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Daily gardening tip · Southern hemisphere · Tuesday 20 October 2026 · mid spring

Check Regional Forecasts for Late Spring Frosts

Unexpected late frosts in mid spring can kill tender young tomato seedlings overnight.

Check Regional Forecasts for Late Spring Frosts
5 minuteseasyfrost protection
  1. Open your local weather forecast app or website.
  2. Check the predicted overnight low temperatures for the coming week.
  3. Look for regional frost warnings or sudden dips near freezing.
  4. Prepare frost cloth or plastic buckets to cover tender plants if temps drop below 5 degrees Celsius.
A garden in mid spring

Why it works

Tomato seedlings are tropical plants that suffer severe cellular damage or death when exposed to freezing temperatures. Checking forecasts early gives you time to cover delicate stems and trap radiant heat from the soil around their roots before night falls.

Sweet Apple-berry

Plant of the day

Sweet Apple-berry

Billardiera cymosa

A small Australian native twining climber or scrambling shrub featuring attractive bell-shaped mauve to blue-violet flowers. It produces fleshy, cylindrical berries that turn soft and sweet when ripe

Read about it →

Gardening news

Gardening news

HTA urges action to unlock Scotland’s £5.1bn horticulture opportunity

A gardening trade group has asked the Scottish Government for support in its upcoming budget to help the local plant industry more than double its value to 5.1 billion pounds by 2030.

The Dirt · 2026-10-19
New research

Scientists Discover Immune Receptor to Protect Key Food Crops From Fungus

Scientists modified natural plant immune receptors to recognize multiple fungal threats at once. This discovery could help major crops like wheat, rice, and barley resist destructive fungal infections. Creating stronger plant defenses helps secure food supplies affected by changing climates and spreading diseases.

sciencedaily.com
On this day

Explorer Ludwig Leichhardt Describes Australian Botanical Work in 1847

On 20 October 1847, Prussian naturalist Ludwig Leichhardt wrote a detailed letter while exploring Australia. He expressed his urgent need for a safe facility to preserve his growing collection of wild plant specimens. His collections later helped botanists identify and classify unique native species in Australia and Europe.

environmentandsociety.org · 2015-05-22

Written for the southern hemisphere. Gardening north of the equator? See the northern edition

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