Cold Frame Advice
This week the weather has definitely started taking a turn to Fall here in Vancouver. While we’ve got our moments of heat mid day, as soon as that sun gets behind a cloud I find myself reaching for my wool gardening sweater. Bye, bye summer. Sniff. Sniff.
One of the projects I wanted to have ready for the Fall/Winter was a small coldframe to do a bit of herb and greens growing (lettuces and such) over the winter. I’ve done some research on ye olde interweb into the basics of cold frame construction and it looks pretty darned easy (lucky for me I already have an old window in its frame kicking around the garage), but has anyone out there got some advice or tips for the newbie cold frame gardener? I’ve got a bunch of questions like:
- When do I start planting for my cold frames? Nowish?
- Can I direct seed in a cold frame here in Vancouver, or should I be indoor seeding and planting out?
- Do the same space rules apply as in a traditional garden? Or should I be affording less/more room?
- Will my watering needs in a cold frame environment be different?
Any cold frame pros out there interested in helping me out would be most appreciated. And I promise to document my successes and failures here for all.
September 13th, 2006 at 3:29 pm
I’m not sure what it’s like there in comparison to here but I would start now especially if you plan to do anything with a slightly longer cycle. Lettuce and most greens are still fine outside of a cold frame but it depends on how soon that frost snap is coming to your area. I’ve done greens like arugula WELL past Sept here in Toronto.
Definitely direct-sow lettuce. In fact I don’t think it makes sense to transplant lettuce period.
You may find you need to water less because of the humidity created in the frame.
September 13th, 2006 at 7:39 pm
Emira,
You might want to take a Look In “the new organic grower’s four season harvest” by Eliot Coleman. His whole book is about “cold frames” and harvesting fresh produce year round, although there’s not much advice for the small space urban gardner.
September 14th, 2006 at 10:19 am
Hi! I haven’t gardened in a cold-frame before, but I’ve been reading up on it, too. From what I understand, you should sow early enough that the plants can root in properly before the stress of the first frost, so I would do it sooner rather than later. Also, I would imagine spacing requirements would be similar to raised-bed gardening — I tend to go with 1/2 the distance between rows suggested for regular plot gardening, and around the same spacing within rows as suggested for regular plot gardening. (Does that make sense?)…
September 14th, 2006 at 7:29 pm
Thanks for the advice folks! I need to get on this this weekend!
September 22nd, 2006 at 11:49 am
I have built a cold frame according to the advice in Eliot Coleman’s Four Season Harvest book. Last year I had lettuce until November and would have had it longer, but we ate it all. He gives a very good guide on when to plant also.
October 24th, 2006 at 10:56 am
Dear Emira,
Regarding that window thing….just to let you know that my simply constructed haybale and old glass framed window didn’t work….a heavy early snow left me with broken panes…will definitely be using a slanted approach to it this time around. Hope it’s going well for you! BTW…Mother Earth News and others have great tips, I even saw el cheapo plans with using extruded polystyrene, etc…there’s a lot out there! Best wishes, Susan