Brrrrrr

[woolybanana]

Yer, my dears, tiz a little chilly; the greenhouse is full to bursting with covered pots, ground rock solid and the birds stuffing themselves at a desperate rate of knots.

Trouble is, it is beautiful sunny but even wrapped up warm in a sheltered spot, there is no incentive to go out.

Those hardy souls who go walking must come home with frostbite.

Hope it is not gonna last much longer as there are still some flowerbeds to sort and the rest. At least. There has been plenty of time to get the mower serviced, though that is the last time as they have put the price up too far.

Brrrrrrr, even the dog is keeping his tail well down to keep his knuts warm when I manage to force him out for a tiddle.

[Théière]

Yes, keep your banana inside in case it gets frost bitten

[woolybanana]

Dubbl bubbl rapped plus thicks layers of wool coz must go get more bird seed or the little ruggers will starve and freeze to death.

[Alan Zoff]

If I can get through Kent, I shall be travelling down from Calais to Central France on Friday so I would be grateful if you could chuck plenty of salt around on your roads, please, Wooly.

[Noisette]

Some people are never satisfied! :-) Here we are with glorious sunshine at last, and the endless mud is frozen solid. There's nothing quite like collecting fresh, warm eggs when your tiny hands are frozen ;-)

At least it's not like living in wet Wales which is what it's been for most of the winter!

[woolybanana]

Cuddling chickens keeps you warm, I reckon!

[Cendrillon]

Wearing a full set of long thermal underwear here in sunny / snowy S.E. England. That wind is coming straight from Siberia with temperatures sticking below 0 degrees.

Walked yesterday, it was absolutely perishing .

[andyh4]

-9 yesterday, -7 today - with -17 overnight.

And you wimps think it's cold. You don't know you're born.

Much more of this and the water main will freeze - again.

[woolybanana]

Kitchen, drawing room full of plants, greenhouse overflowing: what worries me is that they are talking to each other. The return of the Triffids

[woolybanana]

Well, managed to get the waterbutts back into position on the offchance ? that there might be some rain sometime. But it nearly frozed my knuts and fingers off doing it.

Mr Putin’s winter seems very reluctant to let go. Maybe it is because Jeremy Corbyn wished it on us!

[cajal]

You want cold? This is cold!

[woolybanana]

Phew, I shall just have to have a little toddy to get over that, cajal. ?

[andyh4]

Wooly wrote:

Well, managed to get the waterbutts back into position on the offchance ? that there might be some rain sometime. But it nearly frozed my knuts and fingers off doing it.

I don't know about the quality or materials of your water butts, but when ours freeze - which they can still do overnight - they frequently split. Ours are left empty from mid - November to mid - March (and this year maybe a tad later than normal

[woolybanana]

Mine were empty and have drained all winter but there was a little water at the bottom below tap level. This was a block of ice effectively so they were tipped up and bashed until it came out which also removed any potentially remaining tap blocking muck. But they were a tad unsightly on the lawn so decided to put them back on their stands. Should have worn gloves though.

[NormanH]

Even in Béziers we had a sprinkling of snow, but people here are so unused to it that this chap thought he had to use skis to go shopping..

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[YCCMB]

The BBC website had a series of photos from Twitter of postmen up and down the land delivering the post as usual, still dressed in shorts.

[mint]

I feel a bit guilty saying this but our grand froid lasted about 3 days and is well and truly over.

Driving back from the hospital this evening, the temperature outside was a balmy 12.  We have a wind (well, don't like to say breeze) but it was a warm one and certainly not from the east.

Chin up, folk, stay warm and patient.  It will be over soon...........just look at all the spring flowers pushing up in their determination to carry on as normal!

[richard51]

.".just look at all the spring flowers pushing up in their determination to carry on as normal!"

I'm afraid they are covered in snow!!!

[woolybanana]

A poor little plant in a pot got forgotten outside mainly because it had been popped into a much larger pot to stop it blowing away and was invisible though it had plenty of light. When found it was completely drooped and the soil was rock solid, though fairly light.

Ok, let’s try a little TLC and see what happens. So a steady trickle and soak in just luke warm water and a good drain then indoors with plenty of warmth and light. Lo and behold, complete recovery.

The question then is whether it was frozen solid and in danger of dying or has this long frozen spell hidden tht fact that there has been little rain for a month or so and the plant was just thirsty or both.

Any thought welcome.

Ta, guys and gals.

[andyh4]

Impossible to answer in the abstract Wooly.

When a plant freezes the water in its cells freezes (or at least can freeze). When the plant defrosts the ice returns to water and just like the pipes in your house, if the cell walls are weak, they burst. If too many cell walls burst the plant dies. If the cell walls are strong then they can withstand the freezing-defrosting action.

The other factor is to what degree the ground can keep roots frost free. Plants in pots are less protected from prolonged cold than plants in the ground; but against a light frost they will warm up much more quickly.

The impact is that some plants survive and others don't and some plants that we might expect to be susceptible are surprisingly hardy - lemons and olives will both withstand quite a degree of frost. Olives in the ground are hardy to -15C. Most lemon varieties to at least -5C.