What is A Cold Frame?

A cold frame is like a greenhouse that sits either on the plant bed or in it. We chose to put it in the plant bed for better stability. The box is made of cedar with a clear top so sunlight to enter . We used marine vinyl that is easy to replace when needed for the top.

This will probably not be able to support plants all through the whole winter (below freezing) but will make it through most of it, as we want everyone to have fresh food almost all year-round. And the plants grown in this garden all go to the local food pantry!

The Beginning

Here's the first draft of our cold frames after measuring the beds. We originally wanted to have the cold frames be 3 feet high with a slant of 2 feet. However, we noticed this would make the box enourmous (too big to lift). So, we adjusted our measurements and made it 2 feet by 1 foot instead.

The slant of the cold frame is very important, it is a stable design and helps let more sunlight in.

The post support is seen on the right of this photo of the cold frame. It holds up the top when opened so it doesn't close on you while gardening.

The Parts

Another part of keeping it open is the chain. The tension from both directions keeps the top in the air. It is also another mechanism to prevent the lid from flying open

How It Works

1. Solar heating- the sunlight enters throught the vinyl. This heats the air and soil inside, trapping warmth that tricks the plants into thinking it's still growing season.

2. Ventilation- the lid doesn't close all the way so some cool air can get in and the plants don't suffocate by the trapped warm air.

3. Radiative heating- the heat gained during the day into the soil radiated heat back into the frame

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