Weather winter 2010/2011

[angie]

Mick your pictures show the same covering of snow as we have.

My garden bench
My snow spade, given up trying to keep paths clear.
Drive up to house
Car never been used it the last few days.
My troughs, Anthony your two are there.

I am so fed up with the snow now  
Angie

[Rob Potterton]

The last 36 hours at our nursery in Lincolnshire have been utterly desperate. We had cleaned the poly tunnels yesterday morning and then from 10am till 3pm we had more than 10cm of snow, so the tunnels were again swept. From 5pm till 7pm another 10cm fell - for the next 3 hours the worst of the tunnels were again swept and during that process as i stood 10 metres away, our 40 metre netlon tunnel collapsed (see below) - only good news is that it was virtually empty.
Overnight we had another 20cm which resulted in another poly tunnel collapsing containing 6,000 plants (see two images), fortunately most look ok'ish. Today we have been thoroughly sweeping all of our tunnels and glasshouses. Suspect this won't be the end of the matter. And just for the record we now have 50cm of snow.

[angie]

Sorry to see all that damage. I have been trying to clear the snow from mine. I couldn't believe how easy these tunnels can collapse. I had seen what happens to them if you don't clear the snow at a Edinburgh nursery, I would hate for anything to happen to mine as it is full of plants. Will be keeping a closer eye on it now.

Angie

[Ragged Robin]

However, yours may well have lost the ability to find wild food

Stephen, we only feed birds in winter as a supplement, particularly in harsh weather. There is plenty of wild food available near by but they drop into gardens for a pick me up 

[Ragged Robin]

Angie, I love watching birds close up and enjoying the garden, they are great companions to gardeners 

Mark, each year things turn out differently for us and we are off to Switzerland for the winter - you're not the only one who is confused 

[mark smyth]

I feel for every one who has way too much snow and for you Rob and your plants. I'm happy life goes on as normal here except for rock hard snow.

I've been foolish, again  , and bought some tender bulbs at the bulb sale that are in rock hard pots 

[zephirine]

Tuesday morning, after a few inches of snow during the previous week, the garden had returned nearly all-green (and brown)...and this is wednesday morning... 60 cm (2') in a row...I don't grow tenders, but my heart aches when I think of all the broken stems I'll probably find on many a shrub...Choisya, Hebe, and many others, this is too much weight for them! It's almost impossible to go and shake them: they are un-recognizable under such a cover!
Rob, I feel I shouldn't complain: your situation is worse, by far! I hope your plants in the polytunnels will make it: they are tougher than we think, sometimes...
Update: we had -11°C last night, still -9 at 8.00 a.m....brrr....

Santa Claus dining room (Hey, Santa, did you have a heavy hand when pouring sugar in your coffee?  )

[TheOnionMan]

Still no snow here in Northeastern USA; it was 50 F (10 C) today, and raining, and I went for a 5-mile run; fantastic.  The forecast calls for continued mild weather and sun.  I can still get out there and cleanup more leaves, cut back perennials, etc.

[Paul T]

The snow looks like someone has gone silly with cake icing, layering everything with it.  Amazing!

Here this afternoon we had 37mm of rain in about 45 minutes from a large thunderstorm.  Never seen rain like it here, or at least as far as I can recall.  Garage flooded etc.  Another thunderstorm heading for us at the moment.  Parts of Canberra have had no rain at all as it is so localised.

[Anthony Darby]

-5^oC on the car thermometer this morning, yet the icicles on the roof guttering are dripping! My school is closed for a 4th day! Dunblane High is open for senior pupils from 10 a.m. Lucy is off to her primary school, but that is only a 5 minute walk.

[mark smyth]

Here's something I have always thought about
How do you people in very cold areas keep the washer bottle, tubes and nozzles free of ice? Mine havent worked since the freeze began

[KentGardener]

Heavy snow still here - and BBC reports it will be heavy snow all day!    About 12 inches on the garden so far.

Hope the fish are OK as the pond has turned into a giant 'slush puppy'.  

[Luc Gilgemyn]

Oeps, that's quite a bit of snow John !
Your fish should be ok provided the freeze doesn't continue for weeks uninterrupted ! 

[Panu]

Mark, are you serious? 

[Peter Maguire]

I'm starting to take some of these BBC reports with a pinch of (rock) salt. We were meant to have atrocious weather with freezing temperatures yesterday, all through the evening. After a miniblizzard around lunchtime which added another 2-3 cms to the hardpacked stuff already there, then very little, and the temperatures last night were probably no more than -2ºC. I know it's worse out in rural areas, and we are fairly "lucky" to live in central Newcastle.
At least the weather reports keep some of the drivers off the roads - I travelled into the town centre for a concert last night. Nearly walked, but decided to take the car and I'm glad I did as the temperatures were still only 0ºC when I came back and the roads were virtually empty.