With a miniature portable greenhouse called a cold frame, winter doesn’t have to put a stop to food gardening. The mild temperatures of our maritime Puget Sound-area climate provide the opportunity ...

In the middle of winter, the selection of “fresh” vegetables can be quite meager. Sure, the produce on the store’s shelves could be considered fresh, but it’s highly unlikely it was harvested from ...

It's late winter and it’s the time of year when gardeners want to start planting something. Anything! Although vegetable and flower seeds can be started indoors, that process requires a fair amount of ...

Winter gardening can be a great way to keep growing fresh vegetables and herbs even as temperatures drop. A simple cold frame is a practical tool that helps protect your plants from frost and cold ...

Our growing season is short – so why not extend it with a cold frame? Cold frames act like mini greenhouses, protecting plants from frost, freezing temperatures and stormy weather. During the day, the ...

Gardening guru Eliot Coleman asserts that “the basic cold frame is the most dependable, least exploited aid for the four-season harvest.” We couldn’t agree more. Last winter, my humble box built of ...

It can be hard to successfully grow plants and vegetables in many parts of the country around this time of year as temperatures remain low. While there are plants you can sow in the ground now that ...

Starting vegetables in a cold frame or under a cloche is a proven way to enjoy earlier homegrown harvests. There are great candidates for this, including peas, beans, lettuce, carrots, spinach, and ...

Here we are in October. How did that happen? Wasn’t it just a few days ago we were melting in the heat? This is the time of year gardeners start thinking about that first freeze of the fall season.

Cold frames are season-extending covers constructed over vegetable beds to keep the frost off. Like a miniature, temporary greenhouse, they are employed in early spring to create a warm space for ...

Note: this post orginally appeared in December of 2010. It was the first missive from Beth Gellman, AKA The Garden Coach, who still blogs for us. She’ll have a new post next week. In the meanttime, ...