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Advice Please for a newcomer. How cold is cold?

Last post 14-10-2009 3:54 PM by bogweevil. 4 replies.

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  • 12/10/2009 08:09 PM
    • ArthurS
    • Bath Somerset
    • 02 Sep 2009
    • 1
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     I'm new to gardening this year and have three modest raised beds (stolen from the lawn) which at the moment contain a variety of plants (Curly Kale, Spring Cabbage, Round Cabbage and a few Cauliflowers) The seedlings were planted in the first half of September, they are currently around 6-8 inches high and seem to be doing well. We are however now moving into cooler weather and locally tonight (Bath) a temperature of 3 degrees is forecast with a ground frost. Should I be covering the plants now? If it is not yet sufficiently cold to yet do so, then how cold does it need to get before I cover them?  

    Advice appreciated.
  • 13/10/2009 08:29 AM
    In reply to
    • Obelix
    • Belgium
    • 24 Nov 2004
    • 378
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    Curly Kale is perferctly hardy down to -15C so don't worry about that.

    Sorry, I can't help with the others as I don't grow them.

     

    Obelix - Belgium
  • 13/10/2009 09:53 AM
    In reply to
    • Phot's-Moll
    • The sunny South coast.
    • 06 Jan 2007
    • 3,347
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     I don't think you need protect any of these from the cold. You might want to put netting over to stop hungry birds eating them during cold weather though.

    Whether you think you can do a thing, or think you cannot, you are right.
  • 13/10/2009 10:32 AM
    In reply to
    • RogerBee
    • Aylesbury, Buckinghamshire
    • 14 Jan 2009
    • 84
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    On your cauliflowers you might want to bend a couple of leaves over rhe curds to protect them from frost (and snow if they are going to be in the ground for a while yet).

    Give it a go - it might just work!
  • 14/10/2009 03:54 PM
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    Top 10 Contributor
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    These are all perfectly hardy in Bath spa and you only need to bend cauliflower leaves over the developing curds, which are unlikely to have formed since September. 

    It should not be necessary to cover hardy over-wintered brassica crops in south-west England.  Wind and wet soil does more harm than cold in the SW.  Protection from the wind might be necessary on hilltops but the city is mostly very sheltered.

     

    Boggy

    Beware the bat-eared bogweevil