,

well had our first proper hard frost last night (bird bath was frozen) very early in these parts, the last two winters we didn't get any frost till well into January.

Quote from: twinkletoes on October 28, 2008, 08:58:09
Even though it kills off the summer cropping stuff - is frost and cold weather not welcomed amongst us to kill off the bugs and stuff?   Had our first frost today in Dartford.
twinkletoes

as they say twinkletoes there is a silver lining in every cloud  :).