Just for a contrarian view (as usual!) I am in the east midlands, 4 san marzano tomato plants (started from seed by us in Feb) have gone out under fleece in a coldframe which is in an unheated greenhouse at the end of March, this was as a test more than anything else but not only have they survived, they are thriving! They have been there with the outside night temps of at least minus 4 for 2 consecutive nights and no issues at all. Prepping the beds for around 10 more toms to be planted out in the greenhouse in the next week or so immediately after the night temps are above freezing, and then they will go under fleece in the greenhouse until the nights are warmer when the fleece will come off. My view is as long as you are sensible then tomato plants are a lot more hardy than they are given credit for, certainly things like chilli peppers, aubergines and okra are a lot more sensitive to the cold and definitely not ready to be put out but in my opinion toms are good to go in a greenhouse as long as you protect them properly.
Good to know thrxvs. I’ve got 3 sweet aperitif about 30cm high in the greenhouse with a bit of fleece wrapped around them overnight. It got to 0.6’ C last night. They’ve been in there about 3 weeks. I’ve never done them this early before, so it is an experiment. I have very small seedlings in the house which will go into the greenhouse when they’re ready in a few weeks. It will be interesting to see the difference in yield over the course of the season if they survive this cold snap.
@thrxvs that's really interesting. I am always wondering if I'm just a scaredy cat when it comes to tomato plants and it takes me all my courage to plant them outside in summer, but they move on so fast when I do. Maybe I should give them a little more credit and try it a bit earlier.
I really need to buy a roll or two of horticultural fleece...!
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I really need to buy a roll or two of horticultural fleece...!