Today I built a couple of cold frames for the garden. I scavenged 8 boards from the garage rafters that were all exactly 3 ft long for the edges.
I researched options to cover the tops. Plexiglass was too expensive. Plastic wasn’t that appealing. I decided I’d hit the Restore and see if I could find some used windows. I found some for $5 each, on sale for 20% off, but they were 36×32, not 3 ft square.
Not a big deal because I can trim the boards.
I cut the boards this morning (at 8, perhaps too early to run the saw??) and nailed them together. I put the frames on the ground and cover them with the old windows.
The frames were too big. I had forgotten to take into account the depth of the wood around the frame when I was making my cuts, yet again. Someday maybe I’ll remember this.
So, I added some wood to the windows to frame them out to sit on the frames. That did the trick, although one was so bad it required two shims. And I cracked one window. But, upon checking this afternoon they are nice and steamed up, so they are working.
If you want more info about building cold frames click here, or hit the Google and do a search. There are a few places out there to read through. The ground’s still frozen so I couldn’t put any plants in there, but maybe soon. Maybe soon.
Also, I deconstructed a few pallets today to use for other purposes.
4 responses so far ↓
Wendy // March 15, 2008 at 2:25 pm |
Those look really nice! I’m hoping the snow melts quickly so that I can start some lettuce and spinach, but my beds are still under a foot or more of snow (one bed is under the snow bank next to the driveway – so, it’s pretty deep right there
.
Thanks for the link. I kept envisioning something slanted and it seemed like it would be very difficult to build. I see that I was thinking too complicated, when the trick should be to Keep-It-Simple-Stupid
.
fatguyonalittlebike // March 15, 2008 at 3:05 pm |
I always thought it needed to be something slanted too, but I finally decided I’d do it this way and see what develops. We still don’t know, but if Aaron does it with flat windows it must work out OK.
dad // March 15, 2008 at 7:16 pm |
looks good-thinking bout plant some stuff this wk.cab,caul,let.stirred upcompst sat looks great—hope u have some old plywood or somthng in case of HAIL to throw on top of boxes
aaron // March 17, 2008 at 2:00 pm |
Flat won’t capture quite as much of the sun as slanted but they are easier to build and still pretty sunny for starting plants. The biggest problem is that water can collect in the window during a rainstorm; no big deal if you don’t mind tipping it out.