hardening off seedlings

[patandchickens]

I'm thinking there must be an easier way for those of us who are memory-impaired???

What I described really doesn't take much in the way of daily attention. I mean, the worst that happens is you leave 'em more-protected than necessary for a few extra days, which is no biggie.

An empty-except-for-plants cold frame in full sun will, of course, be hard to manage thermally.

The key to lazy (or absent-minded) use of a cold frame is to make it big and tall, and stuff it with really QUITE a lot of carboys of water.

If you use search you can probably find my thread about my basically-free cold frame (with pics); although it requires covering with a blanket if the temps will get substantially below freezing (like mid 20s or lower) when you pack it with rectangular water jugs, between and under the flats/pots/windowboxes, I have no problem with it overheating even on a sunny day. The tall shape may be part of what helps, as I *have* had more trouble keeping conventional-shaped coldframes from overheating (although, again, site it appropriately e.g. somewhere that gets afternoon shade, and stuff it with water containers, and they are really a lot more tolerant than most people give them credit for)

JME,

Pat

 

[lesa]

I have had wonderful luck with cold frames. If you are growing cool weather crops (especially those of us not in zone 4)- you will hardly ever have to cover them up. Have a window handy, if frost is predicted, but they will grow great with a little protection from the wind, until you want to transplant...
Don't forget a lot of things can be direct seeded. Even here in the cold and rain, I have rutabaga, parsnips, beets, carrots, swiss chard, onions, spinach, peas, sage, etc. already planted in the ground and growing...and I'm in the north pole, compared to some of you!

 

[Holachicka]

This year I simply put my seedlings in my garden (wine barrels) and then covered them with two liter bottles with the bottoms cut off. I left the labels on the bottles for a bit of shade, and took the caps off during the day, on again at night. I planted on an overcast day. I know that there could be problems with this (too hot) but mine did BEAUTIFULLY! Good luck!

 

[digitS']

This year I simply put my seedlings in my garden (wine barrels) and then covered them with two liter bottles with the bottoms cut off. I left the labels on the bottles for a bit of shade, and took the caps off during the day, on again at night. I planted on an overcast day. I know that there could be problems with this (too hot) but mine did BEAUTIFULLY! Good luck!

I've done the same thing with gallon plastic jugs. Wind can be an issue but, for the most part, it works just fine!

. . . cap off during the day/cap on at night . . .

The expensive glass cloche without a vent seems risky to me. I suppose they can be tipped effectively to allow heat out but my luck would be that they'd drop back down tight and cook my plant!

Steve

 

[skeeter9]

Pat, I checked out your coldframe post. I really like your idea. My brother is supposed to be bringing me his glass greenhouse in pieces, so maybe when I put it back together I can make it a little smaller and use some of the glass to build a tall coldframe?

 

[marypboland]

Well if you have raised beds, it's a simple matter to make hoop frames with pieces of rebar stuck in the ground and then bending some of those hollow plastic tubes (what are they called? -- PVC?) over them. Then you can cover the frames with a remay type product -- I use agribon which comes in various thicknesses providing varying degrees of protection from frost, sun and wind. You can buy clips that fit perfectly to hold the agribon on. Check out season extenders at Peaceful Valley Farm Supply in California or Johnny's or another big catalog. The agribon breathes and the seedlings can go out under this cover 24/7 with little hardening off, maybe just a day or two of a few hours -- providing you are not too, too early temperature wise. I take the agribon off after five days or maybe longer. Though it's easy to put back for a day or more if an unseasonable cold snap comes along.

I live on a windswept mesa in the Colorado rockies with high altitude sun and great temp variation day and night and this method works well for me.