#cold frame

[vintage-sweden]

Unknown woman, Sweden.

[xofemeraldstars]

fancy 😋

[i-g-nova]

i finally kicked the tomatoes out. they were looking a bit leggy...my grow light must not be quite intense enough. oh well - they'll branch out more when they start getting some sun.

i like sharing pictures of my cold frame, because it's basic as hell. you don't need to spend a fortune on purpose-built greenhouses to get a head start on the growing season when a pair of cheap tubs will do.

[anamelessdragon]

Having some troubles with the usual official formatting for the post, but the next chapter of Cold Frame has been posted!

Excerpt:

The moment Bucky grabbed him, cool metal fingers gripping down powerfully into exposed skin, Steve’s arm lit up in cording veins of bright and bursting blue. He could see those lines spiderweb into the places the vibranium came into contact, pulsating up Bucky’s left arm alongside its own separate grooves of red, yellow, purple, and orange - evidence of his previous contact with Tony’s gauntlet. The light was intense enough that it was forcing its way through the fabric of Bucky’s charcoal shirt, traveling up beyond his heart before it broke free again along the skin of his neck, stunning even in the bright light streaming through the sides of the greenhouse.

Bucky kept staring at Steve throughout, hints of Infinity fading in and out of his irises. He tightened his grip against Steve’s pulse, then relaxed, pulling his palm up so it was no longer flush against Steve’s skin, though he kept his fingertips pressed into the paths of blue light.

In just under a minute, it was more sustained contact than the two of them had engaged in together since Steve had gotten back. There was something pouring into Steve at that realization - exhilaration, filling empty spaces, pushing aside parts of him that had started to deaden the first time he’d tried and failed to reach Siberia. He filled his lungs with a deep breath, then released it slowly.

[jensownzoo]

Just want to show off my cold frames this year as they're working very well so far, though I have pinpointed a major flaw in the construction that I'm going to have to correct eventually.

So this year instead of making one long cold frame on the south-facing porch that left me with very little room to maneuver (resulting in a lot of shimmying and gut-sucking), I instead put in two smaller ones on either side.

Here's the side that faces outwards:

Consisting of a large scavenged single pane window gently but firmly tapped into place (with a rubber mallet and a lot of "please don't breaks") against the railing. They are wedged and will not be removed when the season is over.

And here's the side that faces inward:

The bottom layer are Tidy Cats litter buckets filled 3/4 of the way with water and wrapped in black plastic contractor bags. They provide thermal mass along with the concrete porch floor. Then I have more scavenged windows and some screwed together landscaping beams to hold everything together. Cracks are filled with styrofoam panels, roll foam (the kind that comes with window ac units), and wadded up plastic grocery sacks. There are still enough openings for ventilation, but the warmed air is mostly retained.

Here's what I've got growing in one of the frames:

A small earthbox of mesclun mix, a Tidy Cats bucket of salad spinach, a large earthbox of Swiss chard.

And another Tidy Cats bucket of kale mostly obscured by the small earthbox of green onions.

In the second frame I have more spinach and chard plus some cos-type lettuce.

The big flaw in this design? When I lift the top panels off to access the contents I cannot reach the stuff in the Tidy Cats buckets or large earthboxes! The inner wall is too tall and my arms are too short. What I should have done is put the earthbox on two thermal mass buckets and the planted Tidy Cats buckets on top of a few layers of bricks. I may still do that if we get a run of warmer weather (stamps feet 'cause I don't wanna), but I may be able to swing harvesting using some long scissors and a pair of chopsticks. We'll see. If this design continues to work well then it's definitely something to change next fall.

[southcarolinawoman]

from Appalachia's Homestead with Patara

[talkingtomyhouseplants]

Christmas gift from my husband! 💕 I can now protect some plants from the cold, wind & direct sunlight in the backyard! 😍

[real-life-stardew]

The weather has been so nice I can open up my cold frame now!