A couple of Saturdays ago, there was a gardening program on PBS that showed how to build a cold frame. It made me want one. The TV guy built his frame from scrap materials around his place, but we don't have those kinds of scraps, so I bought a kit. We assembled it yesterday. Amazingly, all the parts were there, and the thing went together without a hitch.
We took it outside and looked for the best place to put it. Our yard doesn't get much sun. It appears that the "best place" may be the middle of the back yard. At least, that's where it is right now. It came with 4" nails to peg it down, but a good wind will send it flying.
The south side of our shed would be a better place if it gets enough sun during the winter. The cold frame would be better protected from wind, and we could attach it to the shed foundation. But I have never paid much attention to how much sun the spot gets during the winter, when the leaves are off the trees. Right now, at 7 a.m., the sun is blasting that side of the shed. I just asked my phone to remind me to check the situation at noon.
I bought this thing intending to plant salad greens in it. I envisioned filling it halfway with a big bag of store-bought dirt, sprinkling seeds over the dirt, watering it, closing the lid, and enjoying fresh, nutritious, leafy green salads this winter.
Then I watched some videos. Now I'm envisioning using the cold frame as an incubator for vegetable seeds. I started my 2023 tomato plants in a tiny tabletop greenhouse (sort of) in the sewing room. They did well, at first, but soon turned sickly-looking. There just wasn't enough light and enough space to start them indoors. Maybe I should try starting next year's tomato plants in the cold frame.
As I have been writing this, I've had another vision. Jose comes out from under the shed at night, raises the lid on the cold frame, digs around in it, and goes away, leaving the lid open.
Maybe I should install a padlock.
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Over the weekend, I finished my friend's chair back. It is packaged and ready to go, along with a hand-painted Christmas card. I'll mail it tomorrow. The post office is right next door to my painting class.
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The Husband's office Christmas party was Saturday night. Thirty-five years ago, when he first went to work there, the office Christmas party was a PARTY, with food and music and dancing and booze and such. In 2020, because of covid, there was no party. Since then, we've mostly just gathered for dinner. This suits me just fine. But this dinner was not all that great. We had not-so-great food. There was enough booze, though, to keep the younger folks happy.
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