"Preparing for the Winter Garden" by Rob

Thu, 14 Sep 2006 14:21:42 +0000

Eric,

Although many folks find it unsightly, you can build a cheap, well insulated cold frame using small straw bales.

Dig down as far as you would for a conventional wooden frame. You will need to dig a much larger area to accommodate the bales.

Anyway, the bales make up the sidewalls instead of wood, providing great insulation.

Throw an old double-pane window on top of the bales (got mine for 5 bucks at the Habitat for Humanity salvage store) and ta-da! A cheap, fast and effective coldframe that will out perform many expensive models.

Preparing for the Winter Garden

Eric — Mon, 07 Jul 2003 00:00:00 +0000

Elliot Coleman is a farmer and gardener on the coast of Maine. He wrote Four-Season Harvest, a lovely and remarkable book about year-round gardening in snowy climates. (You definitely want to look at the drawings.) Even in the middle of January, he's harvesting fresh salad greens and sweet carrots from old-fashioned cold frames. Coleman relies on low-tech solar heating and cold-tolerant vegetables.

Random Hacks: Preparing for the Winter Garden

"Preparing for the Winter Garden" by Rob

Preparing for the Winter Garden