Why Every Garden Needs a Cold Frame

Cold frames are simple enclosures designed to protect tender plants from frost. You can upcycle an old window or build your own cold frame.

Cold frames are ideal for growing cool-season vegetables such as greens, radishes and peas in cool climates. Their enclosed environment also helps seedlings adjust to outdoor conditions more gradually so they’re less vulnerable to sudden temperature drops.

Fresh Vegetables in the Winter

Cold frames provide a secure garden space for crops that thrive in cool weather, like leafy greens and root vegetables. By warming trapped air two to four degrees higher than outdoor temperatures, cold frames extend growing seasons for many vegetable plants.

Cold frames resemble greenhouses in their design: open at the bottom and featuring removable panes of glass or plastic to let sunlight in, they feature slanted sides to allow light into their interior, and can easily be built yourself or purchased pre-made for $60-$500.

Cold frames require constant temperature maintenance for optimal results, starting by opening only slightly and gradually increasing air flow each day. This is especially essential if growing winter vegetables. When temperatures fall at nighttime, close the lid to trap heat in and give plants time to recover from cooling temperatures by staying warmer for longer.

Healthy Seedlings

As soon as seedlings emerge successfully, their next challenge will be ensuring their continued development until transplanting can take place. A cold frame can offer an effective natural solution.

If a tray of seedlings appears leggy, this could be a telltale sign they require more intense sunlight than what a typical windowsill can offer. That is why gardeners use cold frames.

Cold frames are simple wooden structures with see-through lids made from wood that allow sunlight to warm the soil inside. By starting gardening two to three weeks earlier in spring and extending harvest seasons into November most years, cold frames provide you with the chance to start earlier and harvest later than ever before!

An insulated cold frame can also help soften delicate warm-season vegetable seeds and transplants for planting in mid-May – this process, known as hardening off, prevents frost damage to plants.

Late Cropping Vegetables

Cold frames provide essential protection to cool season crops like lettuce, spinach and kale during fall and winter seasons. Their cooler temperatures allow these vegetables to flourish in this protected environment, especially if their lid is closed overnight when frost is expected. Furthermore, this protected space helps shield their roots against harsh winds or sudden temperature shifts.

People often find it challenging to transition tender seedlings and transplants from indoor growing beds or containers to outdoor conditions gradually over several days or weeks, known as hardening off. A cold frame makes this process simpler by providing protected space where plants can stay for gradually longer periods. By taking this route, planting cool season vegetables two or four weeks earlier!

Harvesting Vegetables in the Winter

Many vegetables enjoy and even thrive in cold temperatures, but need assistance to do so. A cold frame — basically four-sided box with clear plastic or glass pane as its bottom lid — helps trap solar energy to warm air and soil temperatures to extend the growing season.

No matter if you grow vegetables in a garden or containers, using a cold frame will allow you to sow seeds two to four weeks earlier than in open ground and extend harvest season for leafy greens like spinach and lettuce through fall and winter months.

Before transplanting any indoor-grown plants into their permanent locations outdoors, they will need a period of “hardening off.” To do this effectively and easily use a cold frame as night-time closure makes this task simpler than ever!