Cold weather

[Martin]

I am glad its not just me that got the pics orientation mixed up !

Well no additional snow overnight as was forecast but just started snowing again now, still very cold at around -2 currently.

Greenhouse holding at around a min of 4deg
But I guess plants next to the glass may be a bit colder

M

[BryanW]

Fortunately, living very close to the sea we don't have the worst of the cold weather. FWIW here's a view from a couple of days ago of my cold frames.

I really like the idea of those cold frames, I use a wheelchair a lot and something like that would suit me a treat, I could grow cacti etc then and not be limited to small plants indoors. Are the aluminium frames available commercially?

[BryanW]

My growing windowsills have become so cold I've had to put the Mesemb seedlings in a heated 70f propagator to bring the stubborn sprouters out. Stubborn ones for me were L. Divergens & L. Meyeri, it's also helped sprout a few more of the Titanopsis up too. The peppers are refusing to come out at all

[ragamala]

Just to explain how it came about I started using coldframes, I moved to my St Annes home three 1/2 years ago, and my priority was to rehouse some of my collection which had survived many years of neglect. My house is actually long leasehold rather than freehold, so I thought a good wheeze to avoid having lengthy discussions with freeholder about a "proper" greenhouse was to implement a possible temporary structure, the coldframe.

These are Access 8x4 frames. I was so pleased with the first one that I bought two more over the next two years.

The good thing about these is that they are not visually dominant in a small garden, and since each affords most of the 4x8 benching, the three between them, together with the 2x4 addon you see, give me over 100 sq ft of bench space, which compares well with a greenhouse say 8/10 by 12 which requires a middle aisle.

The added advantage is that I can keep the three at separate temperatures, so unheated for one, which they older plants are used to. The second for first year seedlings etc and third for older seedlings. This has worked well. They are economic to heat, because of the reduced air volume.

I bought the first coldframe with wooden base, because I wanted to erect speedily, and then realised that basically this was just a frame with decking attached as walls and benching, so the next two I bought as frames only and constructed my own base.

Re the frames themselves, I heartily recommend them. They are easy to assemble, with safe-handle glass, and good value for money. Ventilation is no problem with sliding glass. In practice this means I can (with some netting to keep out birds etc) give the plants free-air conditions. With judicious use of wedges or suchlike in winter the glass can be reasonably sealed for preventing heat loss. I have given the tops and sides whitewash (eg Coolglass) protection in summer and of course with easy access to the "roof" this is easily applied and removed. With glass windows slideable from both sides the plants can be easily accessed from left or right and with a decent level staging (five courses of decking) that makes it easy on my back. I imagine this is a good solution well worth considering for someone with similar access or mobility problems.

[BryanW]

I'll certainly be looking to purchase at least one of those frames, I can coerce my lads to do the base, staging & electrical work (one is a sparks).
I'm really chuffed you posted those pics
Many thanks for taking the time to write that up too I now have the bookmark for the seller/supplier

[ragamala]

Thanks Bryan

[uzbeck]

At least the plants aren't freezing.

[JaneO]

Hi Peter,

Wonderful stalactites too!

JaneO

[Mike P]

I ventured down to the allotment this morning to see how the unheated greenhouse was faring. The min/max suggests it dropped to -7/8 so it will be interesting to see how everything fared. In hindsight closing the door and louvres might have been sensible.....
The bed of over wintered broad beans a few metres away are a wipe out which is not surprising!