patandchickens
Deeply Rooted
I have a couple coldframes I use for seedlings in the spring, but they've always been frustrating to use for fall lettuce because it is just basically too tall for them.
I have a pile o wood from the rotting old back deck that I ripped off last month, and the more of it I can salvage the less I have to pay for disposal at the dump![Stick Out Tongue :p :p](/styles/default/xenforo/smilies/tongue.png)
So, this past Saturday when it was clear we were in for a prolonged cold spell, I knocked together this for the lettuce:
It is 2.5 x 4', and 3' tall. Plywood bottom, up on blocks so it doesn't rot the deck excessively (this is the warmest most sheltered location, so I pretty much *have* to have my end-of-season lettuce on the deck)
I just staplegunned white plastic feed- and shavings bags onto the frame, but will insulate it when I get around to it. The front window is an old storm window I got for free at the curb a few yrs ago that has cycled through various homebuilt coldframe structures around here![Stick Out Tongue :p :p](/styles/default/xenforo/smilies/tongue.png)
My plan is to reduce the number of boxes of lettuce in there, and raise the back ones up on black-painted jugs of water. I have not done this before in such a tall coldframe, so I will be curious to see how low a temperature it is good for. I cover it with that bedsheet there at night, but again, hope to make a foamboard-panel insulated cover for it one of these days Real Soon.
Took about an hour and a half, would have been faster if I weren't trying to use salvaged wood
Anyone else could do just as well -- it may not be pretty but could be *made* pretty by someone willing to buy new lumber and use something other than recycled feedbags, and it works just fine.
Pat
I have a pile o wood from the rotting old back deck that I ripped off last month, and the more of it I can salvage the less I have to pay for disposal at the dump
![Stick Out Tongue :p :p](/styles/default/xenforo/smilies/tongue.png)
So, this past Saturday when it was clear we were in for a prolonged cold spell, I knocked together this for the lettuce:
![Coldframe001.jpg](http://i214.photobucket.com/albums/cc166/patandchickens/Coldframe001.jpg)
![Coldframe003.jpg](http://i214.photobucket.com/albums/cc166/patandchickens/Coldframe003.jpg)
It is 2.5 x 4', and 3' tall. Plywood bottom, up on blocks so it doesn't rot the deck excessively (this is the warmest most sheltered location, so I pretty much *have* to have my end-of-season lettuce on the deck)
I just staplegunned white plastic feed- and shavings bags onto the frame, but will insulate it when I get around to it. The front window is an old storm window I got for free at the curb a few yrs ago that has cycled through various homebuilt coldframe structures around here
![Stick Out Tongue :p :p](/styles/default/xenforo/smilies/tongue.png)
My plan is to reduce the number of boxes of lettuce in there, and raise the back ones up on black-painted jugs of water. I have not done this before in such a tall coldframe, so I will be curious to see how low a temperature it is good for. I cover it with that bedsheet there at night, but again, hope to make a foamboard-panel insulated cover for it one of these days Real Soon.
Took about an hour and a half, would have been faster if I weren't trying to use salvaged wood
Pat