Cold frames

[hamsterqueen]

Lidl have a double lidded aluminium cold frame for £22.50. Is this a good price?

[SarzWix]

Yes, i think it is. I paid £25 for my and thought it was a bargain

I'm moving your post to Undercover, as it's more relevant to your topic

[stupot]

I've got two there great. I would recomend using larger peg to keep it rooted though!

[hamsterqueen]

Thanks for the very prompt replies

Am just off to get one

:0)

[snack a jack]

hi Hamsterqueen I think you might be setting a trend! Having read your message I too went and got one. My OH has been threatening to build me one for ages, I would do it myself but DIY and I don't mix very well. Now I can stop nagging him.

[Luci]

I bought one of these last year. It may have just been mine,
but i found that it didn't fit together very well, and split apart at
the first sign of wind. We had to wedge it with bricks to keep it together.

[sewer rat]

I got one for the garden two years ago - it lasted about a month. I too found that it didn't fit together very well and was really pretty flimsy.

[burnie]

Mines made from old pallets and window frames and cost nothing,that's a better price.

[FionaH]

I have never quite worked out what a cold frame is for? To me it is just a really small unheated greenhouse?? Can someone explain

[SarzWix]

A cold frame is a good stepping stone from the greenhouse to the outside - you can leave it open and just close it at night, giving halfway protection, then move the plants outside. Or they can be good for starting things like brassicas or onions which don't need to be as warm as the greenhouse, but you want to give them a bit of shelter to get started. Lastly, they can be good to sit over a bed and grow something like butternut squash which don't do well in the open, but are too big to put in a pot in the greenhouse.
I guess if your greenhouse isn't heated, there isn't so much need for one.

If anyone wants a cheap one, but not Lidl's, I can recommend Norfolk's £25 for one/£40 for two cold-frames, had mine 2 years this year, just needed a quick wash and it was ready to go again. I put it together myself, and held it down with long tent pegs last year, no problem

[FionaH]

Cheers Sarz, thats cleared that one up nicely Dont think I will get one just yet, I havent room for squash anyway lol

[ardroil]

i got a lidl one aswell last year and its split, had to push together with pots and bricks, it wont last much longer, the sides have come apart and the two roof openings dont fit together so i have to put something over it so the cold doesint get in,hopefully it will do the next 6 weeks or so !!!!!

[sewer rat]

Mines made from old pallets and window frames and cost nothing,that's a better price.

I have one like that at one of my walled gardens, and another one that I have just made reecently from two old glazed house doors and a sheet of marine ply - it's attached to my shed by some scrap 4 x 2 timber and looks the part.

[Gwyndy]

i got a lidl one aswell last year and its split, had to push together with pots and bricks, it wont last much longer, the sides have come apart and the two roof openings dont fit together so i have to put something over it so the cold doesint get in,hopefully it will do the next 6 weeks or so !!!!!

You are making me feel much better. I had just finished making my own from twin wall polycarbonate sheet (total cost probably around £30) when I saw the Lidl advert. At least mine should stay in one piece for a bit longer than a year - hopefully!!

[hamsterqueen]

The air above Kent has been blue today as I tried to fit the &%(&% thing together....