We’ve had a series of very cold nights for the second week of May. The coldest early morning occurred on Thursday when the temperature fell to -0.4°C or 31.3°F.
As you can see from the values in the red box we’ve had a run of 4 frosty nights in a row. It’s the first time I’ve recorded a below 0°C (32°F) temperature beyond the first week of May. The previous record was -1.0°C (30.2°F) recorded on 06 May 2012 so Thursday extended that record by a week.
We had already taken the precaution of protecting as much as possible at the allotment. All our potatoes were covered with soil or compost and our strawberry flowers were protected with a covering of fleece and environmesh. Unfortunately, there are a few things that we don’t protect and in varying degrees these have been caught by the frost.
Our kiwis are susceptible to frost catching their young shoots.
This is our large fruited kiwi, although it has never fruited, and as expected the young leaves have been knocked back by the cold temperatures.
Our other kiwi is called Issai and has produced small fruits when it grew in our garden at home. It’s not off to a good start this year with the young shoots caught by the frost.
Finally, our grapevine growing around two sides of the shed has also suffered some damage.
Once again it’s the tender young shoots that have been nipped by the frost.
However, it’s not all bad news as in the perennial bed our irises are beginning to flower.
Hopefully, the nights will be warming up from now on and we can start to think about getting more tender vegetables like cucumbers, courgettes, sweet corn and Runner beans started.
I have seen some reports that parts of the UK had their coldest night for 40 years.
