There is a ground frost predicted in SE england tonight -with temperatures dipping as low as 1c. Just popped my head outside to see a clear and very stary night which looks beautiful.
Not good news for any tender plants, especially the blossom on fruit trees which is always at risk during April/May in the UK with our unpredictable weather. Whilst visiting a local nursery today I was impressed by the range of fruit trees on sale including grapefuruit, orange, lime, and kiwi.
Take a look at these sites for more information about growing fruit trees in the UK
http://www.bbc.co.uk/gardening/basics/techniques/growfruitandveg_growingfruittrees1.shtml
http://www.orangepippinshop.com/article.aspx?articleid=100019
http://www.globalorangegroves.co.uk/
If you live in Australia and want to select fruit trees then check out a clever new online service which provides local climate information for your area.
It stores the climate profile of the 40 most common fruit tree crops with over 700 cultivars of these crops covering all climate zones of Australia. These profiles have been converted into chill unit ranges for all fruit tree cultivars (cultivars for tropical climates will have very low or zero chill factors). The site stores local climate information and when you choose your nearest weather station for your orchard, the web site creates a chill unit profile for your garden and can be further tuned for your micro climates.This is the invention of a passionate organic gardener. Peter Kearney runs the online gardening site at City Food Growers where he hosts this brilliant system. He has plans to launch a UK version which would be really useful given our varied climate, particularly frosts like tonight.
Mon, May 3, 2010
Climate Change, Trees