Jan 04

Cold Frames for Growing in the Off Season

Design from http://www.vegetablegardener.com/

Have you ordered your catalogs yet? or maybe they have already started coming in the mail from last year. No doubt about it, this is the time to start planning your garden. As a matter of fact, in our neck o’ the world you could have been growing cool weather crops right through winter with the right protection. If you aren’t doing this yet then now is a good time to start planning that as well. The sooner you can get it together the sooner you will be able to get your seeds going in the spring as well. That gives you a huge head start.

Here is a great resource for information on all aspects of gardening, even if you think you have it figured out there is always something to learn from someone who does things differently from you.

A cold frame is a welcome addition to the garden plan. There’s nothing like being able to go out and harvest fresh greens for a salad in the middle of winter or get that early jump on summer, especially if Spring happens to be extra cold and damp.

The cold frame is also a great place to harden off your seedlings before you put them out in the garden. There’s nothing worse than to spend all that time ordering and planting the seed, watching it emerge from the soil and add leaves and grow to the point it’s time to go out into the garden and then watch it succumb to the elements because it hasn’t been hardened off properly. Seedlings, when grown inside, don’t have to deal with wind, direct sun and drastic temperature changes. These experiences need to be introduced in small doses before it is stuck outside in the ground where it is then working on building a new root system.

I think a cold frame is necessary for any serious gardener. There are many different ways to have yourself a cold frame. Below are some more examples.