Posted on 10/14/2023 7:13:45 AM PDT by Diana in Wisconsin
Cold frames: A useful resource for cool and cold-weather gardening
Have you ever tried to start seeds indoors and ended up with anemic, gravity challenged sprigs? Bright, direct light is vital to emerging seeds and most windowsills are not sunny enough.
This leaves you with two options:
Indoor grow lights (like the DIY grow light system we recommend), or real sunlight with cold protection.
Artificial lighting (grow lights) is an ideal choice if you have the indoor space. If your indoor space is at a premium but you want to start garden seedlings to get a jump start on the growing season, cold frames are your best bet.
Thankfully, cold frames are also easy and inexpensive to build!
What is a cold frame?
A cold frame is exactly what it sounds like: a transparent outdoor frame that protects plants from cold weather while still letting sunlight in.
This means your plants get natural sunlight and extra warmth. In most regions, a cold frame can be used effectively to grow winter seedlings and crops, though if you live in a climate zone below USDA Zone 6, you may need a more fortified version than the one I use in my garden.
Also, if you don’t feel like making your own cold frame, you can order a really good Austrian/German-designed cold frame via Amazon. It’s double sided (more space), made of durable materials, lets in light from all angles, and you probably couldn’t make it more affordably if you were to buy all the pieces/parts yourself.
*SNIP*
Ideal plants for cold frames
Since the plants inside will only be a little bit warmer than the outside air, cold frames are mostly used for frost-tolerant crops during the winter. Check out our article Easiest plants to grow in the fall and winter, for a complete list of frost-hardy plants. Spring transplants under cold frames
You can also use your cold frame to grow out your spring transplants. If you do, you’ll want to pay careful attention to the weather and bring the more tender seedlings inside on nights when it drops below freezing.
Too cold – Although most winter crops are at least a little bit frost tolerant, they don’t grow when it is under 40 F outside. They’ll appreciate the cover of your cold frame staying on any time the weather is below 50 F.
Too hot – Likewise, cool weather crops don’t like it hot. If the thermostat says 50 F or warmer, crack the cover or take it off completely.
You’ll start to get a feel for how warm or cool your cold frame stays as time goes on!
More info/cold frame construction ideas at link: https://www.growjourney.com/use-cold-frames-garden/
My mom likes ‘hazelnut’ ... I’ve gotten so I cannot abide even the smell of it! I’m not mixing this with regular coffee ... I figure maybe twice a month, depending on the morning, I’ll have a taste for a cup, so it will eventually be gone. If I really get tired of it, I’ll give it to mom - she’ll like it.
UnionLeader.com https://www.unionleader.com › news › summer-of-2023-... Sep 25, 2023 — The Granite State received 21.11 inches of rain across June, July and August, records available online at www.ncei.noaa.gov show. T
New York, Boston have had rain nearly every weekend this ... FOX Weather https://www.foxweather.com › weather-news › new-y... Oct 6, 2023 — New York, Boston have had rain nearly every weekend this summer. Fall
What a rainy September meant for western Massachusetts WWLP https://www.wwlp.com › news › local-news › what-a-r... Sep 30, 2023 — had the wettest summer on record. Western Massachusetts in particular had almost ten inches of rain in July alone, almost tripling the average seen
Massachusetts: There Have Only Been 5 Rain-Free ... 105.7 WROR https://wror.com › 2023/10/02 › massachusetts-there-h... Oct 2, 2023 — The Boston Globe reported that the summer of 2023 was the second rainiest in recent history.
est summer yet New Hampshire Public Radio When it rained, it poured: 2023 was NH's wettest summer yet
Automated Cold Frame you say? 🤓
LOL!
Salanova lettuce seeds came in yesterday. Going to go ahead and pull the shisitos out since Fall is officially here with 50s/30s for temps and I’ll plant some Salanova in that nice little raised bed. All the other lettuce/greens/brassica salad stuff can go in the ground. In either case, it will be easy enough to cover them if needed.
I have a co-worker I’m trying to get hooked on my home grown organic veggies. He doesn’t like tomatoes and his wife only likes them on sandwiches but likes them a lot that way. She got all my biggest slicers, including a Cherokee Purple and enjoyed them. He eats a lot of salads. I told him about the stuff I’m planting for fall and he asked if I’m growing Bok Choy. I said no but was thinking; not yet. They’ll be customers at some point.
Helps bridge the gap between my summer flowers burning up and when it cools down finally and I can plant my winter flower gardens.
Love fall/Halloween/Thanksgiving decor!
It’s nice that you can have winter flower gardens. No such thing here!
One of the main reasons I stay in So Cal.
I have a lot of elderly relatives here too - I’ve always thought my winter flower garden is more beautiful than my summer flower garden.
Pepper plants got pulled and got a dozen or so peppers from them. That raised bed had 4-5 inches of compost so I dug down and pulled some soil up and mixed with the compost.
Pulled the two remaining Tappy’s dual purpose mater plants out. Pulled one lean and lower set of poles and cross board. Pulled all the drip line up. Used a pitch fork like a broadfork to loosen the top few inches of soil.
I’m using the top half of the little front yard garden for Fall.
Drip line will go back down in a different configuration for the salad greens.(salad, stir fry, ingredient, side dish, whatever) They’ll be in two 30” beds, 2 to 4 rows of plants depending on what they are.
Going to program the drip timer for [1 minute on, 5 minutes off, or similar] and let it run until the top of the beds are evenly wet. Then sow seeds. Then repeat that timing as needed until everything sprouts, plus a little longer. Then once the plants are established, adjust the timing from there.
Hi D. I have peanuts, radishes, beets, kale, broccoli, brussels, mustard, and collards in the ground. The last round of sunflowers should bloom soon 🤞. Here’s hoping for a temperate winter.
Thanks, Pete!
Starting to see a pattern. Buy drip system; get a year with lots of rain so that I only used the drip system 3 times.
Get automation for drip system - pulse watering, plan to use it this morning, and it drizzles all night leaving the soil moisture ready to plant.
Going to buy new batteries for the truck and car because they cranked slow on cold mornings last Winter. That ought to ensure we have a mild Winter this year.
Sounds wonderful! I SHOULD do more about growing into the Fall, even up here (like take the Coldframe advice I posted!) but I’m so burned out on the garden by now, it isn’t funny!
I am growing lettuces and spinach in the greenhouse and will grow some form of greens all winter, under cover out there and in the house in my grow light rack, but I’m pretty much over it - other that cleaning out beds and waiting for a freeze so I can pull the Brussels Sprouts I grew for my sister. ;)
Also grabbed a couple other Bok Choy varieties to get me to the $10 mark to be eligible for a free packet of seeds. I've never had it but it's basically cabbage which I like.
It’s in the 50’s today with a blustery wind ... CHILLY!! Across the street, their landscaping service is mowing and they are quite ‘bundled up’ - jackets, hats, gloves.
I am staying in today ... tired from lots of traveling plus company twice in the last 2 weeks. Yesterday, except for about 30 minutes, all driving was in rain and/or fog ... downpours at times. The Interstate was awful with all the water kicked up by other vehicles, especially trucks. The 2-lane country roads we were on were slick with rain/leaves ... very curvy/hilly ... thank goodness for the reflectors on the center lines. Glad we had new tires on the car & the ‘traction control’ kept kicking in. When we came over the top of the mountain (rain/heavy fog all the way up) and broke through the fog on the way down, surprise surprise! Sunshine & some blue skies in the Valley - perfect weather for the wedding & getting to the reception. About half way during the reception, rain moved back in, but at that point, everyone was inside having a good time, so it wasn’t an issue (except I had to drive 2 hours home in it).
The maple leaves are coming down like crazy in the wind, so this week I will have to collect leaves for sure, which means the new compost pile will have to go up. I’m using T-posts & leftover plastic mesh I saved when I redid the garden fencing last year.
We should be in the 40’s tonight. No hummers seen the last week - leaving the feeders up one more week, then will bring them in, clean & store for next year. No mention of a first frost yet - hope it waits until November.
Most of my gardening has been waiting out the heat waves so the 200 tomatoes would actually turn some other color than green. Everything I did was started indoors from seed which is tedious but was several months ago. 3-4” of compost as mulch assured I had no weeding to do. Last two months have been picking and eating maters. I’m ready to go again.
Granted, I have a tiny garden and only grew a couple of things. Great to learn on though.
Fall garden will be direct sowed. The soil stays moist from Fall to Spring so there won’t be much of any watering. All I’ll have to do is cover some things on occasion when it’s down in the 20s or below.
Cool, cloudy and windy today. I’ll get out there and do a couple of things that require or allow use of gloves. Will pin down the drip lines in their new layout for two 30” beds. Will make some hoops for covering the rows. Sprinkle some wood ash to up the pH for brassicas.
I’ll sow seeds tomorrow when it’s 60 and sunny.
Here’s hoping those greens grow!
It was a week of typical autumn weather here in Central Missouri. Cool, warm, damp, dry, etc., but the weekend was cold and drizzly and I didn’t do much of anything in the garden. Not because it was cold and drizzly but because I loaned my walk-behind garden tiller to a buddy so he could prep a spot in his yard for sod.
The tiller is home now so I’ll be able to get a spot chewed up to plant the garlic. Forecast for this week is sunny and dry so with any kind of good luck I should be able to get that task accomplished by the end of the weekend. I got a steroid injection in my right hip joint this morning which, I’m hoping, will help to alleviate some of the soreness there and get me moving a little faster.
I need to replace the roof on my greenhouse and pick up a couple bags of potting soil from the lumberyard so I can get my winter lettuce going. One of those is easier than the other. I’m going to give the hip a couple days to heal then decide how I feel about tackling the roof replacement job.
I'm pulse watering one of the ground beds with the drip system. I could use the tank sprayer wand and do it in a few minutes but I'm interested in testing the pulse drip to see if the top of a bed can be evenly moistened. Overhead misters would be best but I don't have any.
Trying 55 seconds on, 10 minutes off. Max Pulse on this unit is 59 seconds. Time between pulses can be seconds, minutes, hours, days, weeks months, years. Their other models can Pulse for 0.1 seconds to 86400 seconds(24 hrs) in 0.1 second increments.
We'll see if 55 sec every 10 min spreads out or goes straight down. I have 4 rows of drip line in the 30" bed. I could set a schedule instead of doing Pulse and I'd be able to do any amount of On time. Little more work because I'd have to set date/time for every On and every Off. (AM Red LED ON/OFF is my 4-5am morning coffee making light)
Good chance I'll end up using the sprayer but at any rate, I'll be sewing more greens this afternoon. Would be nice to keep it wet until they sprout and are established without having to go out and spray every morning or evening in the dark on work days. It's dark when I leave and when I get home now.
Just went out and checked. So far after 6 pulses, I have 6" circles of wet areas at each emitter/hole. If I had just watered for the 5 1/2 minutes straight, I'd probably have 6" circles with tiny streams coming off them headed downhill. I think by 3-4pm, I'll be good to go.
I've got a second bed to do and will try different timings on it.
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