COLDFRAMES 89 



You can also, by the first week in May or in some years earlier, 

 bring out into a frame bedding stock such as Geraniums, Gannas, 

 Salvias and others which don't need a hotbed and thus make 

 more room inside. 



Around Easter a coldframe is often the best place in which to 

 keep the bulb stock you want for that date. You can keep it cool 

 and shaded better than in the greenhouse; and, if need be, you can 

 maintain a high temperature during the day time. 



GOLDFRAMES IN SUMMER 



Every coldframe you have can be used to good advantage even 

 during Summer. For early use, you can plant out some of the 

 Gladioli started in pots indoors and get them into flower long before 

 those planted outdoors ; or, if you merely plant the bulbs right in a 

 frame during the latter part of March, you will get earlier flowers. 



The same holds good with double Cornflower. Sow the seed, 

 say, in early March and plant the seedlings later on in a frame; 

 or sow in the frame and let them flower there. Calendulas, annual 

 Gypsophila, annual Larkspur, Salpiglossis, Zinnias and a lot of other 

 useful cut flowers can be treated that way during Summer. Any 

 frame not used for such pot stock as Roses, Solanums, Bougain- 

 villeas, Gytisus, Ericas and others can be planted to annuals. 



In Fall, in a deep coldframe, you can protect a lot of Calen- 

 dulas (sown in July) and keep on cutting from the plants away into 

 November. The same holds good with the early outdoor flowering 

 Chrysanthemums, which, if wanted for cut flowers, or naturally 

 late flowering, are always better off protected with frames and sashes. 

 Even most of the early Pompons that we grow under glass and that 

 come into flower around the end of October can be grown nicely 

 outdoors if protected in this manner. 



THE CONSTRUCTION OF COLDFRAMES 



There are a dozen different ways of constructing coldframes: You 

 can make them out of 1-in. lumber for temporary protection, or of 

 any other dimensions up to those of a miniature equal-span green- 

 house with 4-in. concrete walls. Where a permanent frame is 

 wanted, 2-in. planks are more used, perhaps, than anything else. 

 Really all there is to it, is to plan on getting as tight a job as possible 

 and having the standard 3 by 6 ft. sashes fit properly. The use of a 

 12-in. plank for one side and an 8-in. one for the other will give you 

 a good pitch. The heaviest sash with well-puttied, double thick A 

 glass is none too good; all this helps to make a warm frame. 



If you divide your frames, place a 2 x 4 where the sashes come 

 together; it will not cast much shade, but will keep out cold and drip 



