This cold frame is a bottomless box topped by glass frames. With the materials list, a detailed plan, and instructions, you'll be able to build your own.
Download the plan, a materials list, and instructions for building this cold frame.
Photo/Illustration: Vince Babak
This cold frame can give you a 12-month growing season.
Photo/Illustration: Ruth Lively
A layer of 2x2s atttached to the bottom keeps the cold frame itself out of contact with the soil.
Photo/Illustration: Ruth Lively
My cold frame, consisting of a bottomless box and glass frames, called lights, is simple to build and designed to last for years. Use rot-resistant wood such as cedar, cypress, or redwood.
The waste strips along the bottom keep the frame off the soil. When the waste strips decay, you replace the strips instead of the entire frame.
Cold Frame Gardening Learn what you can grow and when to plant it, then enjoy fresh food all winter long.
The lights have small wood stops at both ends. The stops keep the glass from sliding and enable water to run off freely, preventing ice build-up and rot.
To make a light, you’ll need a tablesaw for cutting grooves and ripping stock lengthwise. Glazed with glass, each light will weigh around 35 lb., heavy enough to stay in place by itself, but too heavy to be raised by an automatic venting arm. Glazed with a lightweight, insulated glass substitute like Polygal or Lexan, each light can be lifted with a venting arm (such as the Univent control from Charley’s Greenhouse & Garden), but will also need to be secured with hinges to keep it from blowing off in a wind.
Materials list
Each 8-ft. x 4-ft. frame requires:
• 2 8-ft. x 12-in. boards
• 1 8-ft. x 8-in. board
• 1 4-ft. 2×2 for the brace
• 3 8-ft. 2x2s for the waste strips around the bottom
• 3-in. galvanized drywall screws
• 2-1/2-in. drywall screws or 8d nails for attaching the waste strips
• 4 2-ft. x 4-ft. lights
Each light requires:
• 2 4-ft. 2x2s for sides
• 2 21-3/4-in. 2x2s to rip for crosspieces
• 2 scraps for making the stops
• 3-in. galvanized screws
• 1-in. galvanized screws
• 1 46-1/2-in. x 22-3/4-in. sheet of glazing material (double-strength plate glass or polycarbonate glazing
by Eliot Coleman
August 1996
from issue #4
Fine Gardening Recommended Products
Gardener's Log Book from NYBG
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This weatherproof five-year log book includes the following features:
· Sturdy waterproof cover to protect pages from rain and muddy soil
· Lined pages and gridded paper for plotting beds
· Five years of 12-month bloom and harvest grids for recording what you planted and when
· Authoritative appendices on composting, pruning, pest and disease control, and container gardening
· Useful reminders by season on fertilizing, mulching, and transplanting
· Space for listing your favorite sources and suppliers.
Plant Covers Freeze Protection 10 ft x 30 ft Floating Row Cover 0.9oz/yd²
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Lightweight and Breathable MATERIAL Good for protecting Plant: the plant frost cover material is 0.74 oz/sq non-woven polypropylene fabric, which is lightweight, breathable, and durable. The plant blanket frost protection allows sunlight reach the plants, perfect for protecting plants from the damage of freeze or frost. Wide Application In your Garden Work. The plant row cover not only can work as a barrier against frost, but also can be a great tool for germination and good for rapid seedling growth. By using the fabric plant covers over your plant, you can start the plant earlier in the spring and extending the growing season of your plants. How to Use the Plant Covers: you can cover the plant covers for freeze over your the plants loosely directly and then secure the plant frost blanket with soil, stones or staples. You can also support the floating row covers with a hoop, make enough room for plants to breath and grow. You could also cut the plant covers into different sizes for different purposes.
Fine Gardening receives a commission for items purchased through links on this site, including Amazon Associates and other affiliate advertising programs.
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