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Are we done with frost?

tomhumftomhumf Posts: 65
in Fruit & veg
We've got some squash and tomatoes waiting to go out, really too big for pots but I want to avoid having to pot them on.

Squash will be outside, Toms in polytunnel. The weather forecast doesn't drop below 3 degrees for next 10 days, and last frost is suppose to be last week of April here. We're in Killamarsh near Sheffield. 

Do you think we can get them out safely? No rain forecast for a while so I'll have to water well in.



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Posts

  • B3B3 Posts: 26,502
    I'm a lot further south than you and wouldn't chance them outside at night yet but maybe during the day 
    In London. Keen but lazy.
  • ShepsSheps Posts: 2,105
    edited April 2022
    Last frost prediction is it's safe after the 2nd week of May for me and I'm near Wakefield.
  • Busy-LizzieBusy-Lizzie Posts: 22,631
    I wouldn't put them out before mid-May. Years ago when I lived in Kent there was a frost on the 1st June!
    Dordogne and Norfolk. Clay in Dordogne, sandy in Norfolk.
  • punkdocpunkdoc Posts: 14,362
    Still too early for me in Sheffield. Last year we had severe frosts in 2nd. Week of May.
    How can you lie there and think of England
    When you don't even know who's in the team

    S.Yorkshire/Derbyshire border
  • pansyfacepansyface Posts: 22,315
    edited April 2022
    Maybe the climate is warming a bit, but my old ma used to say that the last day of May was the last day of frost. That was on the edge of Sheffield.

    Just had a quick look back at my weather diaries. 14 May 2020 “A very hard frost. Plants all drooping. Blossoms brown”. That’s near Bakewell.
    Apophthegm -  a big word for a small thought.
    If you live in Derbyshire, as I do.
  • JennyJJennyJ Posts: 9,602
    This site says our last frost here is in the second week of May https://www.gardenfocused.co.uk/adjust-dates-uk-done-datalist.php?Town=Doncaster but I think that's maybe an average. I've been here since 1988 and some years we've had frosts and even snow later than that.
    I might start hardening things off around the second week in May but they'll be brought in at night for the first week, then covered at night unless it's forecast very mild overnight. We can't assume there'll be no more frosts here until about the end of May although some years the last frost will be earlier.
    Doncaster, South Yorkshire. Soil type: sandy, well-drained
  • UffUff Posts: 3,199
    As you can see I come from Derbyshire, mid to be exact. My dad gardened all his life and religiously kept a garden diary. When I had a garden of my own he drilled it into me never to put tender stuff out until mid June. His latest recorded frost temperature was 17th June. I've followed his advice all of my gardening life and it's never let me down. Sometimes my produce or flowers are a bit later than others who have been lucky when they've put theirs out but they get there in the end.
    Patience is the keyword in gardening. 
    SW SCOTLAND but born in Derbyshire
  • didywdidyw Posts: 3,200
    Every year we have a garden market in our town.  It is always on the 2nd Sunday of May (this year the third Sunday) as there is a fair chance then that there will be no frost so the visitors can plant their purchases safely in their gardens.  We are in Suffolk though.  I think if we were further north we might hold the market in the third week in May.
    Gardening in East Suffolk on dry sandy soil.
  • raisingirlraisingirl Posts: 6,903
    BBC weather forecast this morning said frost this week
    “It's still magic even if you know how it's done.” 
  • tomhumftomhumf Posts: 65
    Ok, that's pretty overwhelming 😄 garden focus says the last week of April for us, think that's why we're growing early. I think we'll pot some of the squash on and maybe put tomatoes in a bit less sun to slow them down. 

    Will probably go for planting out mid May, not sure if they could hang on inside until June. Thanks everyone.


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