#but this year all the lumber went to the new chicken coop/run and rebuilding the rotting back stairs that i kept slipping and falling on

[jensownzoo]

Thought I'd throw up some pics of the cold frame I slapped together on my south-facing front porch.

It's mostly made from windows I scavenged this year. There's a bank of them snugged up against the front railing, there are ones on each side held in place with cinder blocks, and the one in back is resting on what I'm using for thermal mass.

It's a row of those Tidy Cats litter tubs filled 3/4 up with water and stuffed into black plastic contractor bags. The plastic bags not only help with the absorption of solar heat, but also fill in the spaces between the tubs. They're only filled 3/4 full because they're inevitably going to freeze at some point--some will crack at the bottom seam but most will make it. I do have plans to go out this weekend on a Styrofoam panel scavenging mission--you know, after people blow all their money on new tvs and stuff on black friday and throw the packaging away. Then I'll insulate the back of the thermal shelf to direct the heat all inward.

The top is just a shower door plus a small window. I can shift/lift them for harvesting and watering.

I've got two regular sized Earthboxes and two smaller in there. The smaller ones are on the ledge and the larger are on the concrete. I've got several lettuces, several spinaches, Swiss chard, and some teeny kale seedlings going. The kale is teeny because the @#@^=$_!! midnight wildlife tore apart the initial transplants when I first planted them in the boxes back in September and I had to restart from seed.

It took me a solid month to work up the energy to put this all together, but only an hour or two to construct. Thankfully, autumn seems to be on a one month delay this year except for one or two short dips below freezing. Looking forward to at least a weekly salad for as long as we don't have another "arctic blast" like we did last year.