The cold frames did their job this Winter by letting me get a jump on planting this Springs. While all of the exposed beds are frozen more than 3 inches below the level of the soil, the two beds covered with the cold frame are thawed and toasty warm. I lost all the Swiss chard (Beta vulgaris ssp vulgaris) but the kale (Brassica oleracea) and mizuna (Brassica rapa) did just fine as did the miner’s lettuce (Claytonia perfoliata) and corn salad (Valerianella locusta).
The seedling tray of greens I started mid last month are ready to go into the cold frame, as they have spent the last week acclimating in the greenhouse. I am leaving one cold frame intact to shelter my transplants for the next few weeks while the other I have dismantled. In this one goes extra corn salad seedlings, a few rows of scallions (Allium) and radishes (Raphanus sativus) and space for snap pea (Pisum sativum ‘Macrocarpon Group’) seedlings that will be planted next week. By the end of the month, we should be able to harvest greens for all our meals.
Yummmmm!
