CULTURE -Cold Frames

In a message dated 97-11-28 22:56:08 EST, Marte writes:

<< 
 Thanks so much -- your posting is just stuffed with the kind of hands-on 
 info I was hoping for from fellow cold-climate gardeners.

Certainly welcome!
 
 Some questions, please -- what are the approx. dimensions of your cold 
 frames? (In a book somewhere in my house are drawings showing the 
 suggested slope for the window on a cold frame, so I don't need that -- 
 just curious about length, width, height of ones you use.) Are you happy 
 with these size(s)? You noted that your 2 are always full, but would 
 having additional cold frames be better than if the 2 you do have were 
 larger? 
   
On size and shape: I thought I'd leave that out as there are so many designs
and preferences.  Ed has built the frames from C & D boards (construction
junk) from his business.  They are about 5 ft wide and 4 ft deep.  They are
painted to match the barns.  There is a design done with corner stakes and
completely taken down in summer, another fellow in one of my clubs built all
glass walls to maximize the sun.  Ours are just boards sloped one south
facing, one east facing.  The framed plastic covers are hinged with hinges
that release the covers for summer storage.  If propped open all summer the
wind would blow them off the the frames.  I am having the south frame rebuilt
in spring double the size.  I cannot seem to have enough space in the cold
frames.  They are completely and crowdedly filled now with all sorts of saved
treasures, too young to place seedlings and newly rooted cuttings.  We have
an early and cold winter starting here so the frames are filled with leaves
and closed for the winter.


 You mentioned that your frames are "dug out to about 12 " below grade  
 and filled with very good soil" -- are you saying the frames themselves 
 are sunk into the surrounding soil to provide more temp/weather 
 protection or to make them more stable or another reason? Or are you 
 saying the soil they *enclose* is dug down 12" & replaced?
 
The frames are not sunk in the soil but have soil raked up against the sides
in the fall.  We dig out the existing soil as here it is full of rocks and
replace with compost and peat and screened "best soil".  This is because many
of the occupants are planted directly into the soil bed and we want optimum
growth out there.
 

You also said "They are planted a few inches below grade" -- when you 
 sow perennial *seeds* in your frames, do you do so right into the soil 
 they contain or into flats or pots? If the latter, do you just set these 
 inside or do you sink them into the soil? (Same question re potted-up 
 plants & seedlings when put into the frames, expecially during winter.)


I put the perennnial seed directly in the soil and let them grow according to
our weather with the boost of the frame. If you use flats you will need to
pay very careful attention to watering.  Slugs sometimes get into the frames
and need to be treated.  There is almost no damp-off.  You can thin and
replant the individuals you wish to keep.  Sometimes I line them out in the
veg patch later in the summer when they are stronger.  I sometimes sink pots
of container plants and sometimes forced bulbs but mostly plant directly into
the soil.
 

Christy Hensler e-mailed me with info about automatic vents she uses in 
 her greenhouses -- they cost about $17 each & she's very pleased with 
 them, got them from Charlie's Greenhouse Supply. 
 
 Have you ever tried any heat-activated hardware on your cold frames? I 
 would think that overall weight would be one limitation (perhaps another 
 reason for using plastic rather than glass) but I also wonder about wind 
 ripping the opened-but-still-attached covers right off the cold frames. 
 We get fierce wind here, particularly during the late winter & spring 
 months. The best south-facing location I have to place cold frames is 
 also open to the west, the direction our winds most often come from >>

I have bought every garden gadget sold at one time or another.  (twenty or so
pairs of pruners down in the barn). The automatic openers allow the hinged
covers to blow away and crash all over the gardens.  We have altitude here
and WIND.  We open the frames with a notched  2 x 2 and use a couple of flat
rocks to keep it steady.  There is probably a more elegant solution but I am
so busy in the spring this is what I do.  When June rolls around I have
forgotten to find a better solution.   When I was still using glass (trying
to be a purist) I had broken glass routinely in the spring.  You cannot keep
your fingers on all aspects of what is going on outdoors and still enjoy the
garden so try to make it as simple as possible.

I hope this helps, I'll answer any further questions on cold frames if this
didn't do it.  I could not garden w/o the frames.  I even put my six tomato
plants out there in late April or early May. I start them in a styrofoam cup
under the lights on the kitchen counter and place them in the frames for June
01 planting out.  Around here our garden centers begin to sell the unusual
annuals and perennials long before I can plant out so I buy while I can still
find them and they go in the frames.  I put rose cuttings in the fall (cover
each with a soda bottle cut in half). In the spring many will be a new plant.
 Any tiny plant you are worried about losing in the borders can be safely
stored in the frames until it achieves some size. Crocosmia 'Lucifer' is
planted (the bulbs) in the frames and lives over for spring placing out.  And
so forth.............
Marte, sometimes the limitations of zone 4 can cause a gardener great
frustration. There are so many species not available to us.

I had roof windows installed on my glassed room to grow irid and hosta babies
in the winter (along with lights).  Now I visit my plants each day in
beginning in November and it helps a bit.

Claire Peplowski
East Nassau, NY
zone 4 - Berkshire area
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