Beginner Gardening: What to do in Zone 3?!, 0 by

wrote:
Hi Shirb..I live in cold and windy Wyoming, from Nebraska. I know how you feel with winter and no gardening. When I bought a house 6 years ago, I started 54 varieties of perennials in flats. I had 4, 4ft x 12" shelves on my office wall equipped with flourecent plant lights.

I started my seeds according to their size and germination time. The smaller the seeds, the longer they take to transplanting size. The earliest I started was end of January. When spring came, I built a coldframe out of scrap lumber to transplant the seedlings to. I also built a top frame to hold shade cloth. They stayed in the coldframe throughout the summer and following spring. By spring, they were husky plants. I dug them up early spring, and many of them bloomed that season.

I also sowed seeds in late summer (Aug) since I didn't have room during the winter for all I wanted to grow. I started them inside under lights, and when large enough to handle, I put them in the coldframe over winter. All did great. Now I have enough plants so concentrate on crocheting and sewing to pass winter time when I'm home

The photo is of a coldframe I used when I operated a small commercial greenhouse in Nebraska.