Do’s and don’ts

✔DO gradually acclimatise plants raised indoors to outdoor conditions (known as ‘hardening off’), moving them back in at night until the risk of frost has gone.

✔ DO close lids on cold frames if frost is forecast.

✔ DO use fleece to drape over fruit trees with fragile spring blossom.

✔ DO move vulnerable plants in pots to a sheltered corner before covering them with fleece on cold nights if there’s no room indoors.

X DON’T leave fleece over plants once the frost has gone.

X DON’T buy plants from a covered ‘outdoor’ area of a garden centre in spring and plant them straight out – bring them indoors at night for a week first.