Make-do Cold Frame

I've been bitten by the gardening bug!  It happens every year around the end of February - I start dreaming of handfuls of warm, earthy soil filtering through my fingers.  Visions of Virginia Creeper, pole beans and yellow roses dance through my head and I begin envisioning new plantings for our summer delight.  And Master Hand Grenade starts twitching.....

Over the years Master Hand Grenade has become my right hand when planning and constructing outdoor infrastructure.  With Sir Knight gone at work all day, Master Hand Grenade has taken over, acting as Senior Contractor for all of my myriad projects.  I tell him what I need and he, in turn, gathers materials, locates tools and begins planning.  Armed with paper, a pencil and a tape measure, he lays out my design, carefully noting measurements and then begins cutting.  Soon, my latest flight of fancy begins taking shape.

Measuring and marking

Lately, I have been wistfully eyeing cold frames.  You know - those wonderful little creations that lengthen the growing season (by up to 1 1/2 zones!) in cold climates, allowing gardening to begin earlier in the spring and last later into the fall.  You can even plant some crops in August and September and enjoy fresh veggies while the snow piles high and the south wind blows fiercely.

Using a level as a straight-edge

As we pulled into the parking lot at church on Sunday morning, we noticed stacks and stacks of windows leaning against the foundation.  Our church had just replaced all of the windows with new vinyl replacements and stacked the old ones outside, free for the taking.  My new cold frame began taking shape in my mind!

Making a cut

Almost done

Master Hand Grenade's work shop

After school was finished yesterday, Master Hand Grenade and I set to work.  We measured our "new" windows and figured out how much wood we would need for the cold frame and began marking and sawing.  Hand Grenade has been collecting tools for a number of years, so he had everything we needed on hand.  He used a Skill saw that his Great-Grandpa gave him to make all of the cuts and a drill that was a gift from his Grandfather to run in all of the screws.  Using the skills taught to him by his father and his grandfather, Master Hand Grenade built, step-by-step, a wonderfully practical, highly anticipated cold frame.

A project complete

Although rustic, our cold frame cost us nothing to build.  We used salvaged wood from my parents old barn, rescued windows from our church, screws we had in the tool box, hinges that we had scrapped from another piece of furniture (long since gone), compost from our back yard and soil from another raised bed.  We also managed to build a couple of other little trinkets to tuck here and there.  One window we made into a decorative shelf and attached it to the chicken coop and another we built into a planter box and affixed it to the children's playhouse.  This spring we will fill the planter box with dirt and load it with a bevy of floral delights.

The chicken coop shelf

The play house planter box

Spring is in the air and I intended to take full advantage!  It all starts with a make-do cold frame - who knows where it will end?!