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 .
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 ???
slogs are a lot like slugs ......
p/s your spelling is as bad as mine
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!
(http://tinyurl.com/yogbp7)
Quote from: Tee Gee on April 06, 2007, 16:27:50
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
Thank Tee Gee what a great tip to put bricks ect in the bottom of cold frame
will defiantly do this
Tee Gee how big are your plant when you put them in the cold frame
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.
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.