Preparation, planning and planting

Preparatory work - this is how natural heating gets into the cold frame

With the following preparatory work, you can create a perfect microclimate in the cold frame that allows it to be used almost all year round. The art is in a balanced filling that acts as natural heating. You will need a mixture of Horse manure and straw in equal parts and from garden soil and compost in a ratio of 3: 1. How to do it right:

• Dig a 40 cm deep pit in the cold frame
• Pour the manure / straw mixture 20 cm deep into the pit and step on it
• Spread the soil / compost mix on top as a 20 cm high layer and work it into fine crumbs

Within a week of the Filling a pleasant warmth has developed in the cold frame. This results from the decomposition of the filling material by hard-working microorganisms. If the lighting conditions improve from February / March, the starting shot for this year's gardening season can be given, even if there is still snow.

Planting the cold frame correctly - tips for the schedule

A cold frame with natural heating offers a wide range of possible uses. Here you can grow early and winter vegetables, prefer young plants that need warmth or cultivate sensitive summer plants. The following schedule would like to serve as a suggestion for your individual planting:

• February March: sowing of radishes, ice lettuce, spinach and kohlrabi
• April / May: Prefer cauliflower, pumpkin, runner beans and tomatoes for later planting in the bed
• June / July: sowing broccoli, growing melons, peppers or aubergines
• August / September: later sowing radishes, lamb's lettuce, radish and leek
• October / November: Grow and harvest winter vegetables, such as kale and winter lettuce

Of course, the cold frame is not exclusively reserved for the cultivation of useful plants. Cold-sensitive flowers and perennials find ideal conditions here to secure a vital growth advantage after sowing, before they are planted in the bed and on the balcony.

Efficient planting technology saves time and effort - this is how it works

The exemplary schedule shows how versatile you can use a cold frame for planting. So that sowing, growing and transplanting run smoothly, time-saving and plant-friendly, the following cultivation technique has proven itself in practice:

• Sow seeds in small single pots or multi-pot plates
• Leave young plants grown or bought on the windowsill in the nursery pot
• Sink these containers in the ground up to the edge in the cold frame

Seedlings and young plants benefit from the warmth that prevails in the cold frame as a result of the uninterrupted rotting. Take the fully grown plants out of the ground together with the pots in order to pot them up and plant them in the field only now. The area freed up in the cold frame is used for new crops.