Have made that cold frame yet? My, how I wish I could tempt everyone into making a cold frame, even though it were only a little fellow two by three feet. Actually three by six feet is a better size since the cello-glass which you would probably use for covering it comes in three foot widths.
Tack it to a frame made of one by two inch strips with one or possibly two cross bars to prevent the top from sagging with the winter snow. If the back of the frame is a couple of inches higher than the front it will shed water a little easier. Tongue and grooved pine flooring is inexpensive, and makes a good frame. Treat it with one of the wood preservatives to help prevent rotting. Give it two good coats and it ought to last you five or ten years.
I like the front to be eight or ten inches high and of course the back a little bit higher. I set it right on top of the ground in any sunny place where the water doesn't collect and face it either south, east or west.
Right now (November) you can be digging your clumps of chrysanthemums and heeling them in sand or peat in the frame if you have trouble keeping them alive over winter in the garden like having yucca problems. New perennials that you receive too late to plant can be potted up in four- or six-inch pots and the pots buried to their tops in the frame. Odd plants that friends give you the last minute that you would lose if you planted in the garden can be planted right in the frame or put in pots buried to their tops.
A lot of gardeners have part of their frames filled with pansy seedlings which are raised in August or bought in September. One of mine is filled with pots of divisions of rock plants not for my own use but to give to friends. Several other frames are filled with primroses that were not big enough to put out directly in the garden. They will spend the winter in the frame and then go out next spring. This includes my auricula primroses which seem to winter better in the frame than out in the open garden. - 29956
Tack it to a frame made of one by two inch strips with one or possibly two cross bars to prevent the top from sagging with the winter snow. If the back of the frame is a couple of inches higher than the front it will shed water a little easier. Tongue and grooved pine flooring is inexpensive, and makes a good frame. Treat it with one of the wood preservatives to help prevent rotting. Give it two good coats and it ought to last you five or ten years.
I like the front to be eight or ten inches high and of course the back a little bit higher. I set it right on top of the ground in any sunny place where the water doesn't collect and face it either south, east or west.
Right now (November) you can be digging your clumps of chrysanthemums and heeling them in sand or peat in the frame if you have trouble keeping them alive over winter in the garden like having yucca problems. New perennials that you receive too late to plant can be potted up in four- or six-inch pots and the pots buried to their tops in the frame. Odd plants that friends give you the last minute that you would lose if you planted in the garden can be planted right in the frame or put in pots buried to their tops.
A lot of gardeners have part of their frames filled with pansy seedlings which are raised in August or bought in September. One of mine is filled with pots of divisions of rock plants not for my own use but to give to friends. Several other frames are filled with primroses that were not big enough to put out directly in the garden. They will spend the winter in the frame and then go out next spring. This includes my auricula primroses which seem to winter better in the frame than out in the open garden. - 29956
About the Author:
Keith Markensen shares his vast knowledge at http://www.plant-care.com. Knowledge is power - get more power and find out more about yucca problems.
