Our New Cold Frame-Suggestions?

[Boogity]

Hey, I just went back to page 1 and looked at your pics again and it seems that you wrapped the blanket around the outside of the cold frame. I originally thought that you had the blanket on the inside of the walls and that you had just left the extra foil out. But now I see that you have no choice but to have it reflecting the sun. Duh! Sorry for all the confusion. My bad.

Maybe you could spray paint the blanket flat black so it will absorb the sun's rays instead of reflecting it. But this is still a very minor thing.

 

[Kala]

Hey, I just went back to page 1 and looked at your pics again and it seems that you wrapped the blanket around the outside of the cold frame. I originally thought that you had the blanket on the inside of the walls and that you had just left the extra foil out. But now I see that you have no choice but to have it reflecting the sun. Duh! Sorry for all the confusion. My bad.

Maybe you could spray paint the blanket flat black so it will absorb the sun's rays instead of reflecting it. But this is still a very minor thing.

Well don't apologize!! That's why I post on here b/c you can get so much info and different points of view!! I love hearing everyones ideas so I can kinda mold them into my own and see what works best for me. So keep em coming!

I guess I assumed that maybe it would help hold in the heat that it had collected t/o the day through the window. But like you said if the blocks covered with the blanket all day it might not be able to really
absorb as much.
I sense an experiment on the horizon!

I think I'll try rolling them up some throughout the day to let the block absorb heat and then maybe roll it back down at night to see if that helps keep the temp higher at night. Yay for weekend experiments!! I'll let ya'll know what happens!

 

[VickiLynn]

... Have any of you guys out there ever tried one of those survival blankets? They seem to weigh only a few ounces and are as thin as tissue paper. But MAN they really work! One cold early spring night, while wild turkey hunting, I was freezing to death in my tiny tent, or so it seemed. I whipped out my handy-dandy little survival blanket and slid down into it and then slid into my sleeping bag. Whoa!!! I was sweating in less than 10 minutes. Those things really work. We now have 4 of them in our bug-out-bag.

We keep our baby chicks in an old aquarium with a heat lamp over it. I wrap a survival blanket around the aquarium and over the top where it won't interfere with the heat lamp. As soon as I take the blanket off, the temp drops about 15.

Kala, I love the cold frame. So simple and inexpensive, and something I could do myself vs. waiting patiently for DH to build me a wooden one.

 

[Wifezilla]

I used hay bales for walls. I built my own in about 10 minutes.

 

[SKR8PN]

If it were me, I'd lose the blanket, and bury the cold frame with dirt on the outside to insulate it, specially if your gonna be starting plants this early in Ohio.
The Wife is out picking up our plant starting supplies for the greenhouse, as I type this.

 

[JRmom]

My daughter is doing some remodeling on their house and just replaced 16 windows... and gave all the old ones away!!!! I can't believe she didn't at least save a few for a cold frame - darn, the girl knows better!

 

[Bubblingbrooks]

If it were me, I'd lose the blanket, and bury the cold frame with dirt on the outside to insulate it, specially if your gonna be starting plants this early in Ohio.
The Wife is out picking up our plant starting supplies for the greenhouse, as I type this.

This. Bury it and then you can lay the foil inside on the back. Maybe behind the jugs.

 

[Kala]

We buried the base of the frame (about one blocks worth down) and filled in the cracks and holes in the block with dirt and clay. I had to put the blanket on the top/part of the side b/c I had made the frame itself too big for the window, and those blocks are heavy so I'm just leaving it the way it is for now instead of moving them again. So we had to use the blanket to cover the gaps. I'll see how it works for now and then maybe look into filling it dirt around it.

Hay bales sound much easier!

 

[Bubblingbrooks]

We buried the base of the frame (about one blocks worth down) and filled in the cracks and holes in the block with dirt and clay. I had to put the blanket on the top/part of the side b/c I had made the frame itself too big for the window, and those blocks are heavy so I'm just leaving it the way it is for now instead of moving them again. So we had to use the blanket to cover the gaps. I'll see how it works for now and then maybe look into filling it dirt around it.

Hay bales sound much easier!

And they turn into dirt eventually!

 

[Wifezilla]

Yes...after the hay bales are done with cold frame duty, I am dong this to them...

http://www.no-dig-vegetablegarden.com/straw-bale-gardening.html