How to Make an Inexpensive Cold Frame

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This inexpensive cold frame gets the job done for gardeners who want to start seedlings a few weeks early.
This inexpensive cold frame gets the job done for gardeners who want to start seedlings a few weeks early.

It’s the time of year again when most dedicated gardeners give some thought to getting a jump ahead of the still-chilly weather by utilizing a cold frame to protect delicate seedlings from the effects of spring frosts. Here is one of the least expensive surrogate greenhouses of its size that the staff of MOTHER EARTH NEWS has ever found.

The ideal cold frame, of course, admits sunlight to the plants it contains, to supply them with both the heat and the light they need to prosper and “harden” before being exposed to the real world. At the same time, the cold frame should provide the seedlings with adequate protection from bitter winds and chilling cold.

Cold Frame Building Materials

This particular model requires little more than 1-inch polystyrene insulation board (at 15¢ per square foot), some scrap lath and molding, a 36-inch length of 3/4-inch dowel, assorted hardware, foil tape, and a section of fiberglass-reinforced plastic glazing measuring just over 2-by-4 feet (The last component, at $1.06 per square foot, costs more than the sum of all the other parts . . . but if you enjoy making your own solar collectors, you might well have some leftover FRP around. If not, old storm windows or the glass from them — or even heavy-duty clear plastic — can be used as a suitable, and much less expensive, substitute.)

  • Published on Mar 1, 1982
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