Lawn Care   Outdoor Décor, Fences, Decks   Tool & Home Maintenance   Birds & Bugs   Watering   Roses   In The Garden   Trees & Shrubs   Holiday Plants & Flowers   In The House Garden Calculators   Learn about owning a Home & Garden Showplace store		Turn Your Old Window into a Cold Frame       Now's a good time to think about growing seedlings, and a great place to grow them is in a cold frame. Cold frames are easy to build and they help ease new plants into unpredictable spring weather. A cold frame is a season extender that allows you to harvest from the colder months to spring. The frame keeps the soil from freezing and when it's early spring, you'll be ahead of the season with harvests of great vegetables. To build a cold frame you'll need: An old window 4 pieces of plywood 12 nails Hammer Two stakes 2 screw eyes 2 hooks 2 lightweight chains Pack of seeds Step 1. Take an old window and build a square frame out of plywood to fit under the window. Make sure one side faces south. Step 2. Lay the window on top of the frame in the garden. Step 3. At the north side of the window drive into the ground two stakes that are two feet high--one at each corner. Then, screw a hook (frame side) near the top of the stake. Repeat on the other stake. Step 4. Attach a lightweight chain from the hook on each stake to the farthest side of the window. The chain will link one screw eye to a corresponding hook. You can shorten the chain by putting the hook on a different level link. This will open the window higher or lower to let different levels of light in. In climates where it's cold but without a lot of snow, you can plant crops that thrive in this kind of weather (e.g. spinach) in a cold frame. Make sure you buy new seeds each year since they do not last long unplanted. Plant several rows close together leaving about 6 inches between rows and sow 1/2 inch deep. Most likely they will germinate in 5 to 9 days, slightly longer if it's really cold. Thin plants periodically and when they are 4 to 6 inches tall spread a high nitrogen fertilizer, such as bone meal, for a growth spurt.		Find Your Nearest Store Visit your local Home & Garden Showplace store and get everything you need for spring planting. Online Plant Guide Plan your garden with help from our Plant Guide. Find plants with the right color, size and characterics for your hardiness zone.
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