Want to keep your garden growing – even into the winter? Build a cold frame! Here’s how…

Cold frames are a great way to extend your garden season – either later into the fall and winter, or earlier in the spring. You can start seedlings in a cold frame, transplant starts into it, or place it over an existing garden bed – depending on the design.

Cold frames will protect your growing vegetables through very cold temperatures, so they are great for overwintering hardy plants such as turnips, carrots, or salad greens.

With the right placement, cold frames will capture sunlight to keep your plants warm during cold nights, and with a bit of luck, sometimes you can even keep your garden growing right through a snowy winter. Imagine walking out into the snow and picking salad from your own garden – a cold frame can make it happen!

Cold frames can be made from a kit, or built using simple materials which you can often salvage from other projects.

This quick video demonstrates an example of building a cold frame from a kit, and provides helpful suggestions for building your own: