Propagation: What have you wintersowed so far #4, 1 by

wrote:
Hi Helene
Well darn it all! We got cheated out of lot of snow. Only received about 3" of it. Believe it or not, the sun is shining. Typical of WY. Haven't heard the weather report so don't know if that is the end of it. It is cold though.

As far as the coldframe, the top/cover is an old window frame minus the glass. Didn't want glass due to breakage. The frame is just plain pine boards are 12" wide. The short sides are 3ft long, and the other two are 6ft long side. I made it the size of the window frame. The corners of the boards are butted together with L-shaped metal plates that have screw holes on both sides. I placed the coldframe on an angle so that it is higher in the back, slanting towards the front. Since it is up against my back fence, I use the fence to hold the cover open. A large eye hook is in the center of the frame to hold the cover open at any height with a chain.

I only dug enough soil out to allow for 6" of good top soil. That is all you need since seedlings and young plants don't root any deeper. The leftover soil I store in a large plastic garbage can and mix with store bougth soil, peatmoss, sand, and manure (my daughter has horses). Whenever you plant, there is alway settling of the soil so I use it to fill low spots in my garden. Also, since this is good soil, I use it in the hole when planting.
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Here is another idea for a coldframe that was my first one. During the 80's I owned and operated a small commercial greenhouse in Nebraska. I started all my perennial plants in July and August for sale the following spring. When large enough, I planted them in this coldframe. Made out of are railroad ties placed on the ground and butted together. They were free when they replace tracks through my town. The cover is a lath screen for shade. I can't remember the size of the coldframe, but the ties were 3 ft and 6 ft long.

The photo was taken in April from a July sowing the previous year. Now husky plants.