User avatar
hendi_alex
Super Green Thumb
Posts: 3604
Joined: Sun Jul 06, 2008 7:58 am
Location: Central Sand Hills South Carolina

New Cold Frame

Not so beautiful, but will be very functional. My old cold frames are undersized, unheated, and are getting pretty opaque. They have not adequately served our needs for the past couple of years. So this year I decided to build a cold frame that is much taller and has a much larger footprint, about 5.5 feet by 3.5 feet. It is tall enough to accommodate my large plants in late March and April when those late frosts may hit and the plants have gotten a couple of feet tall. The frame is made of about 90% re-purposed and scrap/leftover material. Have not yet attached the hinges along the back top and also need to add a bank of three light bulb sockets. This should make my life much easier this spring after the plants have gotten so large that moving them in and out is a real chore.

Image

User avatar
applestar
Mod
Posts: 30504
Joined: Thu May 01, 2008 7:21 pm
Location: Zone 6, NJ (3/M)4/E ~ 10/M(11/B)

Very nice!

Could you post more details?
From your past posts, I know you are an excellent craftsman. I might learn some tips for making my own. 8) -- I need ALL the help I can get! :()

User avatar
hendi_alex
Super Green Thumb
Posts: 3604
Joined: Sun Jul 06, 2008 7:58 am
Location: Central Sand Hills South Carolina

The face is made from the glass reclaimed from a storm door. It was set in a simple frame of treated 2 x 4's. The top is of twin wall polycarbonate but I considered using a second panel of an old storm door. Either would work, but the polycarbonate is much lighter. The back is a 2 x 4 frame with plywood cover. 3/4 foam board is inset for insulation. I just used a 2 x 4 frame for the sides and wrapped them with greenhouse film. Everything was attached with either screws or nails. Project took about 6 hours to complete.



Return to “Seed Starting Discussions”