Securing a cold frame in a wind ravaged garden!

[Finley]

We have a new cold frame, made of wood and poly. It sits on the ground, but.. up here in a south facing north Wales garden, we often have howling winds! It will sit close to the house, so some protection there, but does anyone have an ingenious method for.. you know.. keeping their cold frames in place in 90mph winds? My allotment shed has a chain-and-breeze-block contraption over the roof, but that seems a little overkill for this small thing.
I'd be very grateful for your expertise!

[bikermike]

not yet...

but I have a cold frame (last year's Christmas present and I still haven't built it).

My plan is to get some aluminium strip to make straps across the bottom and put paving slabs over them. This won't be much use if you want to use it directly on soil.

I'd probably pay attention to the catches that hold the roof down - if they go and the roof lifts, I'd guess that will be bye-bye roof.

Do you have any hedges you can put it by? hedges make great wind-breaks as they are sufficiently porous to allow air to flow through in small amounts, lessening the turbulence spilling over the top.

Sinking it into the ground would help too - the "ground effect" means that there is generally much less windspeed at ground level due to the interaction with the ground.

Some guy-ropes and tent pegs?

[Finley]

Excellent ideas! Flagstones and strips inside it is. Thanks!

[Doncasterpaul]

I surrounded mine with full sand (soil)bags . It worked a treat. It also insulated it. In the summer I made a small hole in each of them and planted strawberries in them.

[bikermike]

Does that give any problems with damp for the wood?
That is the only downside I can think of - otherwise sounds good.

[SelkirkAlex]

I use elastic bungee cords (luggage straps) hooked onto tent pegs, 2 front and back , so the elastic runs up and over the hinged portion, then being paranoid and living in scotland I fitted wooden slats under the bungee that run the full width of my cold frame

[Doncasterpaul]

Not as yet as it’s only been 3 years. And I did treat the wood. However I suppose it is something to bear in mind.