Early Season Experiment

This past holiday season the Gardness' family gave me a copy of The Winter Harvest Handbook. It's quite an amazing book that details the steps employed by Eliot Coleman to not only extend the growing season in Maine but to actually grow greens all year round.  We didn't manage to test out the deep winter growing techniques but we were inspired to build our first cold frame.

Motivated to keep it as cheap as possible, I dug around the basement and found two matching picture frames. The sides are made from a 2x6 with a bit of 2x4 that I ran through the table saw to angle the glass. It's small but the hope is to make several others, possibly using plexiglass poster frames. On a sunny day when the air temperature was around 55° we saw it as high as 95° under the glass.

This past weekend I planted a few kale seeds in the frame so we'll be watching and waiting for any sprouts.