Spent the day playing around with little bolts to put this together. Should extend my growing window by a month, won’t be able to extend end of season I think though.

  • @[email protected]
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    515 days ago

    Solo cup (or generic equivalent) starts! I do the same thing. Way cheaper than buying “gardening pots”, but you do have to put holes in them.

    I have a very cobbled together grow light getup for my starts, but have thought about trying to make an enclosure around one of my raised beds to get the temp up earlier and push the season out.

    • @[email protected]OP
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      314 days ago

      Only cheaper if they survive a few rotations haha.

      They’re double cupped, so inside cup has a hole, second cup collects the water. As these were and still mainly inside in my tents.

      • @[email protected]
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        214 days ago

        I’ve had mine going for three years and they seem to be holding up as well as the cheap poly grow pots, so woo. I keep my starts in a tray to keep the extra water and keep the bottoms moist if I miss a watering.

        • @[email protected]OP
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          214 days ago

          I’ll likely do something like that in the cold frame, swamp watering or bottom watering does have some advantages! It’s so dry here I don’t think the solo cups will last a whole day.

  • @[email protected]
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    111 days ago

    Also Canadian. I bet you can extend seasons depending on what you are trying to grow. A small cold frame would be beneficial for greens, brassicas and other cold weather crops. We grow these year round. When we were in the city I made some from some old pallets and a window I picked up in alleyway junk piles.

    • Uranium 🟩
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      915 days ago

      A quick suggestion as those don’t look like nylon lock nuts; grab yourself some medium strength locktite and put a drop on each of the threads otherwise that frame will slowly become loose due to thermal expansion/contraction cycling

      • @[email protected]OP
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        15 days ago

        Good call. I was gonna silicone some joints to make everything more permanent as well.

  • @[email protected]
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    15 days ago

    Looks at post

    Looks at calendar

    Looks at thermometer, showing 79°F at nearly 9PM

    Looks at post again, more confused than before

    I’m sorry, being however far North you must be that buying a cold frame in May makes sense for you just doesn’t compute for me.