Extend Your Garden’s Growing Season With Easy Cold Frame Building Plans

Build a cold frame from recycled materials to extend your garden’s growing season and allow sunlight to warm its plants while providing ventilation on warmer days. A clear cover allows sunlight to heat plants inside while being opened to provide ventilation when necessary.

Check local dumpsters and construction sites (with permission) for discarded windows, pallets and scrap lumber that can be used to construct a cold frame.

Recycled Glass Windows

Recycled glass windows represent the pinnacle of sustainable building materials. Crafted from bottles, jars and containers that would otherwise end up in landfills, recycled window panes are tempered to strengthen them further while offering UV ray protection.

Insulation plays an integral part in cold frames, keeping warmth inside while moisture outside. They allow you to harden off annual flower and vegetable seedlings started indoors before transplanting them out into your garden, as well as prevent them from freezing in winter weather conditions.

Find old windows suitable for a cold frame by visiting thrift and recycling stores as well as searching online community listings such as Craigslist or Facebook Yard Sale Groups. Ideally, select windows with intact glass and sturdy frames, but if cabinet hinges can also be found to open and close their lid. This keeps useful lumber out of landfills while making your project simpler overall.

Discarded Wooden Pallets

Cold frames allow gardeners to extend the season for cool-season crops such as radishes, spinach and carrots by trapping warmth and sunlight in an unheated structure constructed using old windows or salvaged lumber. Ideal for hardening off vegetable and flower seedlings started indoors as well.

Basic construction for rain gardens involves a rectangular box fitted with a transparent cover to let sunlight in, with its back typically taller than its front to create a sloped top and allow rainwater to run off into a drainpipe at its base. Furthermore, its cover may hinge open to provide ventilation on hotter days.

Many designs exist, but basic materials needed include a window frame and boards measuring at least the perimeter and six inches wide or wider than this size. Crafters should try to avoid heat-treated (HT) wood, as its chemical preservatives could leach into the soil and inhibit plant and flower growth.

Drawers

Cold frames are simple boxes with clear covers designed to capture sunlight and warmth and protect vegetables from frost. Ideal for starting seeds in spring, they extend harvest season of leafy greens, radishes, carrots and more while also being great for cultivating herbs or flowers that require cooler temperatures.

Make your own cold frame by attaching an old window to a wooden base using only basic woodworking skills and minimal tools. It’s an easy project, requiring just minimal tools. Plus, this project provides an opportunity to repurpose old windows that might otherwise go to waste in your home, such as ones with too large of frames or unattractive designs.

Choose a frame with dimensions similar to your window but several inches taller, creating a slanted top. Avoid wood treated with chemical preservatives which could leach into plants and soil. Salvaged wood may be found at flea markets or classified ads; any that has been painted should first be sanded down before use.

Scrap Lumber from Construction Sites

Utilize a cold frame to extend your growing season and continue growing fresh vegetables well into winter. Gather recycled materials from thrift stores, construction sites or your own home to build one without incurring additional expenses for protection of seedlings in cold temperatures.

Old windows, clear plastic sheets and heat-treated wooden pallets all provide effective insulation that keeps warmth inside and rain outside. Layering straw, dry leaves and shredded paper inside the frame provides additional insulation to protect plants from moisture damage. Foam pieces from old packaging or leftover caulk work well as fillers for any gaps or cracks that exist; hinges from an old cabinet allow easy opening/closing; bricks/heavy items can help weigh down corners to stop their cover blowing off on windy days; metal strips from scrap lumber yards provide durability/sturdiness; label reusable materials according to size/condition in order to track them as you use them while building.