Threat of frost tonight.

Now that it is getting towards the end of April the weather, of course, is getting a lot colder.

What can you say about this weather.  It is completely contrary.  Tonight it may well get down to 3^oC and this is a bit too cold for comfort.  A lot of people have put out courgettes, squashes and pumpkins. I hope that they do not succumb to the possible frost.  I may well be panicking prematurely but that is what gardening is all about this  time of year in England.

Well, fortunately I have not put out my Cucurbitaceae.   They are tucked away in the greenhouse within a greenhouse.  Even so they might get caught by the frost.

The only other plants that I am worried about are the potatoes.  I did not have the time or inclination to earth them up a little more so their tops are open to the elements.  I am hoping they will be all right and they probably will be.  The oca has still not poked its head out of the soil and this is a good thing because it will not be affected overmuch  by the cold night.

I put the calabrese and the purple sprouting brocolli outside to harden off a little before being put into the allotment.

Still no germination of the Moneymaker tomato seed, Florence fennel and the celeriac.  I don't know what I have done wrong but my seed germination is very poor this year.  However, every cloud has a silver lining and this has  helped me manage the plants in the greenhouse a little better.  It is still chocker full of seedlings even though I have planted out the peas, some of the climbing French beans, some of the Brussel sprouts, the cabbage, the onions, the lettuce and the leek seedlings.

But, I should know that this is a very busy time of the year.

I didn't do much at the allotment because I was working today.  I just had some time to water all the newly planted seedlings and the newly sown seeds.  The kohlrabi and the Hamburg parsley still have not germinated.  I doubt that they like the change to much colder weather.

I also gave the strawberries a good watering.  They are quite small plants but they have some very big flowers on them.

When I came home I watered the greenhouse a little.  I did not want to put too much water on some of the seedlings because this may cause them to rot off if there is a frost.  Drier compost seems to allow a much better survival rate in very cold weather.  I will water them tomorrow when the temperature has risen a little bit.

I did water the pumpkins and the tomatoes.  I had missed them when they were transplanted into bigger pots yesterday.

So lots to go out in the allotment when the weather becomes more clement; which I hope will be this weekend.