what to put at the bottom of coldframes

[sutton girl]

Hi and good morning, please can anyone tell me whats best to put in the bottom of cold frames  would you suggest gravel or soil .

[sutton girl]

[greenscrump]

good morning - beeeoooootiful day  :D  I use gravel - to keep slogs and snails off, it seems towork but don't know if it's the best thing   ???

[greenscrump]

slogs are a lot like slugs ......

[sutton girl]

p/s your spelling is as bad as mine

[Tee Gee]

I use pallets on bricks to get my young plants as near the glass as possible.

Then as the plants grow I remove one course of bricks which lowers the pallets and creates height for the plants to grow!

[mikey]

I use pallets on bricks to get my young plants as near the glass as possible.

Then as the plants grow I remove one course of bricks which lowers the pallets and creates height for the plants to grow!

What a brilliant idea, and so simple ... (like most good ideas)

thanks Tee Gee

PS when I had a coldframe, lined the bottom with heavy duty Polythene then +/- 2 inch of coarse sand.

Need to build one at this House / Lottie when time permits ... if you are still a working person, do NOT retire ... you will have no time for anything  ;) ;D

Mikey

[sutton girl]

Thank Tee Gee what a great tip to put bricks ect in the bottom of cold frame
will defiantly do this

[sutton girl]

Tee Gee how big are your  plant when you put them in the cold frame

[Tee Gee]

Obviously it will depend upon what I am growing.

But as a general rule when anything is ready to be hardened off they go in the coldframe.

Sorry the answer is a bit vague but as I say it depends upon what I am growing so I would have to say anything from 1" tall to around 4" tall.

[Tee Gee]

Just a point if any of you are considering following my example here are a few tips that might save you a lot of toil & trouble.

When I first made my set up I just found a couple of pallets that fitted inside my coldframe, this was fine to start with!  :-\

As many of you will know pallets can be quite heavy and get heavier as they get wetter, plus they swell.

What I found was once they are in the frame you cannot always get a good lift on them because they are at the bottom of the frame, the pallets I used swelled and this made them even more difficult to get out.

So to save me breaking my back every time I did this task I modified the pallets.

All I did was knock the six blocks off leaving what was effectively 'duck boarding' or slatted shelving if you like.

My next move was to make the shelving a little narrower to account for the timber swelling!

I removed the end lath and renailed it without leaving a gap between it and the next lath (beats sawing it down its length).

Now I find I can move them with ease and my back is still intact.

I hope this explanation saves a few bad backs should anyone follow my system.