Not good enough @monsejour15_lcRGdg8. Staying above 0C is no guarantee that plants will be safe from frost if they are tender evergreens with moisture in their leaves or - as mentioned above - dahlia or other tuber containing moisture. As @Lyn says, a minimum of 3C and more is a safer bet.
Totally agree.
Think about it this way ... a domestic refrigerator is usually set to function at 4C ... any lower and foodstuff, particularly salads and fruit, can be damaged.
Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.
I think my shed keeps the temperature about 5c above the outside temperature unless we have a very prolonged period of cold. Last winter I didn't have time to prepare some of the plants I'd normally properly look after and I just chucked them in the shed in their pots with some bubble wrap insulation. When I checked on them after a cold snap the soil was frozen solid.
If you only have a few plants and have easy access to your loft, it's a surprisingly good place to put plants. I read about someone who had a dozen ensete bananas up there one year.
As I said earlier too- once there's dampness in there, it's useless, so yes - any plant that still has moisture in it will be very susceptible. Frosts still occur at around +3 degrees, which is why you have a warning at that temp on your car, if you have one, so it has to be around that level at least for most plants which need overwintering.
A rather rude first post too @monsejour15_lcRGdg8 - an opening line on an old thread aimed at a very experienced forum member. Pretty poor.
It's a place where beautiful isn't enough of a word....
I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...
Your garden shed is perfectly capable to survive this winter and the next 10 winters without anything you need to do if it is well maintained, tidy, clean, and functional. And with “functional“ we mean mainly well protected against water and moisture from above and from the ground.
Your shed may well be perfectly capable of surviving the next 10 winters. The query relates to keeping various plants in there over the winter period - ie survival of the plants rather than the actual shed
Not good enough @monsejour15_lcRGdg8. Staying above 0C is no guarantee that plants will be safe from frost if they are tender evergreens with moisture in their leaves or - as mentioned above - dahlia or other tuber containing moisture. As @Lyn says, a minimum of 3C and more is a safer bet.
Point taken. I'll now consider a frost-free shed to be dry and never below 4 deg celsius, just to be on the safe side. Maybe telly gardeners, and the like, should explain the concept for the benefit of folk like the original poster and myself when they use the term. I am in Deux Sevres. My first winter here, 2004-05, the temperature dropped to minus 15 overnight. (as far as my measurements showed) I came here to escape the Scottish weather...
@Joex - it's not that obvious, as with small greenhouses. The insulation properties of bubble wrap, fleece or a shed is good to explore and not take for granted.
It's all relative anyway - a frost of even quite sharp proportions [more than minus five] for a few hours does less damage than a lighter frost that rarely lifts, and goes on for several days, or a week, at a time. It's the same with rain, sun, snow, sleet or any other kind of weather. The length of time anything is 'present' is the main factor. We could have a high of 22 [for example] but if it takes till 2 pm to get to that, and then drops again by 4pm, that's quite different from it being 18 or 19 from 3am until 8pm.
It's a place where beautiful isn't enough of a word....
I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...
Also, a frost with a blanket of snow providing insulation will do less damage than the same degree of frost without snow. In my Belgian garden we'd regularly have -15C as a norm for several weeks in the depths of winter and often much worse. With no snow cover it could be devastating.
Here, having retired to escape long, cold, wet, grey Belgian winters, -8C is exceptional but then we are just 20km inland from the Atlantic coast and what's left of the Gulf Stream. We put tender plants in the polytunnel for winter and that's been fine so far tho we did lose some dahlias whose tubers I'd lifted and hidden in there. Most survived and will spend this winter outside in their new bed with a lot of mulch.
Vendée - 20kms from Atlantic coast.
"The price good men (and women) pay for indifference to public affairs is to be ruled by evil men (and women)."
Posts
Think about it this way ... a domestic refrigerator is usually set to function at 4C ... any lower and foodstuff, particularly salads and fruit, can be damaged.
Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.
Last winter I didn't have time to prepare some of the plants I'd normally properly look after and I just chucked them in the shed in their pots with some bubble wrap insulation. When I checked on them after a cold snap the soil was frozen solid.
If you only have a few plants and have easy access to your loft, it's a surprisingly good place to put plants. I read about someone who had a dozen ensete bananas up there one year.
Frosts still occur at around +3 degrees, which is why you have a warning at that temp on your car, if you have one, so it has to be around that level at least for most plants which need overwintering.
A rather rude first post too @monsejour15_lcRGdg8 - an opening line on an old thread aimed at a very experienced forum member. Pretty poor.
I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...
The query relates to keeping various plants in there over the winter period - ie survival of the plants rather than the actual shed
I am in Deux Sevres. My first winter here, 2004-05, the temperature dropped to minus 15 overnight. (as far as my measurements showed)
I came here to escape the Scottish weather...
@Joex - it's not that obvious, as with small greenhouses. The insulation properties of bubble wrap, fleece or a shed is good to explore and not take for granted.
It's the same with rain, sun, snow, sleet or any other kind of weather. The length of time anything is 'present' is the main factor. We could have a high of 22 [for example] but if it takes till 2 pm to get to that, and then drops again by 4pm, that's quite different from it being 18 or 19 from 3am until 8pm.
I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...
Here, having retired to escape long, cold, wet, grey Belgian winters, -8C is exceptional but then we are just 20km inland from the Atlantic coast and what's left of the Gulf Stream. We put tender plants in the polytunnel for winter and that's been fine so far tho we did lose some dahlias whose tubers I'd lifted and hidden in there. Most survived and will spend this winter outside in their new bed with a lot of mulch.