Blog: October’s topsy-turvy temperatures have us in a spin!
October is always the month I can expect my first frost, although this varies up and down the country (see my estimated frost dates in Cold Protection).
This October, in particular, has been a lottery with the weather. In 10 days, we have had howling gales, a month of rain in 12 hours and temperatures of 21C! The best thing we can learn from climate change is to be ready for anything!
Inevitably, we had to have a ground frost, too and that happened on Thursday night/Friday morning. It followed a torrential shower, then the skies cleared and the temperatures plummeted to 2 °C. It’s important to realise that many tender plants are damaged or killed by low temperatures above freezing.
First frost – be prepared
With this in mind, it’s sensible to get anything half-hardy under glass and kept fairly dry before the temperatures dip. Unfortunately, my host of geraniums (Pelargoniums), Cannas, and Agapanthus are all still outside. I hadn’t finished cleaning the conservatory, hit by a plague of aphids and red spider mite this year.
Unfortunately, due to decorating and building work, the poor conservatory ended up as a dumping ground. It was 5ft high in old carpet, ready to go to the tip, when poor Gary got COVID and had to isolate for 10 days. I can’t stress the importance of cleaning properly from top to bottom with Citrox, Jeyes Fluid, whatever is your thing. If you don’t, pests will overwinter as well as your plants.
Yucca rescue time!
When the weather forecast came in, it was clear that the huge Yucca had to come in. It’s 7ft tall, in a zinc pot and has to be carried up a flight of stairs to the first-floor conservatory. It’s the only place that’s tall enough for it!
Luckily, Gary was well enough to do his strongman act and get it indoors. The Yucca is usually seen as a houseplant, and it only goes out in summer. I’ve had it for many years and hate to think how much it would cost to replace. As for the other plants still outside, they’re all in one place, so I’ll put a layer of fleece on them and cross my fingers that our black wall will keep the temperature up!
What types of frost are there?
- Ground frost: Ice forms on the ground, objects or trees, at a temperature below the freezing point of water (0 °C). When the ground cools more quickly than the air, a ground frost can happen without an air frost.
- Grass frost: Particularly dangerous for gardeners. Grass or vegetation can freeze when concrete or roads don’t, as they hold onto heat better, and this can happen in early summer or autumn.
- Air frost: When the air temperature falls to or below 0 °C at a height of at least 1m above the ground.
- Hoar frost: The same process as dew, but formed when below the freezing point of tiny ice crystals (feathery hoar frost). A ‘white’ frost occurs when the dew forms first, then freezes.
