Did anyone else get caught out by the spring snow?

[Mirrie]

This is my first year for growing veg (Have always had the excuse that I'm not "green fingered" ) But decided to start this year and have been enjoying pottering about and the wonders of how seeds grow!

Anyhoo..I spent a whole week digging beds (not to mention the long nights putting 400 cabbages in those little brown pots!!) So I planted out half the cabbages, all of my carrots and leeks...Then down came the snow...Doh! We were expecting light snow but it ended up snowing for three days...looks like I've lost most of my veg... booooo.

Had a look at those covers you can get but at B+Q they were a tenner each...has anyone got any ideas on a cheaper alternative?

[JustinFun]

We were lucky - despite regular lashings of hail and snow, none of it particularly settled and our lettuce and radish seedlings, peas and broad beans, escaped unscathed (we don't have anything else out yet apart from garlic which wasn't at all bothered).

As for cheap frost protection - for well spaced plants you can use half a plastic bottle as an individual cloche. For seedlings you could cover with bubble wrap (I have not tried this).

[maggienetball]

It's not jsut snow that kills seedlings - it's frost too. It's not really safe t plant out unprotected tender plants until the last chance of frost has gone. For me in Torbay that's the end of April, In Scotland that can be June. Try covering with fleece, protecting with cut off water bottles, or good old fashioned cloches!

Hope they haven't all died. Let us know how they go.

[Peggy Sue]

I think my losses were the bits I had in the cold frame, even though I covered them I didn't expect the really hard frosts as well as the snow so it's goodbye French Beans. They were supposed to be really early ones...now I'll have to get some later ones!

I've got no protection down the allotment so tender stuff is in a 'cold frame' - home made square of wooden sides against the house, a bit of poly on the top overnight.

[SarahJane]

We had our fair share of snow here in The Peaks, fortunately all the seeds I have planted are in the mini greenhouse or on the kitchen windowsill.
The garlic I planted is growing strong and my first lot of radishes have sprouted.
When I went out this morning 8 of my sunflower seeds have poked through the soil, (5 giant yellow and 3 red) and a couple of peas are also through. So hopefully everything is going to plan.
I have yellow and green peppers on the kitchen windowsill which are doing well and a few small pots of oregano that seem to be doing alright.

Hopefully we wont get any more snow!!!

[maggienetball]

I remember that expression "never cast a clout until May is out" or something like that!

It worries me that we fall in line with what shops want us to do and not what the seasons/weather is telling us.

An example of this is last weekend (Easter) I visited a garden centre only to see runner bean, cougette and pumpkin plants for sale amongst other unsuitable things.

There is so much emphasis on profit that common sense seems to fly out of the window.

Anyone who wasted their money on runner bean plants and then planted them outside would be very disappointed indeed when they inevitably died. Unfortunately it is the novice gardeners that are likely to buy them and then run the risk of being disheartened when their crops fail.

Yet another example of profit hungry businesses I'm afraid.

My advice to new gardeners is to read the instructions on the seed packets and ignore what the garden centres are selling.

[Enormous Sage]

If you just planted seeds, the snow won't have killed them (though some of the seedlings might have turned to compost)

I left some tomato plants outside in my (unheated) greenhouse and although the frost got them a bit, they seem to be recovering now with new growth coming through. I figure what doesn't kill them will make them stronger, or is that just mindless optimism?


Don't write them off just yet - evolution has seen that plants are designed by nature to cope with nasty weather at this time of year.

[theabsinthefairy]

Luckily did not plant anything as this little lot took till Thursday to melt away fully.



Monika

[maggienetball]

what a beautiful photo. This reinforces why tender crops need protection or later planting I guess!!

Is the snow unusual for your area or are you quite high up?

[theabsinthefairy]

We are at about 800m in the Massif Central mountain region of France, so snow is very normal. In fact this winter and last winter have both been quite mild, with the snow only sticking around for a week or so, and temps dropping to -16 for short periods. We can expect extended -20 temps in a harsh winter and up to 2 months of metre high plus snow fall - so that is something to look forward to. Conversely we have little rain throughout the summer (last year notwithstanding) and get temps into the mid 30s.

No planting here gets done until at least mid April, but season can extend into very mild Novembers.

[Peggy Sue]

WEll the beautiful day we had yesterday made me a bit stupid- I left the tomatoes outside convinced summer had arrived....and woke up to unforecast frost I do hope they are strong enough to survive

[Mirrie]

A month on and heres an update!! Most of the cabbages died cause they were all planted out as seedlings, as did all of the onions...but My carrots have stayed tall (and small!) and yesterday were deffo bigger so hopefully are growing again! Quite a few leeks survived too and loadsa rocket! After being on here/reading books and talking to some veg patch experts I realised I planted the whole lot out way to early...oh well live and learn! Last month, however I did run out of room on (all- I may of gone alittle over the top!) of my windowsills so planted aload of courgette/cabbage seedlings out in the garden and tomatoes in pots of which the bigger ones are being left out now...

Its funny though cause now every morning I'm taking out a good 12 trays of seedlings to enjoy the sun and taking them back in at night..it takes forever! Roll on when I can get a greenhouse!!

[MKG]

Get yourself some fleece, cover the plants and leave 'em outside. The only thing you have to worry about then is a really deep frost.