Gardening Information - Creating Cold Frames and Hot Tents

Depending on where you live you may need to find ways to extend the growing season. In the higher elevations winter may come early and stay late. the freezing temperatures make getting a garden in the ground early a futile effort. There are some techniques you can use to get more growing season. What I'm talking about is creating a micro climate for your plants, commonly called a hot house or green house. However you don't need a big expensive structure to sprout plants and give them a head start. Using inexpensive plastic sheeting and some stakes you can control the climate of some small areas where your sprouting beds are located.

Though it can be a bit of a challenge but the pay off is a larger more successful and productive garden. In early spring when the weather is starting to get nice but still less than optimal you can make a cold frame. A cold frame is a box frame of a box with a lid, everywhere there would be a solid surface you install 6 mil clear poly sheeting. When the sun hits the plastic the heat gets trapped in the cold frame making a hot house environment where you can place potted plants.

Use a saucer in the kitchen and place a folded paper towel on it. Make it wet, open the fold and pour in your seeds, radish, carrot, corn, whatever you want to grow could be flowers. Set the saucer on the window sill after pouring off the excess water. You will need to watch and make sure the paper stays damp to near wetness and in a few days the seeds will germinate and start to grow.

Plant your sprouts in used egg cartons, the old gray paper type, because they absorb moisture whereas the Styrofoam egg cartons will not. fill the egg carton with potting soil add some water and place in the cold frame. You may need to transplant them into small two and three inch containers as they grow. By the time you can till the soil and plant you should have some 3 to 5 inch plants or larger to go in the ground and you've pulled a fast one on mother nature.

Your cold frame/ hot house could get hot enough you need to place a shade over it in the hottest time of the day so as not to cook you plants or you can open the lid a crack to let hot air escape, you just need to tend it, like anything else.

If you've already got some plants in the ground and you don't want them to freeze you can drive in a stake next to the plant and cut a large circle of plastic poke a small hole in the center of the plastic and slide it onto the stick then take the outer edge and secure it to the ground with a little soil or some stones use a stapler to attach the top to the stake. It looks like a t-pee when your done and it will trap heat, moisture and sunlight inside where the plant is. Again watch it doesn't get too hot.

With some creative use of plastic you can make micro climates that help you get ahead start on the growing season. Hope you have a remarkable garden experience today.

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