Building a Cold Frame

It has been cold, wet, and windy all weekend... in other words, perfect weather to build a cold frame. If you have been following the last few weeks, I have been heading in this direction. The culmination of all the efforts are on a video posted at the end of this. I hope you find it enjoyable and maybe even entertaining.
The problem with actually doing things and not just imagining doing them (which I am very good at) is that now it had better work. If an imaginary plan doesn't work, you don't feel too bad. However, when I spend the money, time, and energy to do the project, I spend the next few days thinking of ways I could have done it better or smarter. It is done and now we wait for the organic harvest to begin.

 

In case there is anyone who may want to build one of these, I will be happy to give you as detailed of info as you wish. However, as the vast majority of mankind will never even think of building one, I will not bore you with the steps here. You may e-mail or comment and I will respond.

Happy Gardening!

Justifiable indignation turned to good ends...

            With the technological age we live in, (and I do love my iPad 2, iPhone, the Internet, etc) I am becoming more wary of “educational games.” This is not going to be a slanderous attack on people who like these things. I will probably let my girls play some of them when they get older. This is only the side I am on right now.

I was at the in-laws a bit ago and one of the younger girls was playing some garden simulation game. Click – the garden in planted. Click – it’s watered and fertilized. Click – its harvested and sold. Click – you get the idea. If that is my idea of gardening, I would think that going outside planting a flower and waiting a month before there is any progress disheartening also! Laura Ingles’ father never had to compete with that. Little Britches never drove a simulated tractor.

All of this is going somewhere. I am going to attempt, (and it better succeed, or else) to have an approximately 12 month garden. My favorites like squash and tomatoes will only be in the spring and summer, but there are quite a few hardy winter vegetables that should grow here in our temperate western Washington climate. I have been reading up on winter gardening through books and the Internet (what I call "proper" use of technology) and will be following in some auspicious and successful people. We will eat organic vegetables we have grown or starve (or go to safeway if we have too).

So here is today’s forecast. Home depot for lumber, hinges, oil stain, plastic, PVC pipes, heater coils, screws, and what all good gardeners need – a Porter-Cable 3-1/2 inch Clipped-Head Framing Nailer. This is to create 2 cold frames, 2 cool frames (I’ll explain later) and one hoop house. I will then get some dirt, mushroom mulch, and steer manure; mix assiduously and install. The seeds and greenhouse glass is on order from johnnyseeds.com and farmtek.com respectively. (Farmtek is currently in the middle of an 8 day and counting power outage, so it may take longer than usual to get the greenhouse material)

With a little luck, the dogs won’t decide to investigate by digging up the entire project, and we will have carrots, beets, lettuce, pok choi, potatoes, and radishes before too long! And after that, as I have earned it, we'll all sit on the back porch, open a bottle of 2006 Domaine Serene Jerusalem Hill Pinot Nior, and discuss the good old days.