my banana is still fleeced in a frost free greenhouse. i aim to take the fleece off this week. It wil then be mollycoddled inside until early June. I reckon that tender stuff needs some protection until the last week in May here on the Notts/Derbys border.
I don't plant tender stuff out until the end of May/early June here in Norfolk. In this garden that includes runner beans, courgettes, sweet corn, ipoemea and any summer bedding.
Tomatoes and chillies go out even later as they need warmer temps in order to continue growing strongly.
Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.
my banana is in the polytunnel and has put out a new leaf, with another one coming through. Way too early to stick it outside even down here in mild Devon.
quite true, although it being so windy, it's also less prone to ground frost
I think the 'last frost' data on the website is air frost, i.e. the temperature measured by a thermometer is below zero degrees. The frost gardeners worry about is ground frost, or 'grass frost' and that can still happen when the air temp is up at 4 or 5 degrees, depending on many factors including both weather related (how quickly the air temp is changing) and your ground - if you're in a valley or on the side of a hill, or near a river or close to the sea - and also if the soil is sandy or clay, dry or wet - all sorts of variables.
I'd go with Pansyface's advice and ask someone who's been gardening in your area for some years. Bearing in mind that it is in the nature of gardening to work with uncertainty, to sometimes fail when you do everything 'right' and also to unexpectedly succeed now and then.
Last edited: 23 March 2017 09:41:48
Gardening on the edge of Exmoor, in Devon
“It's still magic even if you know how it's done.”
On the coast I go for end of May/beginning of June same as Fairy who is higher up. Even at that, we did have a heavy frost in June one year which blackened a lot of new shrub growth.
Last frost here was July 7th a few years back. We reckon, on the East Wales/ West Midlands border that the last frost is usually end of May (if we are lucky).
Do you think they're basing their dates on temperatures in towns and cities, which are always warmer ... even here on the edge of the city we're chillier than in the city centre, whereas out in the countryside temps are considerably lower.
We live about 7 miles north of Norwich and the last frost date for Norwich does NOT apply here
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my banana is still fleeced in a frost free greenhouse. i aim to take the fleece off this week. It wil then be mollycoddled inside until early June. I reckon that tender stuff needs some protection until the last week in May here on the Notts/Derbys border.
I don't plant tender stuff out until the end of May/early June here in Norfolk. In this garden that includes runner beans, courgettes, sweet corn, ipoemea and any summer bedding.
Tomatoes and chillies go out even later as they need warmer temps in order to continue growing strongly.
Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.
my banana is in the polytunnel and has put out a new leaf, with another one coming through. Way too early to stick it outside even down here in mild Devon.
quite true, although it being so windy, it's also less prone to ground frost
I think the 'last frost' data on the website is air frost, i.e. the temperature measured by a thermometer is below zero degrees. The frost gardeners worry about is ground frost, or 'grass frost' and that can still happen when the air temp is up at 4 or 5 degrees, depending on many factors including both weather related (how quickly the air temp is changing) and your ground - if you're in a valley or on the side of a hill, or near a river or close to the sea - and also if the soil is sandy or clay, dry or wet - all sorts of variables.
I'd go with Pansyface's advice and ask someone who's been gardening in your area for some years. Bearing in mind that it is in the nature of gardening to work with uncertainty, to sometimes fail when you do everything 'right' and also to unexpectedly succeed now and then.
Last edited: 23 March 2017 09:41:48
“It's still magic even if you know how it's done.”
On the coast I go for end of May/beginning of June same as Fairy who is higher up. Even at that, we did have a heavy frost in June one year which blackened a lot of new shrub growth.
Thanks for all the feedback, the Garden Focused site reckons last week of April, should I keep my banana plant wrapped for that long?
This site recommends unwrapping at start of March...
https://www.urbanjungle.uk.com/musabasjoofaq.asp
Does anyone else have Musa Basjoo planted outdoors and when do / would you unwrap?
I was hoping to unwrap this weekend and thought I'd been over cautious by leaving it this long but now I'm not so sure...
Last frost here was July 7th a few years back. We reckon, on the East Wales/ West Midlands border that the last frost is usually end of May (if we are lucky).