Growing Winter Greens

I have used a cold frame in the spring only and decided this fall to try my hand at using the cold frame to have greens during the winter months.  I don’t know if it will work, but I’m giving it a try.

First thing I did was move my cold frame from the outside of the garden to sit in an actual bed.  I had just removed my tomatoes from the row so there was some unused space.  I have only put trays of seedlings in the frame before, never used it to have plants growing in the ground inside it.    

Setting Frame Inside Garden

 

The dates of this set up were November 2^nd and 3^rd.  I filled the bottom half of the frame with manure, soil and composted seaweed.  I had just chipped some brush and used that to line the outside of the frame to insulate it.  As I was working with the frame, I noticed that there was a lot of shade inside so I turned it more  to be at the angle of the sun’s path.  I put more manure for insulation around the outside edges.  There are bags of leaves from a neighbour and I don’t have a mower to chop them up.  Keeping the leaves in the bags, I put manure and soil in the bags and tried to sift the materials down the bags.  After I poked lots of holes in a bunch of bags, I lined them around the northish sides of the frame on top of the manure and chips.  The window was quite dirty so I got a window cleaner and gave it a good wiping. 

Cleaning Glass

Seed Selection

 

Now to choose the seeds; I have kale and arugula already growing in the garden, so I could eliminate those.  I chose purple mizuna, mache, red lettuce and mustard greens.   After I broadcasted the seeds I sprinkled more manure/soil mixture to cover the seeds and filled my watering can with rainwater and watered it all.  I’m hoping the front side of the frame isn’t too high and causes too much shadow.  Another thing I could do is put a white poster board along the back wall to give it more light and I have in the past put in water jugs painted black to store the daytime heat.  Maybe I’ll get to those things.   I hope I am not starting this too late.  We are having very sunny days and not too cold nights right now, so maybe the seeds will get started before the real cold sets in.  It is all an experiment and I’ll keep you posted.  Just picture me heading out fully clothed in winter attire to get some fresh greens for supper.  Occasionally I’ll look after it by making sure the snow doesn’t cover the window and I guess I won’t need to water it??  Wish me luck!

Finishing By Watering

A couple of days later I decided it needed more light so I stapled white sheets of paper on the back of the inside wall.