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Cold frames

GWRSGWRS Posts: 8,410

I am going to make a " cold frame " on my. Allotment 

I have made the frame  but not the top and wondered what people would recommend I thought about polycarbonate ? Any ideas or suggestion 

Also inside the frame I was going to put a membrane down and cover with gravel but wondered what people thought ?

 

Posts

  • higgy50higgy50 Posts: 184

    I went on the 'free ads' recently and managed to buy two small wooden framed windows. When I got them home they fitted my new home built cold-frame perfectly!! LOL

    Find your local 'Freecycle' group and see what's going as people give stuff away for free so it doesn't go in landfill and I've often seen old doors and window frames etc on mine so well worth a look and it will be free!!

    Best

    Higgy

  • chickychicky Posts: 10,400

    We used polycarbonate for coldframe lids - still going strong a decade later.  You can get edging strips which finish it off nicely too

  • Busy-LizzieBusy-Lizzie Posts: 23,155

    My OH is about (I hope) to replace my coldframe lids. He'll be using polycarbonate. Lighter and more insulating than glass.

    I used a membrane covered with sand - it was what I had.

    Dordogne and Norfolk. Clay in Dordogne, sandy in Norfolk.
  • Polycarb here too - mine is at least 20 years old.  Much of the wooden frame has been replaced over the years but the top will be good for many more yet.  Sharp sand over membrane inside - for the same reasons as BL! image

    A trowel in the hand is worth a thousand lost under a bush.
  • artjakartjak Posts: 4,167

    My cold frame is a light timber frame with twin walled, quite thin polycarbonate. It is light enough to move around and store behind the studio for the summer. At the moment it is protecting Autumn planted peas which are doing nicely. In a few weeks, I shall move it to another area of the veg bed to protect something else; I suppose that I am using it as more of a cloche than a cold frame.

  • Gardengirl..Gardengirl.. Posts: 4,170

    Hello GWRS do you have a pic

    I am trying to make a cold frame do you have to measure the top plastic to know how big the size width/length the cold frame wood base will be?   

    Hampshire Gardener
  • GWRSGWRS Posts: 8,410

    Hello I will take a picture next time I am up the allotment image

  • Gardengirl..Gardengirl.. Posts: 4,170

    Thank you

    Hampshire Gardener
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