Yesterdays late frost was enough to take out this Buddleia. The 15th of May is seen as the cut off point for frosts in Cambridgeshire….BUT with all this scorchio weather I decided to harden the seedlings off a little early. I had some out side the green house and had left the green house door open.
The frost crept into the greenhouse and slaughtered the seedlings as they slept…we lost about two hundred…all the dahlias…most of the Tithonis and most of the Zinnias.
…the half hardy seedlings that I had put out in the beds have melted into the abyss or been taken by aliens…
I had a ten minute swearing and foot stamping session…successfully letting out my inner Yeti and then got over it. It has been a very very expensive lesson…but a lesson none the less…I won’t be putting seedlings out before the 15th again…and better to learn this with 200 plants rather than 2000.
The Higgledy Army have taken some losses but morale is still high and we shall march on Paris victorious…we shall liberate the world from banality…release it from the shackles its dull captors…and take the downtrodden citizens into the bright and shinning light of hedonism once again. …have some of that Frost Face!
Captain Benjamin Ranyard of the Special Epicurean Forces.
PS The edible flower garden is untouched…
Higgledy Garden Seed Sowing Guide. | Higgledy Garden
January 22, 2012 @ 9:50 pm
[…] Check the weather. The wonderful BBC have a weather site which will tell you if the temperature is likely to drop below freezing. It will be of no surprise to you to know, if it does….don’t put ‘em out. I had a disaster this year, if you’re feeling like having a snigger at my misfortune then please click on FROST DISASTER! […]
How to grow the best half hardy annuals known to the modern world...fact. | Higgledy Garden
August 17, 2011 @ 4:21 pm
[…] Check the weather. The wonderful BBC have a weather site which will tell you if the temperature is likely to drop below freezing. It will be of no surprise to you to know, if it does….don’t put ‘em out. I had a disaster this year, if you’re feeling like having a snigger at my misfortune then please click on FROST DISASTER! […]
May 22, 2011 @ 10:11 am
I used to garden in Cambridgeshire – lovely, dry summers! Kind of makes up for the frost damage. We don’t get much frost here in Devon, just mould. And rot.
May 6, 2011 @ 9:40 pm
Good for you for marching on, I would have been swearing for a little longer than ten minutes!!! This crazy weather has a lot to answer for.
May 8, 2011 @ 4:18 pm
Thank you Katherine…I’m sure we”ll still have fun.. x
May 5, 2011 @ 11:47 am
So sorry – but as you say – better 200 than 2000 – glad the edible flower garden is OK
K
May 8, 2011 @ 4:20 pm
Thank you Karen…all is well.. xxx
I’m better off for learning that lesson.
May 5, 2011 @ 9:26 am
Just gutting. I am learning the same lesson. Hooray for HARDY annuals.x
May 8, 2011 @ 4:21 pm
you’ve gotta love them!!! x