I N nearly every 
garden the 
frames are fre¬ 
quently the most 
neglected part of 
the equipment. It 
is quite the usual 
thing to employ 
them for only a 
few weeks in the 
spring, when 
starting the early 
plants for trans¬ 
planting outside 
later, and to let 
them lie idle the 
rest of the year. 
The fra m e s, 
properly handled, 
not only should 
be in use the 
greater part of 
the year, but offer 
the greatest op¬ 
portunity for in¬ 
tensive and out- 
of-season garden- 
i n g. Moreover, 
being a very ex¬ 
pensive part of 
the garden equip¬ 
ment, they should 
be made use of to 
the fullest possi¬ 
ble extent. Effi¬ 
ciency is desirable 
in the garden no 
less than in the 
office and in the 
household. 
Everyone who 
has worked with 
frames knows 
that it is little 
more trouble to 
ventilate, water 
and care for a 
“string” of sev- 
e r a 1, full of 
plants, than t o 
look out for two 
or three frames 
with a few boxes 
of seedlings and 
transplanted stuff 
that only half fills 
them. Why then 
be contented with 
just your small 
supply of garden 
plants and some radishes, most of which probably get overgrown 
before you have time to eat them, when practically the same equip¬ 
ment, managed a little differently, might give you an advance 
supply of vegetables from early in the season until clear up to the 
time you will need them again for starting your fall frame crops? 
If you are going to bother with frames at all, make them yield 
enough to have it worth your while. 
For greater 
clearness, let us 
now consider 
a concrete illus¬ 
tration ; let us 
take an average¬ 
sized frame, hold¬ 
ing five standard 
3 x 6 ft. sash. 
You plan to put 
the frames into 
operation as soon 
as the days begin 
to warm up, some 
five or six weeks 
before planting 
can be done out¬ 
side, — which will 
be about the first 
of March for 
New York or 
north of it. A few 
flats of lettuce, 
cabbage, and the 
other hardy, early 
vegetables will be 
started, and pos¬ 
sibly one or more 
of the remaining 
frames, if any are 
available, sown to 
radishes or set 
out to lettuce, if 
one has had some 
way of starting 
the plants earlier 
indoors. A little 
later the tenderer 
things, such as to¬ 
matoes, peppers 
and egg-plants, 
are sown, and all 
are transplanted 
either to other 
flats or directly 
into the frames, — 
all under the glass 
sash. The frames 
are kept crowded 
full, if not actu¬ 
ally overcrowded 
for several weeks, 
a supply of 
plants, — probably 
over -abundant— 
is obtained, and 
then as warmer 
weather comes 
on, the sashes are 
gradually laid to 
one side, and the frames are allowed to grow up to an unsightly 
mass of weeds. Haven’t you seen it happen ? 
If you want to get out of this rut; if you want your frames to 
produce for you up to their full capacity, there are two things which 
you must apprehend at the outset. First, that some of the hardy 
things, such as cabbage and lettuce plants, or radishes and lettuce, 
after being once well started and “hardened off,” will stand a 
The soil in the frames should be made rich and mellow 
as soon as it is ready to work 
Until the days grow warmer, care should be exercised 
in the matter of watering 
Hotbed and Coldframe Gardening 
MAXIMUM RESULTS ARE POSSIBLE WITH LIMITED SPACE AND EQUIP¬ 
MENT—AN ADVANCE SUPPLY OF VEGETABLES THROUGHOUT THE 
YEAR—HOW TO CONSTRUCT AND PREPARE THE BEDS 
by F. F. Rockwell 
Editor’s Note: This is the second and concluding article dealing with the value of garden frames and com¬ 
pletely explaining their use. The first article, appearing m the September 1913 issue, took up the subject of work 
done in the fall. 
A few flats of lettuce or cabbage can be started in these frames five or six weeks before “outside” planting. 
Here both glass and cloth sash are employed 
