During a lovely, convivial lunch with neighbours yesterday, we were informed, or even admonished, that we must not get too complacent about the weather.

La Petite Glace is on its way, in the second week in May. There is no sign on the forecasts, but I do remember May here last year was much colder than expected.

Any views?

Yes, all good gardeners generally know that it's prudent to wait until the ice saints 'saints de glaces' have passed prior to planting in the ground. It is traditionally said that these 3 saints, St Mamert, St Pancras, and St Servais, appear the last days when night frosts may occur. A fourth saint, St Urbain (25 May) is also known in colder regions of France.
The ice saints are celebrated on 11, 12 and 13 each year.
Whenever I hear mention of the saints (seins) de glaces I tend to conjure up THIS type of picture.......

Is that why you needed some "sane" advice? P

In the bosom of your family, perhaps?

Tut tut. Family channel and all that.

Interesting that St. Urbain is an area of Montreal where Mordecai Richler grew up and that the dates of the last frost in Toronto (from where I reluctantly find myself posting) are very similar. May 24th is the climatological date of the last frost here too. Who'd have thunk it?

I always plant my first early potatoes on Saint Patricks Day.
I know it is a bit early, but my mother (who was Irish) always did, and I do too.
One year in five, they are wasted. The rest are just a few days early.

We were driving near Tarbes on the motorway today and drove through a snowstorm that was sticking... all that after a day geocaching in the rain at 5°C cant recall a colder april since we have been here!

I had no idea what geocaching was until a Google search a few mins ago.
Will intense geocaching training help me find my reading glasses a dozen or so times a week in the comfort of my own home?

We had to stop laying the stone slabs for the terrace this afternoon because it was SNOWING!

LOL it is great fun and a good way to make new friends.. however wasnt quite so enjoyable in the rain today!!

It's snowed all day here in la Loire, and I'd forgotten about les saints de glace. So there are flowers out there in my garden that are now covered in snow. Is it really a consolation to think that I'm not the only one? The outside temperature's been hovering between 4 and 5. Maybe there's hope yet.

Excellent you got our frost, I wondered where it went as it didn't turn up here as predicted.

I'm keeping my fingers crossed this year - last year we had a complete crop faliure for bramleys, victoria plums, damsons, peaches, cherries, walnuts, absolutely no fruit at all. I think it was a late frost that wiped them out. Or more than one "late frost". Plenty of blossom this year so I am hoping for apple crumble again come autumn
I was about to put my courgettes and tomatoes out in the potager - maybe I should leave it a while

Well it isn't snowing in the Luberon by flipping heck it is p******g down and very cold ie 11C.

We always start planting potatoes on St Joseph - 19th March - but sow each row a week apart until last week. Tomatoes absolutely not until after la petite glace and we are already fearing for the cherries, though it hasn't acyually frozen fro a few weeks.

Our glycine has been a full three weeks late in flowering but it was gorgeous, until the downpour.

Our glycine is a good three weeks later this year, it looks like it will burst into bloom in the next few days, provided the weather is reasonable.
The grass is growing which is good news for us and the cows!

This reminds me of a film with Alain Delon and Mireille Darc, called "Les Seins de Glace" (referring to the latter's). It came out shortly after my arrival in France and I didn't understand the pun at the time...
It's invariably colder during these few days, which those doing the "viaduc du 8 mai/Ascension" wont appreciate.