Cold frame

Cold frame
A traditional home made cold frame

In agriculture and gardening, a cold frame is a transparent-roofed enclosure, built low to the ground, used to protect plants from cold weather. The transparent top admits sunlight and prevents heat escape via convection that would otherwise occur, particularly at night. Essentially, a cold frame functions as a miniature greenhouse to extend the growing season.

Historically cold frames were built to be used in addition to a heated greenhouse. The name, itself, exemplifies the distinction between the warm greenhouse and the unheated cold frame. They were frequently built as part of the greenhouse's foundation brickwork along the southern wall (in northern latitudes). This allowed seeds to be germinated in the greenhouse and then easily moved to the attached cold frame to be hardened-off[1] before final planting outside.[2] Cold frames are similar to some enclosed hotbeds,[3] also called hotboxes. The difference is in the amount of heat generated inside. This is parallel to the way that some greenhouses are called "hothouses" to emphasize their higher temperature, achieved either by the solar effects alone or by auxiliary heating via a heater or HVAC system of some kind.

Cold frames are found in home gardens and in vegetable farming. They create microclimates that provide several degrees of air and soil temperature insulation, and shelter from wind. In cold-winter regions, these characteristics allow plants to be started earlier in the spring, and to survive longer into the fall and winter. They are most often used for growing seedlings that are later transplanted into open ground, and can also be a permanent home to cold-hardy vegetables grown for autumn and winter harvest.

Cold frame construction is a common home or farm building project, although kits and commercial systems are available. A traditional plan makes use of old glass windows: a wooden frame is built, about one to two feet tall, and the window placed on top. The roof is often sloped towards the winter sun to capture more light, and to improve runoff of water, and hinged for easy access. Clear plastic, rigid or sheeting, can be used in place of glass. An electric heating cable, available for this purpose, can be placed in the soil to provide additional heat.

One of the advantages of using a cold frame is that you can raise a huge variety of crops from seed through to maturity within the frame - so it's possible to have vegetable crops ahead of their normal season when they are extremely expensive to buy. Some crops suitable for growing in a cold frame include lettuces, parsley, salad onions, spinach, radishes and turnips etc. One vegetable crop can occupy the whole of a cold frame or you can grow a combination of crops so that they mature in rotation - so you'll get a wide range of different vegetables throughout the year from one cold frame.

See also

References

  1. ^ coldframe.org.uk
  2. ^ "A brief history of cold frames". coldframe.org.uk. http://www.coldframe.org.uk/A-brief-history-of-cold-frames-19.aspx. 
  3. ^ merriam-webster.com

External links


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Look at other dictionaries:

  • cold|frame — cold frame, or cold|frame «KOHLD FRAYM», noun. a frame with a top of glass, plastic, burlap, or the like, and no artificial heat, used out of doors to protect young or tender plants from the cold …   Useful english dictionary

  • cold frame — cold frames N COUNT A cold frame is a wooden frame with a glass top in which you grow small plants to protect them from cold weather …   English dictionary

  • cold frame — ► NOUN ▪ a frame with a glass top in which small plants are grown and protected …   English terms dictionary

  • cold frame — n BrE a box like structure with sides and a top made of glass or clear plastic, used for keeping young plants warm as they start to grow …   Dictionary of contemporary English

  • cold frame — cold ,frame noun count a large box with glass sides that you keep young plants in before you plant them outside …   Usage of the words and phrases in modern English

  • cold frame — cold′ frame n. a boxlike structure, usu. faced with glass, placed over a flower bed to protect plants, esp. seedlings • Etymology: 1850–55 …   From formal English to slang

  • cold frame — n. an unheated, boxlike, glass covered structure for protecting young plants outdoors …   English World dictionary

  • cold frame — noun protective covering consisting of a wooden frame with a glass top in which small plants are protected from the cold (Freq. 4) • Hypernyms: ↑protective covering, ↑protective cover, ↑protection * * * noun : an outdoor shallow rectangular frame …   Useful english dictionary

  • cold frame — UK / US noun [countable] Word forms cold frame : singular cold frame plural cold frames a large box with glass sides that you keep young plants in before you plant them outside …   English dictionary

  • cold frame — (Horticulture) unheated board frame covered with glass or plastic used to protect plants and seedlings from cold …   English contemporary dictionary

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