Use Cold Frames to Grow More Food
(Page 4 of 4)
December 2007/January 2008
By Barbara Pleasant, Illustrations by Elayne Sears
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Anatomy of a Cold Frame
Site Surface: Frames work best if the top is angled slightly toward the winter sun. You can either cut slanted sides (see illustration, Image Gallery) or, as an alternative, mound soil as needed to make the back edge of the frame sit slightly higher than the front.
Frame: Scrap wood or untreated 2-by-4 or 2-by-6 pine boards are fine, or you can upgrade to rot-resistant cedar, redwood or locust or composite plastic lumber. Other options include logs, baled hay or straw, bricks or concrete blocks.
Corners: If you only have a hand saw, a hammer and a screwdriver, you can build a sturdy box from 2-by-4s, a few screws and four steel corner brackets. Brackets come in different forms — some for inside the box and some for outside. The simplest (and cheapest) ones screw into the top of a frame that’s already been banged together with 3-inch box nails.
Covers: The best materials for topping cold frames are tempered glass patio doors or shower doors, which often are discarded when homes and apartments are remodeled. Heavy enough to resist strong winds, shatter-resistant tempered glass doors are better scavenger hunt treasures than standard storm windows or paned windows, which can be a safety hazard. Look in thrift stores (Habitat for Humanity often sells donated doors), or call people in home remodeling or salvage businesses. Look for doors that still have plenty of hardware attached, and leave the hardware intact as you scrub down your prize. Later, after you’ve built a frame, the existing hardware may prove handy as part of a nifty hinge or a ready-made handle. Tempered glass doors come in all sorts of weird sizes, so it’s best to secure a top first, and then tailor the frame to match its dimensions.
Use thick blankets, quilts or bedspreads to bring winter-sown frames through winter storms, or to block sun when you can’t be around to vent the frames. Snow makes a good insulating cover, too.
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