I have just acquired some old bricks. I thought I would make myself a cold frame on my allotment. Can anyone give sme advise on the size plz. I am Klingon at 3-5 bricks high

claire2965 wrote:
I have just acquired some old bricks. I thought I would make myself
a cold frame on my allotment. Can anyone give sme advise on the size

What material will you make the transparent top from? The frame ought to be
that size or a multiple of that size.

plz. I am Klingon at 3-5 bricks high

What does your level of advancement in your religion have to do with it?

D

On Fri, 27 Jan 2012 19:24:06 +0000, claire2965
wrote:

I have just acquired some old bricks. I thought I would make myself a
cold frame on my allotment. Can anyone give sme advise on the size plz.
I am Klingon at 3-5 bricks high

Size is basically whatever fits your space and the materials you have.
I constructed mine about 33"D x 61"W, 20"H at rear and 13"H at front
(the height allows me to put potted plants inside). Top is split
hinged (hinged at the rear, plus a set of hinges in the middle so it
bows up). The lid isn't lightweight, so I don't need to fret about it
blowing around.

Something to consider with your bricks is the need to mortar them -
not merely dry set them. If they don't seal well, you're going to
have a draft in your coldframe. This is especially true of used
bricks which may have chunks of mortar on them, be chipped, or more
irregular in size. You'll have a bit more trouble setting up a sloped
top for the cold frame as well - I can't offer any pertinent
suggestions there because I didn't use brick for mine (but it also
doesn't get all that cold in my medditerranean climate in Northern
California near San Francisco - it was 70'F/21'C today).

Not gardening related, but in the summer, when it's too hot to keep
anything in it, it doubles as a solar oven - I can put a pan with wax
in there, it'll melt in a few hours, and I can pour that off into
candle molds. I have honeybees (and thus, beeswax), and also have
hundreds of pounds of vegetable wax, plus one can melt stubby candles
and "slag", to make new candles.

I've considered spraying adhesive on the interior of mine and affixing
aluminium foil to it - both for the solar oven purpose, but also to
reflect diffuse sunlight on the opposite side of the plants inside.

Sorry for the spelling error using touch screen done.

Not sure way I am going to use for the top, any suggestions.

On Fri, 3 Feb 2012 20:30:34 +0000, claire2965
wrote:

Not sure way I am going to use for the top, any suggestions.

Well, conventional reuse wisdom says to construct the frame of the
coldframe to accomodate the dimensions of whatever you're going to use
for the top. Old window panes are popular - already framed in wood or
sometimes aluminium). An alternative might be to head to the hardware
store and pick up some of the flourescent light fixture diffusers -
the 24x48 inch plastic stuff. You'd need to build a frame, and
really, I'd suggest providing some sort of intermediate supports in it
(i.e not one big floppy piece of plastic with a wood frame around it -
perhaps some intermediate wood crosspieces, or cut the plastic into
smaller pieces). I cannot speak to how many seasons it'll last out in
the elements, but since they're routinely in close proximity to
flourescent lights, they should have some UV protection.