The Cottage Smallholder

Photo: Temporary cold frame

“It’s best to make things from stuff that you find hanging around. That’s what it’s all about.”
Last spring S had made a new chicken house out of bits and bobs he had found in his sheds.
He was pleased with the final result. It’s a great chicken house – roomy and low. A bit like the sort of chicken house that a Hobbit might have made. As it was constructed from recycled materials it didn’t cost a bomb.

Sometimes I’m so pleased that I’m a hoarder. In the past I hoarded and bought new. Now I am gradually making the transition from hoarder to hoarder/recycler. As Danny says,
“There is a lot of stuff. You have a long way to go.”

It’s the start of a great adventure.

We quickly run out of space in the greenhouse and cold frame this spring. These were full of plants not junk! I was thinking of extending the greenhouse but cash is a bit tight at the moment and we have invested a lot in the veg and flower growing project. Until that I know this project has wings I’m loathe to spend any more money. And we are trying to be self sufficient, after all.

Then one night I woke at three, fretting about finding homes for the plants and remembered that I had taken a pair of French windows and quite a few windows from my friend Katy when she was having her windows replaced a few years ago.

At the time I was planning to make a huge cold frame but somehow have never got around to doing this. Gradually the windows and doors disappeared beneath the ivy which grows over the brick shack. As they silently vanished in a Sleeping Beauty landscape I forgot all about them.

I was thinking of getting my tools out and making some pukka cold frames. But I’m not up for long each day and the whole thing seemed a bit of a palaver.
“Why not construct some thing very simple as a temporary measure.” Danny suggested.
“There are loads of bricks from the new borders.”
We also have a lot of bubble wrap that I have squirreled away over the years.

So I made these temporary cold frames. Using a length of bubble wrap on the ground – slightly bigger than the window frame. I placed bricks at each end and folded the bubble wrap over the bricks and under the window frame. The bubble wrap sides are held in place small pots which can be removed on warmer days and the wrap pulled down. The plants are loving it and we have enough space on the drive for the hundreds of flower and vegetable plants that we are raising this year.

By the end of the summer I do hope to make some permanent cold frames – with sloping hinged roofs so the rain washes off into tubs for recycling – in the front garden. This is much more sheltered than the back garden and would be good for overwintering plants and raising plants next spring. I’m so pleased that I didn’t make one huge cold frame as now I can see the benefit of having several that can be moved around to find the best aspect for the plants growing in them.