Hello all,
I am new to this newsgroup, in fact to any newsgroup. Can anyone advise the
pro and cons of cold frames. I have seen aluminium frames with
horticultural glass or polycarbonate 'glass' for sides and top, and
traditional wood sides with glass or polycarbonate tops. All similar sizes
and prices. Has anyone any experience with either one or the other. I live
in the North West of England and have just taken on an extremely overgrown
allotment.
Ann

The message
from "Ann Marley" contains these words:

Hello all,
I am new to this newsgroup, in fact to any newsgroup. Can anyone advise the
pro and cons of cold frames. I have seen aluminium frames with
horticultural glass or polycarbonate 'glass' for sides and top, and
traditional wood sides with glass or polycarbonate tops. All similar sizes
and prices. Has anyone any experience with either one or the other. I live
in the North West of England and have just taken on an extremely overgrown
allotment.

Hi Ann..have you read the weekly help post called abcfor newcomers to
uk.rec.gardening? It will direct you to some useful FAQ's (frequently
asked questions).

Unless your allotment is totally secure I wouldn't recommend spending
a lot of money on a smart bought coldframe; it could be a bit too
tempting to thieves and vandals. You can improvise a free one very
effectively from a wooden-side frame made to fit an old window or double
glazing panel for the top. That's what I have. Very useful for giving
extra protection to trays of seedlings and cuttings, and heavy enough
not to blow away in a gale.

Janet.

On Sat, 27 Mar 2004 19:29:22 -0000, "Ann Marley"
wrote:

Hello all,
I am new to this newsgroup, in fact to any newsgroup. Can anyone advise the
pro and cons of cold frames. I have seen aluminium frames with
horticultural glass or polycarbonate 'glass' for sides and top, and
traditional wood sides with glass or polycarbonate tops. All similar sizes
and prices. Has anyone any experience with either one or the other. I live
in the North West of England and have just taken on an extremely overgrown
allotment.
Ann

Not much to choose except cost. For an allotment it's a no-brainer,
just use whatever recycled window and wood you can get free.

Rod

Weed my email address to reply
http://website.lineone.net/~rodcraddock/index.html

On Sat, 27 Mar 2004 19:29:22 -0000, Ann Marley wrote:

I am new to this newsgroup, in fact to any newsgroup. Can anyone advise the
pro and cons of cold frames. I have seen aluminium frames with
horticultural glass or polycarbonate 'glass' for sides and top, and
traditional wood sides with glass or polycarbonate tops. All similar sizes
and prices. Has anyone any experience with either one or the other. I live
in the North West of England and have just taken on an extremely overgrown
allotment.

Wood rots. Go for aluminum.

Polycarbonate eventually goes cloudy, but glass is breakable, so
it's a toss up between the two. If you can put your frames where
they are protected from tree branches, heavy snow loads, rock-
throwing yobs and such, I'd go for the glass.


--
Rodger Whitlock
Victoria, British Columbia, Canada
[change "atlantic" to "pacific" and
"invalid" to "net" to reply by email]

On Sat, 27 Mar 2004 19:29:22 -0000, Ann Marley wrote:

I am new to this newsgroup, in fact to any newsgroup. Can anyone advise the
pro and cons of cold frames. I have seen aluminium frames with
horticultural glass or polycarbonate 'glass' for sides and top, and
traditional wood sides with glass or polycarbonate tops. All similar sizes
and prices. Has anyone any experience with either one or the other. I live
in the North West of England and have just taken on an extremely overgrown
allotment.

Wood rots. Go for aluminum.

Polycarbonate eventually goes cloudy, but glass is breakable, so
it's a toss up between the two. If you can put your frames where
they are protected from tree branches, heavy snow loads, rock-
throwing yobs and such, I'd go for the glass.


--
Rodger Whitlock
Victoria, British Columbia, Canada
[change "atlantic" to "pacific" and
"invalid" to "net" to reply by email]

I look out for people having double glazing installed and the workers are
more than happy for me to take away as many as the old frames as I want. It
really is simple to stand 4 up in the ground, simply held in place by the
soil and a couple on the top giving you a free effective cold frame. I grow
my early lettuces in them with good results.

"Rodger Whitlock" wrote in message
...
On Sat, 27 Mar 2004 19:29:22 -0000, Ann Marley wrote:

I am new to this newsgroup, in fact to any newsgroup. Can anyone advise
the
pro and cons of cold frames. I have seen aluminium frames with
horticultural glass or polycarbonate 'glass' for sides and top, and
traditional wood sides with glass or polycarbonate tops. All similar
sizes
and prices. Has anyone any experience with either one or the other. I
live
in the North West of England and have just taken on an extremely
overgrown
allotment.

Wood rots. Go for aluminum.

Polycarbonate eventually goes cloudy, but glass is breakable, so
it's a toss up between the two. If you can put your frames where
they are protected from tree branches, heavy snow loads, rock-
throwing yobs and such, I'd go for the glass.


--
Rodger Whitlock
Victoria, British Columbia, Canada
[change "atlantic" to "pacific" and
"invalid" to "net" to reply by email]

I look out for people having double glazing installed and the workers are
more than happy for me to take away as many as the old frames as I want. It
really is simple to stand 4 up in the ground, simply held in place by the
soil and a couple on the top giving you a free effective cold frame. I grow
my early lettuces in them with good results.

"Rodger Whitlock" wrote in message
...
On Sat, 27 Mar 2004 19:29:22 -0000, Ann Marley wrote:

I am new to this newsgroup, in fact to any newsgroup. Can anyone advise
the
pro and cons of cold frames. I have seen aluminium frames with
horticultural glass or polycarbonate 'glass' for sides and top, and
traditional wood sides with glass or polycarbonate tops. All similar
sizes
and prices. Has anyone any experience with either one or the other. I
live
in the North West of England and have just taken on an extremely
overgrown
allotment.

Wood rots. Go for aluminum.

Polycarbonate eventually goes cloudy, but glass is breakable, so
it's a toss up between the two. If you can put your frames where
they are protected from tree branches, heavy snow loads, rock-
throwing yobs and such, I'd go for the glass.


--
Rodger Whitlock
Victoria, British Columbia, Canada
[change "atlantic" to "pacific" and
"invalid" to "net" to reply by email]