Coldframes

A coldframe is a mini green house. They can extend the growing season considerably. Growing more food over a longer season means not having to store or buy so much. The growing season is extended further into the Fall and starts earlier in the Spring. Its great have thriving lettuce and spinach good month before out in the open.

There are many kinds of coldframes. Some use an existing wall for their back side. Others stand free in the garden. Still others can be sunken down below grade using the surrounging soil as a thermal mass to elevate temperatures at night. My sunken cold frame has hosted ripe tomatoes into November and December.

I have used glass windows and corrugated fiberglass covers. The glass is very heavy and a mess if it breaks. The fiberglass turns brown after 6 or 7 years. Newer and more expensive tuff coat poly carbonate is looking to be a better long term choice.

Coldframes are a gardening tool with great value. They can be adapted to all kinds of spaces with a variety of designs with odd sorts of recycled materials. Add some manure of fresh compost at the very bottom, cover with several inches of soil and you have a heated coldframe, or hot frame.

Fotos below show the history of coldframes at my place. Current furthest below.

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