Better late than never...

I had about the same amount of snow here majeeka

Interesting your mention of no rain.
It is a while since we had any.
Tend not to notice in winter.

As Andrewr says, southern Britain just seems to have had this thin white covering of snow.

yes, no rain for ages TT, i have wanted to go out and water everything, but the ground has been frozen most of the time, so don't think this is a good idea, will wait for the next mild spell and if still no rain i will give it all a good drink, i know most things are dormant this time of year, so will cope ok, but most of my garden is newly planed, i have fleeced a lot of the newbes which should help them not to dry out so quick. the snow melting yesterday will have done some good, - lots of neutriants in snow!

Do you have any more advice please about watering plants, outdoors, in the winter - e.g. in pots ? As you've said, not when frozen. In past winters I reckon I've lost plants ~ in pots and in the ground ~ because I hadn't realised there had been no rainfall. Any hints welcome please. Thanks.

I would just use the common sense approach TT, if the weather is mild, and possibly light rain fall, i would go out and give winter baskets and pots etc a drink, as rain fall rarely gives enough, especally spring bulbs etc. AndrewR told me not so long ago that frost causes evaporation of moisture via the leaves, so any new plantings and obviously pots, baskets etc do need some watering every now and again to keep them going. the best time to water i would say is the morning, in the winter, as apose to evening in the summer, as the nights often go below freezing, watering in the morning will mean the plants have time to suck some of it up before the chance of freezing. also anything you are a bit worried about that you have in a pot, you could always fleece the top and bubble wrap the pot, for added protection. my garden deprately needs a drink, i did give the hanging basket a little bit yesterday morning, i used luke warm water, so that it defrosted them a bit at the same time so they could take the water, even though the weather is well below freezing at the moment, it seemed the lesser of the two evils, but i have'nt watered any of the other things as yet will wait for the weather to get a bit milder first.

Thanks Angie. That's a very comprehensive answer !

You've almost made a blog of this. Maybe you should ~ such good advice for everyone. Very sensible thinking to water early in the day. One of my main concerns with watering is that so many plants are described as 'suffering from sitting in cold, winter wet'. But no good if instead they die from
'cold winter drought' LOL

And what a great idea to use luke warm water. Thanks for all this info..... which really should be a blog. Your advice on this is too valuable to be hidden away under one photo. :o)

Thanks Angie.
Sorry, my computer sent this twice.
You get thanked again. LOL

thanks TT, to be honest is only my opionion there are others that would proberly disagree, you are quite right nothing likes to be sitting in cold wet compost, but i have found that doing what i have saggested here does minimilise winter casulaties, ofcourse in the coldest winters you are going to loose something i don't think i have managed to get everything through a winter yet, but i think this does help. i was watching an old gardeners world show last night, and the advice was to use the common sense approach, it's a fine line is'nt it. the baskets i watered yesterday seem to be looking a bit better today, dispite being frozen lol. just hope we get a bit of rain soon, which will ofcourse solve the problem. and no i did'nt get your message twice, but i think there is something wrong with the site at the moment, i have been locked out about 5 time now, keep getting a message coming up saying that problems with site, try again, i have managed to get back on ok, but keeps doing it, maybe A & P are doing some more maintence work? maybe i'll drop them a line to let them know just incase.