build a cold frame

I took a trip to the SF Bay Area, and Spring is in full swing, there. Must be time to put some plastic over the “early” spring bed and warm it up.

He took old windows and put them across his raised beds. Of course, his nights are not likely to go down to the teens like ours. He has basil up already. I am not daring basil yet, but peas, maybe.

Fall is here. We’ve had a killing frost, but now are in our kind of extended fall. But October signals the end of summer, so time to see how long I can keep my basils alive and if I can grow some greens for the chickies to enjoy during the winter time. I’ve got everything I need, so the only real thing stopping me is Procrastination!

For the moment, economics are saying “no.” Cold frames, however, are within my reach. I already have raised beds, and the 3 southern ones have sides that come up above the dirt by about 8 inches. To begin with, I’m going to just try putting some clear plastic over the top and see if I can get some winter lettuce and or spinach to grow. We’ll see how well this experiment goes. Need to keep track of my temps under there, and my min-max thermometer does not transmit strongly enough to the house from there. Will have to think of some alternative.