This is a public-interest archive. Personal data is pseudonymized and retained under GDPR Article 89.

Re: cold frame

Square Foot Gardening List - http://www.flinet.com/~gallus/sqft.html

On 10:15 AM 2/3/99 -0600, Urban, Kerri wrote:
>Square Foot Gardening List - http://www.flinet.com/~gallus/sqft.html
>
>This year, I'm finally going to have real raised beds - 8" tall, cedar.  I
>was wondering if I couldn't just put a piece of plexiglass over one of them
>for my early spring crops - lettuce and spinach mainly.  I'm not so much
>interested in getting an earlier start - although that would be nice - as I
>am in protecting the seedlings from wind, heavy rain and critters as they
>are just emerging.  I tried row cover last year but it beat the poor things
>to death.  All of the plans (and the Square foot book) mention that
>cold-frames should be sloped.  I know this is the *ideal* way, but would it
>work with just a flat top?

A)  Even the slightest rain will cause your "flat top" to become a concave
top when you use any cover that is at all flexible.  You want at least some
slope to let the water run off.  If your raised beds are slanted so that
one side is at least 4 inches higher than the other then you can just lay
plexiglass over the top, but otherwise I would build a frame for the
plexiglass that is taller on one side than the other so that you get the
slope.  Also, if you really get a lot of wind and rain, you want to secure
your plexiglass from being tossed around by the elements.  If the elements
can damage your young crops they can certainly dislodge and damage your
plexiglass.

B)  The plexiglass needs to be high enough from the plants that they don't
touch it.  In only a few days your lettuce can grow enough (a single leaf
shooting up) to touch the plexiglass and then get fried from the heat of
the plexiglass in the sun during a sunny day (even if it doesn't get very
warm in the ambient temperature).

You can make a frame out of 2x4s or 2x6s, that is just slightly shorter
than your 4' bed dimension, and attach the plexiglass to the frame.  Then
prop one end up on your raised bed railing at the north end of your bed,
and let the other end dig down into the dirt, and viola, a sloped surface
and enough wood attached to your plexiglass to keep it from being dislodged
by wind and rain.  This is a cheap version of the sunbox idea pictured in
Mels book in Chapter 9 and shown in Chapter 15 where one end of the base
frame is propped up on his walk boards and the other end is dug down into
the ground.


______________________________________________________________________
To unsubscribe, write to sqft-unsubscribe@listbot.com
Start Your Own FREE Email List at http://www.listbot.com/
Other Mailing lists | Author Index | Date Index | Subject Index | Thread Index