A Cold Frame for Many Occasions
The dog days of summer are dwindling and the cooler temps of September have commenced in Northeastern VT. Season extension has been a hot topic in our region as of late, and so many folks are scrambling to get ready for the impending frosts - wishing to hold on to some late season crops, and further yearning for winter greens and the like to become a near-future reality. Aside from the simplest option (row cover) to gain an extra week or two, constructing a cold frame can be an excellent way to extend the end-of-summer harvest window and can be used for sowing some winter varieties as well.
How to Choose a Design for your Cold Frame
There are many questions you will want to ask yourself first to help shape your ideas on your ideal cold frame:
- What crops do you wish to cover (i.e. low-growing greens, larger mature plants, or both)?
- What surface area will you need to cover, or what is your available space?
- Should your frame be portable or stationary?
- Do you want a long-term or temporary structure?
- Will it need to withstand winter weathering?
- Do you have recycled materials that you are wishing to use?
- What is your budget?
- What are your building skills?
- What kind of tools do you have access to?
- www.instructables.com has a step-by-step approach to cold frame construction (http://www.instructables.com/id/Cold-frame-construction-with-recycled-materials/) with pictures that seems pretty simple and straight-forward.
- And yet another nice cold frame design (http://farmhack.org/tools/cold-frame-recycled-windows) using recycled windows.
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