Cold Frame #2

Lucky you, you can actually dig in the ground and consider transferring to a cold frame. I can’t even see the ground yet and dynamite would be in order to try to dig up some dirt!

So, 2 cold frames are still better than one. It’s looks plenty good to me from here!

-- Disobedience is the true foundation of liberty. The obedient must be slaves. - Thoreau

We were pretty frozen a month ago, too – but it made it to 70f this week (which is weird for even us for March). It’ll probably dip back down, likely just when everyone thinks it is safe to plant.

-- There's a box?

They sure add quite a few weeks to the “green” season.

plants don’t really care if the cold frame is pretty but I have found that if you forget to open the window on a sunny day, that even if the temps are below freezing, the plants “Bake” and die

I found the above when I did a garden tour. Super simple and super inexpensive to make. Just bent hoops and stapled vapour barrier

-- but for one rose, love endures

Very nice setup.
I want to make one also.

-- JTC

all looking good!!!

-- - Debbie, SW Ontario Canada (USDA Hardiness Zone: 5a)

Hey, this is great. I didn’t want to hijack your post, but wanted to ask how much extra growing you can get out of a cold frame. Are greens such as spinach possible throughout the winter in zone 6a? Greenthumb, do you really have to open them up every sunny day? Around here we start most days cloudy and it’s hard to predict a sunny day sometimes.

Much depends on sunlight. Cloudy days, weeks or even months can change the temps in a heart beat, thus why many growers add heat. Zone 6a might be a stretch to get spinach year round.

I’m in the Okanagan Valley of BC and I’ld guess that if I drove for 15 minutes I would go from a 9a to a 2b. I’ve found it helps to know the climate your in but in any case if can lengthen a grow season from a month, to several months and growing vegetables/plants that were not possible to grow, to possible.

As for opening them everyday,…again, that depends on where you live. You can buy inexpensive temperature sensitive pneumatic pistons that will open and close them for you

-- but for one rose, love endures

Yeah, my old one (the skylight thing) got to 130F on a sunny day when I left the thing closed – think I might use it instead to dehydrate apples or something.

-- There's a box?

Awesome, thanks. Yeah I just saw the pneumatic pistons at a garden supplier. That’s pretty slick. I haven’t ventured into the cold frames so far, but maybe I’ll throw together a quick hoop house to get a little quicker start. Then I’ll see what luck I have salvaging materials by fall.

Joel, I just figured out your signature, that’s clever. I’m a little slow at times. :)

Joel, great looking cold frame. Are the plants happily growing inside it now?

-- "To forget how to dig the earth and to tend the soil is to forget ourselves." M. Gandhi