Fall - Virginia Federation of Garden Clubs

Edible GARDENING
FRESH SALAD FROM THE COLD FRAME
Submitted by Barbara Smith, VFGC Edible Gardening Chairman
The snow is falling and the taste of fresh vegetables are
becoming a distant memory. Does this mean several more
months of bagged salads No! You can soon enjoy fresh
salads by growing great-tasting spinach, radishes, green
onions, lettuce, and other vegetables in a cold frame. A
cold frame works as a miniature greenhouse and with little
care it can add a month to the front end of salad season.
Building a cold frame - A cold frame is easy to construct
and you probably have most or all the materials on
hand. It can be as simple as placing a discarded window sash or shower door over a
group of straw bales arranged to form a rectangular base. More typically, the cold frame
is a floorless box constructed from sturdy 2’ by 8’s or 2’ by 10’s and sized to fit under
glass or similar transparent materials. Don‘t despair if you do not have the materials
or lack basic carpenter skills because seed catalogues and gardening magazines
sell a variety of cold frames (ranging from inexpensive to high tech). You will need to
be sensitive to the size and weight of your cold frame if you plan to move it around.
Placing the cold frame - Ideally, cold frames should butt up against a building
for protection against the elements, slant toward the south for the maximum sunlight
exposure, and be on a slight forward facing slope. Make the most of your existing
conditions. Try a western exposure if a southward one is not available, put up hay
bales on one end for wind blocks, etc. The cold frame should be partially buried in
the ground for insulation and sloped downward for drainage and sun exposure with
the hinges for the transparent cover (such as the window sash) on the highest end.
Soil Preparation - The cold frame should be placed on soil that has been worked
to a depth of 12 inches and enriched with some form of organic humus. This task (and
a weed-free environment) may be easily accomplished by using bags of premixed
commercial planting soil.
Planting the plants - In late winter, you can direct seed the following cool season
plants: arugula, beets, broccoli, cabbage, chard, Chinese cabbage, green onion, kale,
lettuce, mustard, radish, and spinach. The soil inside a frame will warm up much faster
than open ground and a three-day spell of mild weather is often all that is needed for
germination. Add water as needed to keep the soil from drying out and frequently vent
the cold frame to keep the growing plants from damping off. Plants are very tolerant
of cold weather once they start to grow, however, they may benefit from a being
covered by an old blanket in the evening if the weather becomes exceptionally cold.
If seeds are started indoors, cool season plants can be transplanted into a cold
frame six weeks earlier than into an open garden. Track the extended weather forecast
and select a transplanting time when the lows are above 35 degrees for several days.
The seedlings should be well-rooted and have multiple sets of true leaves before being
moved. Peat pots can be planted directly in the cold frame. Flats of seedlings are placed
in the cold frame without transplanting because they need to be gradually acclimated
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