Winter lettuce from the cold frame.

[denglish]

A pretty head of buttercrunch from the cold frame. Four inches of snow two days ago and 12 degrees overnight. Nothing like fresh lettuce in waning days of winter.

[Jan in CO]

Wow, that's just beautiful and I'm so envious! Got to get busy with my 4 season gardening plan!

[where I want to]

That is pretty good. I overwinter romaine but never buttercrunch, which is my favorite.

[denglish]

Thought you might like to see the cold frame. This year the buttercrunch did best, even germinating in December. I've never tried romaine but will plan to do so.

[DarleneJ]

Thanks for posting the pic of your cold frame. I really like that design.

[Paquebot]

The angle of the windows is typical of the old style that was common years ago. Many homes had them built onto the south sides. The steep pitch caught the sun even in late-December when it was the lowest. If you are going to grow a winter salad garden in the northern zones, that's the design that's best. I use only a 4/12 pitch on my cold frames since then only need heat in March and April for starting seeds. Did use to also sow a few lettuce seeds to enjoy it before time to start other things. On Feb 2002 on the old forum, myself and a gardener in Maine both reported on our fresh lettuce despite the usual miserable conditions outside the cold frames.

Martin

[Bret]

Beautiful. Any bug problems in December? Thanks for the pictures.

[denglish]

I live in southern Kansas near Wichita and growing through the winter months is less challenging so the cold frame works extraordinarily well here. Bret alludes to a good point, growing in the winter around here means no pests so no holey leafs or slugs to avoid. I'm only growing for three so the small cold frame keeps us in lettuce just fine. I'm considering building a similar one for starting plants and for lettuce for neighbors.