Warning - very cold next week or so!

Supercell

For those of us with loads of small seedlings on the go it might be worth taking extra precautions for the next week or two as the forecast is distinctly chilly.

I'm planning on covering my seedlings in the greenhouse with fleece at night. All tomato plants (about 30 or so..) are somehow going to come inside. Prior experience has taught me that they can tolerate a day or two cold but definitely don't like a week of temperatures consistently below around 10C which looks like is on the cards.

Here's to June onwards!

Qualitymark

Any idea what's causing this?

My seedlings are like Finnegan's Ball - one step out, one step in again, one step out… and I'd bought a few little plants - Tumbler tomatoes, runner beans, sweet peas - that I was going to put out, but now they'll have to be indoor for the week.

irishproduce

Should I take mine in? Some chili's tomatoes and berry types. This pic was 2 weeks ago. They've grown on a bit.

Qualitymark

Use your judgment. I'd take them in. My dining room is covered in pots of baby tomatoes, dahlias, aquilegia, etc!

Satriale

Anyone with potatoes, it might be worth covering them, i got caught last night, earthed up around them this evening and covered with blankets.

johndoe99

covered my potatoes last night, glad I did, there was an ice sheet covering my rain barrel this morning. Funny weather for the end of April.

Roquentin

yea i can feel the cold already

Rogueish

Ok you have gotten me worried ( taking plants inside the house!!). I'm very new to the whole gardening thing and have been ghosting the gardening forum for the last few weeks, so please forgive my naivety.

I have soft fruit bushes & plants (redcurrants, blueberries, blackberries, raspberries, strawberries and tayberries) planted in pots. They have all been bought within the last two-three weeks and have been outside since. I have brought them inside the shed (block built but uninsulated). It has a big north east facing window which will catch the light for the next cold snap and save me taking them in and out. My question is.... will this be sufficient? I've even brought my dwarf apple trees into the shed ( one of them is in full blossom) on my dads suggestion.

I have a notorious 'black thumb' but a new house and new garden have me determined to at least turn my black thumb brown...

Supercell

Got down to minus 2 last night, very glad my tomatoes were indoors!

Supercell

Rogueish wrote: »

Ok you have gotten me worried ( taking plants inside the house!!). I'm very new to the whole gardening thing and have been ghosting the gardening forum for the last few weeks, so please forgive my naivety.

I have soft fruit bushes & plants (redcurrants, blueberries, blackberries, raspberries, strawberries and tayberries) planted in pots. They have all been bought within the last two-three weeks and have been outside since. I have brought them inside the shed (block built but uninsulated). It has a big north east facing window which will catch the light for the next cold snap and save me taking them in and out. My question is.... will this be sufficient? I've even brought my dwarf apple trees into the shed ( one of them is in full blossom) on my dads suggestion.

I have a notorious 'black thumb' but a new house and new garden have me determined to at least turn my black thumb brown...

All those plants would be pretty hardy, I would say they will be fine. Its the likes of small seedlings or frost sensitive plants like tomatoes and chili's that are particularly vulnerable to icy temperatures.

magicbastarder

mild grass frost here (northside of dublin), but wasn't too cold at 8:30am.

Supercell

magicbastarder wrote: »

mild grass frost here (northside of dublin), but wasn't too cold at 8:30am.

Don't forget the sun is long up by 08:30, doesn't mean it wasn't very cold earlier .

There was a good 3+ hours of subzero temps here earlier, but most frost was gone by 8:00

Qualitymark

Soft fruit should be ok, @Rougeish, but here's a tip: put an old dustbin or a couple of big tubs full of water beside your plants. The body of water will create a microclimate slightly warmer than the rest of the garden. But also make sure they're out of any blast of wind - I killed a couple of nice rosemary plants this winter by planting them beside my front gate, where a cold wind whirls around and takes a sharp corner. Another one that was there I picked up and moved it into the back garden and it's thriving now, so it was definitely the blasht.