[pbs] Some frits are waking up
Jane McGary
janemcgary at earthlink.net
Tue Mar 3 20:48:20 EST 2009
Rodger wrote,
English gardeners who kept tender plants in frames (cyclamen, iirc) placed a
>single layer of newspaper over them before shutting the frames down when
>serious cold threatened.
I did that a couple of times before I got the big
roll of microfoam. The newspaper absorbs moisture
and turns into a real mess. It probably does
protect the plants, but then you have this huge
stack of sodden newspaper that you can't do much
with, unless you use it for mulch in the
vegetable garden -- a practice I have never
thought quite advisable owing to the chemicals in newsprint.
He adds
>Following that line of reasoning leads me to
>believe that the size of frames is
>important: individually they should be as wide and long as you can afford
>wothout making access to the back or middle overly awkward.
>
>What are the dimensions of your frames, Jane?
>
>Mine are 48×32" boxes made of thick yellow cedar with Coroplast covers.
Three of them are 40 feet by 4 feet and two are
40 feet by 5 feet. The bases are made out of
railroad ties (Brit. sleepers) and the lights on
the old ones are plexiglas, and on the newer
ones, polycarbonate, on A-frame structures that
open to both sides. I think having the frames
vented on both sides is very good for air
circulation, though I had to pay carpenters to
accomplish this, and it's easier on the back to
reach in from either side toward the middle. The
bases stand about 18 inches (45 cm) high and are
filled with coarse sand as a plunge medium. There
are pictures of them in "Rock Garden Design and Construction."
So they are pretty large, but also pretty
accessible. I live in the country and had a whole open field to put them in.
Jane McGary
Northwestern Oregon, USA
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