With a cover made of glass, acrylic or foil, you can turn your raised bed into a cold frame in no time at all. Later, this can be removed just as easily if necessary, so that you can use your bed in different ways.

You can start sowing early with the help of some foil

A cold frame extends the gardening season

Plants cultivated under foil or glass benefit from warm and humid air. The prevailing climate in a cold frame ensures faster and more even growth, which has a very favorable effect on plant propagation and the propagation of young plants. In addition, in the protected atmosphere of a cold frame, fresh vegetables can be grown and harvested much earlier in spring and a few weeks longer in autumn - if you combine the advantages of a raised frame with those of a cold frame, you can start cultivating from mid to late February Lettuce and other early vegetables begin. When the last night frosts are over at the end of May, you can remove the attachment and the cold frame becomes a normal raised bed again.

How to convert your raised bed into a cold frame

There are several ways to convert the raised bed into a cold frame. Covers made of glass or acrylic, for example, should always be attached at a slight angle, pointing towards the south. In this way, the rays of the sun, which is still low on the horizon in the evening and morning, reach the little plants in the bed. You should also make sure that the cover of the attachment closes well with the edge of the raised bed - the more effectively the heat is stored inside the cold frame.

Glass or acrylic cold frame attachment

A cold frame attachment for the raised bed can be bought ready-made or you can easily build it yourself. All you need for this is a few slats, which you saw to fit the bed box and put together. The lid also consists of a slatted frame, in which glass or acrylic panes (alternatively, transparent foil also works) are attached. The rear part of the cold frame is always significantly higher than the front, after all, the last ray of sunshine should still be caught. The lid also needs an anchor so that it can be set up for airing. A cold frame attachment made of aluminum and double-walled plates made of plastic are particularly light.

foil tunnel

A foil tunnel (€11.46) is probably the simplest variant of a cold frame. To do this, insert several bent metal rods about 40 centimeters apart into the soil of the raised bed so that they span the narrow side. In a wooden raised bed, you can attach eyelets to the inside of the sides and insert the metal rods into them. Pull a film over the bars and attach them to the side, e.g. B. with stones. For airing and harvesting, simply slide the foil up the sides.

Rotting manure warms the plants from below

In autumn or late winter, fill the raised bed with horse, cattle or small animal manure about 10 to 20 centimeters high and fill a layer of plant substrate about 15 centimeters thick over it, so the rotting manure acts as underfloor heating for the little plants that need warmth. If you don't have any manure at hand, you can also use pellets made from cattle manure (€18.80), which can be bought in handy buckets. But straw with husks, well soaked with nettle manure, can also replace animal manure.

tips

If the raised bed is provided with a foil tunnel or a glass or acrylic cover, you only need to water a little. Under such a cover, the substrate develops permanent moisture, which makes constant watering unnecessary. However, air regularly and frequently so that mold does not settle in this humid microclimate.

Category:

Vegetable garden