Just come across this website which might be helpful to new gardeners trying to work out when to sow vegetables, and when their last frost date will be, so that they don't get caught short planting out too early.

http://www.gardenaction.co.uk/main/weather.asp

Use with caution! Tried out a few and they may be a bit optimistic. Hemel Hempstead was about month early. This is all for towns and so much depends on local conditions. Best keep an eye on the forecast and what is happening in the sky!

Hi Primrose and Colin

I would go even further and say:

WARNING - DO NOT USE

Wales is very thinly represented, but I tried the nearest, Ffestiniog, which is getting up into the mountains, and it was optimistic by a good 4 to 6 weeks at either end of the season even for what we get here, 30 metres above sea-level and a bare mile from the coast.

The only answer is observation over the years and a close watch on the local forecast.

It is a bit optimistic isn't it

The nearest town for me is Folkestone, and it states last frost at the end of March.

I wish

That's a good month out.

Our last frost was the day Cameron formed his government last year and the election was May 7 th if memory serves - I think he went to the Queen about 5 days later... it was a real sharp frost and loads of people around here lost their beans and potatoes ( I had 3 buckets of spuds that I forgot to protect because I was so distracted by events - but they did crop well in the end). I usually go by half term as safe to plant out unless it is really late in which case I will go for the week before.

I have just checked the last frost date on the website and for Guildford - about 20 miles away - it is early May, so probably not that far out when I consider that I live in a valley.

It says late April for Staines . . . but it's really just a guess, isn't it?

mid november and late march for us.. ... ill just say i havnt bothered to bookmark it

Hi Richard,
Here frost can be expected from last week in August until the end of the first week in June so this is why we grow in pots in the tunnels and have a hectic time planting out in the second week in June. I have lost runner beans to frost on 1st August here but only once in over 30 years.
JB.

There was a frost here in the Chilterns earlier this week. Definately some damage to some people's potatoes. Those lower on the slope were more badly damaged than those higher; I think the trees which overlook my plot helped to protect mine, which appear to be only slightly frosted.

We had a frost last Wednesday (4 May) which has taken the tops of a lot of potatoes and beans at the allotment. I planted potatoes late and my beans are still tucked up in a greenhouse so I wasn't afected, but as one person put it "the affected crops looked a sorry sight". I was out early that day and people were scraping their cars, so it wasn't just a touch of frost.

We have frost here up until June, not early May as the site says.

I think some people's beans were also affected. Like you Chantal, mine are yet to go out.