The frost watch

[Sunflowersinthewind]

I am almost obsessed with looking at the weather app now relying to figure out when I can plant out what I have bought and what would survive in my unheated greenhouse.

I currently have inside many fuchsias, snapdragons, busy lizzies and tomato plants. Outside in greenhouse, I have seedlings of marigolds, zinnia, aster, sunflowers and some plug plants of varying perennials.

When would you be planting out any of this. I know my tomatoes have to stay in. They are not the healthiest anyway, having grown them from seed too early but I won't give up on them. Also how safe is the unheated greenhouse do you think? Temps at night are due to go down to 4 degrees but feel like 1 degree!

Also if anyone else is wondering the same questions the post here! Honestly mumsnet at the moment has been my go-to guide for gardening questions.

((Small voice)) Sarah Raven has 50% off certain things right now if anyone needs more plants to worry about 😉

Goldenshoe I'm growing erigeron from seed - planted them on 1st April - and they are still tiny! One or two pairs of true leaves on each seedling, but they are so tiny. Have you grown them from seed before, and do they just take a while to get going??

I have just put my seedlings out for their first hour outside. Only doing an hour first.

Dahlias are in the cold frame and have been since they potted up, in a shed at work when I'm not there.
Geraniums, cosmos once established etc all out in unheated greenhouse, as soon as they're potted on and haven't keeled over, out they go.

It's about a mild a winter as we could have had. Hawthorn (May) is out in flower so.....

@fatsatsuma I sowed the seeds I bought from from Sarah Raven on March the 7th and they're still tiny, no bigger than the size of my little fingernail!

I have plants from last year that I bought as seedlings which are coming back quite strong but I had visions of them self seeding and growing out of all the nooks and crannies around them - no such luck :(

Meridian weather forecaster has just said chance of slight ground frost tonight - beware SE gardeners!

A SLUG GOT IN THE GREENHOUSE!!!

Your indignation comes screaming through the screen. Have you relocated it?

I couldn't find it. I have put salt round the outside now. It munched my sunflower babies

Where are people finding out their frost information. Normal weather ? What is the lowest temp I should be looking for.

I just look at the BBC app for my location, looks like it is warming up after tonight.
I've just brought all my potted up plug plants into the conservatory as they weren't doing anything outside.

Nasty little thing 😡 your poor sunflowers.

@Paranoidandroidmarvin i just go off the bbc weather for my postcode. I’ve learned that anything 4 and under can randomly give frost (rural) so I’m looking for consistent 5+ which seems to start on Saturday night!

I've just whacked some more sunflower seeds in pots and hoping for the best. Some survived. So angry

On the subject of erigeron - I have 6 plants on order. Hope they come soon! I also bought some plugs of bedding plants.

I might check out Sarah Raven now.

@SockFluffInTheBath is there anything I can buy to put over my bedding plants when I put them in. They have to go in this weekend or I’m going to lose them I think.

@Paranoidandroidmarvin i think you’re further south than me (I’m in the midlands) so I would have guessed you’d be ok after tonight. My forecast is pretty mild from tomorrow night onwards. You can get horticultural fleece, that might be ok, or maybe just upturned plant pots (if they’re big enough?). Someone like @MereDintofPandiculation would have a much better idea.

I’m in suffolk. Thanks. I will keep an eye on them. Put my seedlings out for an hour today. Just starting to harden them off. Will do two hour tomorrow. I sadly just sat and worried about them the entire time and was pleased to bring them back. So sad 😭

Farmer gracy also has a sale, plus free shipping until Sunday

@Paranoidandroidmarvin at the the thought of you fretting for an hour or being away from your seedlings

I think today is planting day (for some things). Tomorrow is only a high of 12 but the low is 7 so that's OK. A couple of nights at 6 but warm from then on.

Yup. Mine are going out today. But my seedlings are out for two hours today then in. I really need to get a grip. I will be gutted if they die. 🙄I really do need to get a grip lol.

It really gets you like that, doesn’t it! 🙄🤣

Im going for broke now. I’m going to stop bringing everything back in at night as the overnight forecast looks good from here. I love walking into a greenhouse bursting with little plants though so it will be sad to lose that effect. Some of the seedlings are dawdling though so there will still be a few bits in there. My erigerons are also still tiddly…

The Times today announced that tomatoes should be outside in the ground by now <eyes kitchen windowsill>. Surely not?

I get the timing wrong every year. Signing in in solidarity.

They are all still so small!!!

See. So small.

@Sunflowersinthewind I hope you noticed the RHS no longer class slugs as “pests”? ☺️ They’re part of the ecosystem, to be managed not destroyed. They’ve come a long way from being the biggest advocate of chemicals and peat.

On hardening off - if no greenhouse or cold frame, RHS recommends putting your plants out in a warm sheltered place and covering with two layers of horticultural fleece, and bringing them-in at night. After a week, reduce to one layer. Towards the end of the week, remove the fleece. If the night is warmer than 7deg, leave them outside at night but cover with fleece.

@Paranoidandroidmarvin You need to do what makes you comfortable, but you may find it easier next year

What I do - not to be emulated - depending on where the seedlings started, I move them to unheated conservatory to unheated greenhouse to outdoors, timing each move for the start of good weather. I figure that if the greenhouse is going to be as warm this coming week as the conservatory was last week, the plants will cope. I did manage to kill my cucumber seedlings last year, and had to start again!

Clear plastic drinks bottles with their bottoms cut off make good single plant cloches.

@MereDintofPandiculation I am managing the slugs and snails by rehoming them into next doors garden (it's unoccupied, has been for years). Found about 10 just now on my pot check. I dont mind them but if they could just agree with me, that they don't eat my plants, that would be great. That's excellent advice about timing of hardening off. Will use this spell of good weather to move around stuff and match temperatures. So stuff that has been ok in unheated greenhouse can probably go outside now, making way for stuff that has been in my house for the greenhouse. My house is a very cold house, stayed at a steady 15-16 even inside so they haven't been in luxury anyway, or at least I am convincing myself of this