Marrows, cucumbers, melons and courgettes planted before the end of may are vulnerable to frost damage. Invert large plant pots over them at night to protect them, and remove the pots during the day.
Cover frames containing seedlings with mats or sacking. Do this at dusk and take the mats off the next day.
If you wake to find that there was a frost you didn't expect, minimise the damage by spraying plants before the sun strikes their leaves.
To protect tender seedlings from a late-spring cold snap, cover them with cloches, or miniature greenhouses. Just cut the bottoms off plastic bottles or jugs and build up a mound of soil around the base of each container to hold it in place. On cold but sunny days, unscrew the caps for ventilation.
If you know in advance that a frost is likely, build straw cones around your plants, fastened at the point by string, to protect them at night. Remove them during the day.
