Cold Frames

[Bacash]

I had mentioned a while back that my wife and I were looking at building some cold frames so that we can grown leafy greens and some root vegetables all winter.

Yesterday, we were finally able to get a babysitter to watch the kid so that we could work on it, and we spent most of the day working on it, including digging with headlamps in the dark.

The windows we had to work with were about 3' long and 2' tall, which gave us a cold frame with a usable area of about 12'x20" once the 60 degree slope for the glass was added. We used light gage metal from Home Depot for the sides, with 1.5" rigid foam insulation between the panels. Lumber was a mix of some 12' 2x4s I had left over from something else and some of the oak that I had milled. Put the oak in to the ground, hoping it will rot slower than pine would have, since I don't care to have treated lumber near edible plants. Cut some dowels for prop sticks at varying lengths, from fully open to just cracked.

Don't have any pictures in the ground because it was about 7:00pm when we finished and we both had far too much mud caked on to handle a phone anyway due to all the rain we've had (thanks crappy fake winter).

The basic layout and panel assembly.




Assembled and standing


With windows attached in place


Basically completed and ready to put in the ground.


Unless I send the wife out for pics, it will be the weekend before I get pics of it emplaced in the ground, the perks of leaving when it's dark and getting home when it's dark. We have gravel, sand, fabric, and composted topsoil to put in it, which we hope to work on after the kid goes to bed each night this week. It's a lot of wheel barrow work...

 

[AGreyMan]

Looks good! I can't wait to see them in use this spring.

 

[Bacash]

Looks good! I can't wait to see them in use this spring.

We're going to give some of the really cold hardy stuff a shot as soon as the dirt settles. Kale, for one, is supposed to take some pretty cold temps, so we're going to give it a shot. Seed is fairly cheap right now, so the experience and knowledge gained would certainly be worth it, even if it doesn't grow.

 

[HandLoad]

Kale makes it through most winters here in the NorthBest - as long as we don't get Subzero for mre than a Day.

Swiss Chard is nearly as hardy.

 

[Bacash]

Apparently the wife expected I’d want pictures. When I lamented not being able to get daylight pics, she said “I figured you’d want to post some, so I took a few.”

Installed in ground.

 

[AGreyMan]

Very nice! Room for more, too.

 

[Bacash]

Very nice! Room for more, too.

We may do a couple against the back wall of the house if these are successful, it faces due south.

The 2nd pic (one with the witsec blur out), our garden is going to start at that cold frame and go south (away from camera). The food grade IBCs I got (that are nicely sitting inside the barn) are going at the downspouts on the barn (3rd pic) on 3 ft legs to give them some additional head pressure to water gardens from. Once I actually get the metal on the barn roof that is, right now it's just looking pretty in the driveway.

Also, my wife said "if I had an account on your forum, I could post these pictures too". I expect I'll be buying a new membership here shortly.

 

[Mel's Cookin']

We'd love to meet your lovely wife!

Lacinato kale, also called tuscany kale grows in a slightly smaller footprint than curly kale. It has a better taste in my mind.

I've got several small thickly seeded area of it that I cut as 2 to 3 inch microgreens for salafs and a few larger plants I use to get actual greens to cook.

 

[Mel's Cookin']

Point of that post was to fit an extra couple of plants in your cold box, which looks very nice!

 

[TheMissus]

We may do a couple against the back wall of the house if these are successful, it faces due south.

The 2nd pic (one with the witsec blur out), our garden is going to start at that cold frame and go south (away from camera). The food grade IBCs I got (that are nicely sitting inside the barn) are going at the downspouts on the barn (3rd pic) on 3 ft legs to give them some additional head pressure to water gardens from. Once I actually get the metal on the barn roof that is, right now it's just looking pretty in the driveway.

Also, my wife said "if I had an account on your forum, I could post these pictures too". I expect I'll be buying a new membership here shortly.

Haha looks like you ended up having to buy that new membership. We were able to get the gravel, paper, sand and composted dirt put in. Of course, we do everything in the dark with headlamps on right now after the kiddo goes to bed, but I did manage to get some pictures.

I sealed the window frames yesterday so they can be put on this weekend and we will finally be ready for planting.

 

[AGreyMan]

Those are really sharp. I bet they’ll work well. Can’t wait to see the progress photos of stuff growing in there, even if it’s horrible kale.

 

[Bacash]

Those are really sharp. I bet they’ll work well. Can’t wait to see the progress photos of stuff growing in there, even if it’s horrible kale.

I don't like kale either

However, when you put it in the Ninja with pears, kiwis, bananas, and carrots... Now I can take the kale.

 

[AGreyMan]

Add a cup or two of Hershey’s syrup to that recipe and I might be able to choke it down.

 

[Mel's Cookin']

That's why I raise Lacinato kale, also known as tuscany kale or dinosaur kale. It forms long slender leaves out of a central base and doesn't have that taste that kale does. It works well in pasta dishes, in salads when it is young, does well sauteed, really good added to oriental dishes... It's very cold hardy.

Curly kale is gross. It tastes like you should also moo and chew cud in a field.