Tomatoes and courgettes: Am I safe to plant out?

[Regulator]

I've got two tomato plants and two courgette plants that are nice and large, and fairly well hardened off.  I'm planning to plant them in large pots in a fairly well protected walled garden.

Do you reckon I could get away with planting them out now?

Also, I'm planning to companion plant them - one courgette and one tomato in each pot?  Whaddya think?

[Jaded]

Just make sure you mix up the male and female plants.

[Regulator]

The tomatoes are different varieties.  But the courgettes will be next to each other in pots and we've already got quite an active community of bees in the garden (thanks to whoever was here before us planting a very bee friendly variety of plants).

I'm also thinking of getting a 'solitary bee house'...

[Si]

Not putting mine out just yet - we had ice first thing this morning.  Do you have a cold frame?

[Goldcrank]

When did you plant your seeds? I only planted mine a couple of weeks ago and wasn't planning to plant out until the end of April. Could I have started earlier?

[docsquid]

I generally find that start of May is best for these.  I'm happy to plant seeds for courgettes well into May as they grow fast and you still gets loads of courgettes off them even if you plant out as late as June.

[vorsprung]

We are still getting frosts here in Devon.  Our garden is not exposed as such but the side of the valley we are on gets colder nights

The date for the local bit of Devon we are in for 100% safe planting out is supposed to be the 21st of May

I would guess that a sheltered garden in the London Area would probably be safe now

[hellymedic]

We are still getting frosts here in Devon.  Our garden is not exposed as such but the side of the valley we are on gets colder nights

The date for the local bit of Devon we are in for 100% safe planting out is supposed to be the 21st of May

I would guess that a sheltered garden in the London Area would probably be safe now

I believe Greg is now in Cambridge, recipient of lazy¹ winds from Siberia.

1) A lazy wind is one that blows right through you as it's too lazy to shift right or left.

[border-rider]

I always reckoned that the last frost of the year in Berkshire was usually the weekend of the Elenith

[Hot Flatus]

Three weeks later than last year, then 

[border-rider]

Quite so.