…I know it’s rough – it’s actually the first thing I’ve ever built. I’m so sick of spending tons of money on annuals every year just to have them die out over the winter. I’m determined to keep them alive, even if just barely, and nurse them back to health in the spring. I’ve ordered a red heat bulb to place in there when it gets really cold (I’m in New England, zone 6). Do you think this will actually work? Or am I living in a dream world. Any advice/ recommendations welcome. Thank you!
by cloudrider75
6 Comments
I’d call it a cold frame and a very nice one at that.
I built ones like this more than 30 years ago in college.
We had lots of veggies started early. Enough, we had a nice little garden for 2 nutty college kids.
Nice. It’s a cold frame homie. Looks great
I call mine “the green to” mine is similar to yours except my lid goes to the ground. I added lights and a heater for the winter months. Gets me my starts for spring and I can keep a few things in it from freezing during the few snow storms we do get. Great job! Looks awesome!
This is a great cold frame, but it won’t keep your annuals alive for the next year. This has nothing to do with your cold frame, but the plants your growing.
(True) Annuals complete their life cycle in one growing season. So they are indeed meant to die over the winter.
Perennials are plants that can continue to grow year after year. Many won’t flower in the first year unless they had specific conditions when they were started in the greenhouse.
There are a few different kinds of perennials. Herbaceous – they die back to the ground level and go dormant during the winter. Their roots continue to grow, and when the right conditions come around again in the spring, they will use the energy stored in the roots and sprout up another above ground plant.
Woody- these have a woody stem (trees) or multiple stems (shrubs). They may loose their leaves in the autumn (deciduous), or they may keep it (evergreen). Regardless, they do experience some level of dormancy. Their roots however may still grow. Come spring, they will leaf out again (if deciduous) and both will continue to grow.
Biennial – they complete their life cycle every other year. The first year they grow vegetation. The second year they flower/fruit make seed and die.
You may be trying to grow plants that are a perennial plant but not meant to survive your growing zone. By providing the cultural needs for the plant, you may make it survive through the winter to come back the following year. Cold frames can help this. However depending on what you are growing it might not be enough (light, temp, humidity etc.). Alternatively it might be too much of something and it doesn’t allow the plant to go into a dormancy .
awesome