Hello My Friends
It's Christmas Eve and Ginger, (the cat) and I are sitting by the wood stove on this winters day.
Merry Christmas to you all. There's not much going on as far as green things in the garden so I thought I would start a new thread on the garden cold frame. So there are a few things I wanted from the cold frame. First off it should be a knock down affair which can be stored away once it warms up. Secondly, a warm place to start some cool weather crops like lettuce, and maybe some radishes. And as things start to warm up it is where I will plant tomatoes, so although the tomatoes will be started indoors in a sunny window they will go into the cold frame early in the spring. They need protection here in the mountains as I have seen snow the first week in June. I hate it when that happens . As I enjoy making things I have been having fun building the cold frame and thought you might like to make one too, as it will greatly lengthen the growing season. This first picture here is just a general view of the garden. It's pretty bare and raw isn't it. Nothing going on but working the soil. There are a few green things that have survived the snow and cold. The second photo shows where the cold frame will go. This spot has a nice warm southern exposure and gets sun almost all day long. It is also protected from the prevailing wind. It has sort of a warm sunny micro climate. This is where the tomatoes will live. The next photo shows some parts of the cold frame, the windows along the front side. These will be easily removable, I'll post more photos of this set up later on as things go together. The next photo shows them glued together awaiting the clear plastic sheeting. And our last photo for now shows the ends of the cold frame. There will be hinged doors on each end that can be opened for ventilation. There will also be an automatic system to open the top of the cold frame when it gets warm so as not to roast the young green things inside. Years ago I built a cold frame and would open it every morning, until one day I forgot. All my lovely plants inside were cooked and I had to start over. I hate it when that happens! As I am an old Bozo now and very forgetful, some sort of automatic ventilation system seemed like the way to go. I'll be posting more on the cold frame as it goes together, and also how well it works out if you like.
See you in the funny pages...
Jack

Hello My Friends
It's been a little cold here lately. Actually it's been really cold. For Christmas we had over two feet of snow, the most I have ever seen here. Usually we have a few inches and it melts in a day or two. Many of the juniper trees were broken down by the weight of the snow. Here is a snappy of the garden, brrr. As soon as the snow melts there will be a couple new raised beds, more compost, and the soil will get turned over again. The first seed catalogues arrived the other day. It's always fun to look over the catalogues and think of lovely spring days when the ground is covered with snow. All the plants look so good in them. Why don't mine always look like that! Making my list and checking it twice...too much fun.
Jack

Hello My Friends
The snow has mostly melted and it's time to start putting the cold frame together out in the garden. This first photo is just for fun as we had this beautiful snowy sunset the other evening. Beauty is all around us if we just stop and look. Now back to the cold frame. The roll of clear plastic arrived the other day so it was stapled to the end doors and the front panels. Then a strip of wood was nailed around the edges to help hold it in place. The third photo shows one of the ends with its hinged door. The last photo for now shows the cold frame with the top vent just set in place. This top vent will be hinged at the back. I found some cool gas cylinders on line that will open the vent when it gets warm inside. This is the automatic ventilator that I was blabbing about earlier. I hope to get the cold frame finished up next weekend. I'm anxious to see what sort of temperatures the cold frame will have inside. It's a pretty warm spot...but I'm sure there will be more snow in the next few months. We'll just have to see what happens.
Happy Gardening
Jack

Hello My Friends
Here is a bit of an update on the cold frame. The first photo shows one of the front window panels. The bottom edge is closest and you can see that there are a couple holes. These holes will fit over the dowells you can see sticking up in the second photo. They will locate the four window panels at the front of the cold frame. I wanted panels that are completely removable to allow good access to the soil in the raised bed. Our last photo for now shows one of the window panels in place. You can also see one of the end doors that the automatic gas cylinders will open for ventilation. The gas cylinders arrived the other day but will require some modification as I did not like the way they were designed. I'm anxious to get the cold frame up and running and get some little green things going inside. Most of the snow on the ground has melted but it's supposed to snow again today. I have to keep reminding myself that it's January!
Jack

Hello My Friends
The garden cold frame is finished. Although I had fun building it, the real fun can now begin. Time for some planting. Lettuce, carrots, spinach, and some other cold season crops. It will be interesting to see what happens. I put a thermometer inside, mounted on a stick in a central location. I will be noting the difference between the inside and outside temperature. It will also interesting to see how the gas cylinder ventilation system works.
Happy Gardening
Jack

Hello My Friends
I was pleasantly surprised this morning when checking the temperature inside the cold frame. It was thirty five degrees outside, and it was fifty three inside the cold frame. I think that's pretty good for an un heated enclosure. Now to see what the temp. is throughout the day, and if the vent openers work as hoped.
Jack

Hello My Friends
Here is a bit of an update concerning the cold frame. It looks like things are going well and I'm pretty happy so far. On a sunny day when the temperature outside is 50 or so the inside temp of the cold frame will get up to seventy five and the automatic vent doors will open. They seem to keep the temp around seventy five with the soil temp around sixty to seventy. The door opening cylinders seem to work quite well. It snowed last night and the temperature outside was around thirty five when I went out around nine this morning to check. The sun was shining and the temp. inside was seventy with the soil temp. fifty five. A few of the lettuce seeds seem to be sprouting No beets or green onions yet.
Happy Gardening
Jack

Hello My Friends
It was a beautiful day. Watered the beds in the cold frame and thought of something you may find useful. If you have a cold frame or small green house try keeping your watering can full and in the cold frame. This will warm the water and you won't be putting cold water out of the hose on the beds when they are struggling to keep warm. It will also store up a small bit O' heat to help keep it warm inside during the cold dark night.
Happy Gardening
Jack

I love this thread.

Can you quickly give me the overall dimensions? What dimension lumber did you use? It looks like finished 1x, but that sounds pretty expensive, and not so durable outside... so I'm wondering what you used?

Tell me again how you fastened the fames to each other? I thought you said in one of the posts you glued them together, but I know you want to take it down after frost...

And tell me more about these auto open cylinders. I'm assuming you have some sort of temperature switch and a solenoid, how much of that was plug and play and how much was a clever engineer?

Now all I need is a wood shop, lol.

Hello My Friends
Hi Paula, thank you for your interest in the cold frame. The foot print of the cold frame is 8 feet long and twenty inches wide. It was made to fit on top of an existing raised bed. The frame work was made of 2" x 3" lumber from Home Depot. The actual dimensions are 1-1/2" x 2-1/2". One of the franes shown here were stuck together with 3/8" dowells. You can see the holes for the dwells. You could stick them together with long sheet rock screws and glue. Than all you would need is a hand saw.

The doors and windows were made of 3/4" pine and assembled with tenons and glue as shown here. I went this route because I just enjoy making things. Once again you could assemble them with sheet rock screws and glue. . They would not be as sturdy but would still probably last several years.

Here is a shot of them assembled.


Here is a photo of one of the door opening cylinders. They are very simple and are filled with wax that expands when they warm up. At east that's what the instructions said. I had to modify them as they were designed to open a top vent.


Here is a link to the cylinders
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07TX77KZ8/
The cold frame is held together with long sheet rock screws so it can be taken apart and stored away when things warm up. I hope I have answered your questions. You don'd need fancy equipment to make a cold frame, just a hand saw and a cordless drill. Some sheet rock screws, glue, and a T50 stapler to fasten the clear plastic in place.
Happy Gardening
Jack

Thanks Jack. I gotcha. I'm sure I can screw it together, but then I wouldn't need a woodshop- so don't crush my dream lol. still arguing for a woodshop, I want to do tenons! Right now I have a pocket hole and a dowel jig, becasue I can put them in a drawer, but no room for a table saw.

SO you framed in in 2x3, but built your "windows" out of 1by (3/4") pine - aren't you worried they will disintegrate? The four front panels with handles- how did you mount those to the frame? are they mounted on hinges too?? or are the handles just for easy lifting. I see the swing latch on top, but not sure how the bottom and sides and held in place.

I see you were holding out on me. You've got springs to close the doors, good thinking. Why did you decide to mount the hydraulics (or whatever you call wax) to open the doors rather than vent the roof?
has it been warm enough to test them yet?

Hello My Friends
Hi Paula, the handles on the front are from Home Depot and are held in place with wood screws. The front panels each have two holes in the bottom that fit over dowells
in the planter box. I think I showed this in the photos. The tops of the front panels are held by some little wood clips. I'll try to get a photo of this. This allows the panels to be lifted out and set aside. As to opening the end doors instead of the top, I wanted some cross ventilation. To let hot air out you must let some air in somewhere. Only opening the top wouldn't do this. So with both ends open the prevailing breeze would cool things off. When the sun comes up each morning the doors open unless it's really cold. I was really pleased with the door openers and the cold frame is working quite well.
Happy Gardening
Jack

Wonderful work, Jack!!