Just to cover my jacksy. I know this is a chilli blog, but some chilli dishes and hot sauces just wouldn't happen without a tom. Anyway, this post can be seen either as a warning, a declaration of my naïvety/stupidity, or a learning curve... I like the sound of the latter.
I've grown tomatoes for a few years now and have always been modestly successful, but this year I broke with my April sowing and followed the packet instructions of a February sowing indoors; in the hope that I could get an earlier summer crop. It always pays to do the homework because I would've known that to try and grow tomatoes in February without a heated greenhouse is leaving too much to chance.
In this part of the UK we are in hardiness zone 8. The hardiness zone is determined by the average minimum temperature, which Norfolk is averaged between -7 °C and -12 °C. I had lulled myself into a false sense of security by the combination of a rather mild January, the appearance of all the spring bulbs, and being able to work outside without my big jacket. I neglected to recount the years before when a hard frost has appeared as late as May.
Beefsteak and a Gardeners Delight Tomatoes  The two top candidates for the Frankenstein greenhouse |
I'm now left with some comparatively super-sized tomato plants that really need more light and to get their roots down. So now I'll have to improvise a method to defend my plants from the cold. My preliminary plan involves warming the soil by covering it with polythene, and mocking up some mini greenhouses to cover the plants themselves. A greenhouse within a greenhouse is new one to me, though all this could be a vain attempt if the temperature falls below 0 °C for more than a day and a night. I will post an update at some point with either a pic of some Frankenstein's monster of a greenhouse... or some dead tomato plants.
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