[Terry]

Hi its very cold but no snow,over the plot this morning pick some potatoes from the shed H/A said they are frozen and does not feel they will cook well. any thoughts?

[Nige2Plots]

It certainly won't do them any good. Freezing and thawing of potatoes helps rot to set in.

[JayG]

Trouble is that serious freezing breaks down the cell structure in the same way that cooking does! 

Might get away with boiling for mash or possibly roasting but any frozen hard definitely won't keep IMO (if they're in a bag some of the more "sheltered" ones may have escaped OK.)

Thaw them out slowly, examine the extent of the damage, and take it from there. 

[TheSpartacat]

Hmm, you'll probably find that they start to go black after thawing.
Had this problem last Christmas- there was a big freeze on Christmas eve and all the spuds in the shed went black overnight.
When they go black they certainly don't look appetising- i didnt risk tasting them- just kept cutting away until i had only white tuber for cooking (decimated my bag of spuds it did!! )

[nwalch]

Would the same apply if they are in the ground. I've still got about half a row of late maincrop I've not got round to digging up yet and it was minus 9 here last night. I guess the soil will offer some protection but not sure how much.

[Yorkie]

I did lose a crop in the ground once - it will depend on how deep they are, how long the frost lasts, and how cold it gets.

None of us can give you a categorical answer - you'll need to wait till you can dig them up.

If it's any consolication, nwalch, I still have a plant or so in the ground, and we reached minus 11 degrees C last night!

[madcat]

OH dug a leek or two for me today and the frost is about 3" deep here ...But we have only been a few degrees below for two/three days.  Positively summery compared to you guys further north.   

[Babstreefern]

I went to the lottie today to transplant my goosegog bushes.  Found the ground rock solid.  Couldn't even dig out any leeks, swedes or parsnips, so came away.  My spuds are in sacks with other sacks draped over and around them in the shed, so hopefully they'll be ok - fingers crossed