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It’s almost planting time! We’re getting ready to plant in the garden in mid-May (here, we’re not past our last freeze date yet), other than early veggies already in or going in this weekend–peas, lettuce, radishes, broccoli, cauliflower, endives, and swiss chard. Going into the cold frame are pumpkins, tomatoes, peppers, cucumbers, squash, and eggplant. Remember our free seeds?
To build a cold frame, you need little more than a glass covering of some sort and a wooden frame. We’re using our boxed flower garden to start our seeds this year, with old salvaged windows on top.
These windows came from my cousin’s barn. Mark is a salvager extraordinaire. The windows originally came from the old Walton (our tiny little town) elementary school. They’re all shabby chic and everything. I love that.
Imagine all the schoolchildren who looked through these windows, wishing wishing wishing they could go outside to play.
Mark keeps all his junk on the “man side” of the road. My cousin’s farm is split by the road. Way back when, my great-aunt Ruby and my great-uncle Carl came to the truce that Ruby was in charge of the side of the road where the old farmhouse stands. Only pretty things were to be allowed on her side. Carl got the other side.
The “woman side” of the road is all about flower beds….
…..and apple blossoms.
It’s a good place to get a piece of pie.
The “man side” of the road is all about junk….
….and old cars.
It’s a good place to get your cousin to fill up your window washer fluid and check your oil. Or ask him to stick his giant meaty fist into the barn and pluck out a bunch of old windows for a cold frame.
Who wishes you had a man side and a woman side of the road at your house? Raise your hands!
We are the secondary salvagers, salvaging from Mark’s salvage. We brought these windows back to our farm to make our cold frame. We are experts at the free or nearly free here at Stringtown Rising Farm.
The process is simple–just stick the seeds in a box of soil (remember our recent haul of two tons of cheap-cheap-cheap compost from the City of Charleston?), cover ‘em up, and place the windows on top. We used pieces of wood and concrete to prop the windows at the height we wanted them from inside the box.
Now, our seeds will have plenty of light and still be protected from the cold. The glass will trap the sun’s warmth on cold days. On unusually warm days, the windows can be moved aside to let more air in and keep the plants from overheating. With this cold frame, we can extend our growing season. After we transplant to the garden in mid-May, I’ll put in my flowers. Then I’ll pull out the dying flowers in the fall to plant more lettuce, and I’ll also be able to plant lettuce sooner next year as the cycle begins again. Fresh salad more months out of the year. I can’t wait!
Make a cold frame! And tell me what you think. Especially about that man side/woman side of the road thing. I love that idea. My great-aunt Ruby was so smart.
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I am hardening off all my veggie and flower seeds that I started on the windowsill. I put shelves in mine and am sitting the pots on them, instead of planting directly into the soil. I’d love to be able to put all my early potted dahlias and cannas and EEs in there too, but there is just no more room! I’ll have to drag over another patio door and make a second one for those things. Now, if the garden would just dry up, I could plant some of these things in it.
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YES about the Pretty womans side and the mans side!!! What a wonderful, great inventive common sense thing to do. My hubby salvages stuff. And its not pretty. And its in my drive way. I do want him to move it all to the bottom of the yard where no one can see it. Possibably put a fense around it all. lol. The only thing I agree with salvage is that it does bring in a bit of money from time to time. And you do find stuff in there usefull. But its not nice looking at all.
Good luck with your garden!!! We will be starting on ours this week or the weekend also. Cant wait.
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Thanks for the idea with the drawers, that’s one of the things I have saved through the years and now I can put those to good use!
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I love the picture of the apple blossoms, i am actually considering planting an apple tree this year, looking forward to that.
And the men/women side is very recognisable, but fortunately for me our garden is not big enough for cars and such, although you shouldn’t look into our shed
hugs
gwen
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I thought I had viewed all your farmhouse posts, but this one with the man/woman side division was new to me. Thanks for sharing!
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Here’s an idea for making row markers with the seed packets. Push a fork handle(maybe find some old ones on the man-side of your cousin’s farm) into the soil with the tines pointing up. Stick the seed packets on the fork – some tines in front of the packet – some behind seed packet and they will sit there very nicely – and not get soggy from touching the ground.
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We try to clear an area, but before you know, somehow new *junk* makes its way and finds the new spot! Junk is cleaver, you know? It refuses to go away!
On an up note….having junk (lots of junk) gives the boys aample fuel for their imaginations….think Our Gang, Little Rascal type…building their own * *(insert anything with wheels) or making their own catapult. So, the junk and I have made friends…junk is a great “kid sitter.”
BTW – making donuts today! Yipppeeee…..come on over!
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My husband keeps all of his junk in his shop and a storage shed we had built when we moved to town.
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Everyone must know Georgia’s other trick for helping tomato plants along in the garden. As you tomato farmers know, tomato plants are susceptible to “cut worms” and other pests that will just eat the plant off at the ground. Georgia has a collection of 3-pound, metal coffee cans that are open at both ends. She places one can over each tomato plant which keeps the pests away. Then she covers the top of the can with the top half of a plastic milk jug, thereby creating a “mini-cold frame” for each plant. She removes the milk jug tops on sunny days. She gets her tomatoes out at least 2 weeks earlier in the garden than anyone else with this method. She keeps the handle of the milk jugs intact so when she is finished with them, she strings them by the handles on a piece of baling twine and hangs the whole bunch of them from a nail on the outside/backside of her garden shed. She also runs a string through the coffee cans and saves them for re-use. That’s our Georgia – - THRIFTY is her middle name.
Mark is talking about growing potatoes in old tires this year. Supposedly, you start the potato in one tire and then you add another tire and more dirt as the potato grows upward. Then when you are ready to harvest, you just remove the tire stack and all the potatoes fall down to be picked up. I’ll keep you posted on this one.
As the beneficiary of Carl and Ruby’s man side/woman side thing, I can tell you that it works great! I am so glad that I don’t have to walk around Mark’s “collectibles” to get in my front door!
Wait until I tell Mark that you described his hand as a “giant meaty fist.” I love that one.
But, as you know, Mark’s hand is a gentle as a lamb, 
, helpful and kind. 
I Luv my guy, Mark!
(Especially since he keeps his JUNK on HIS SIDE of the road! 
)
Best wishes to all! Happy gardening!
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