Or scrappier ones like I made from wood and windows I got out of dumpsters and alleys:

I put mulch and compost around the cold frame to both generate heat and to provide some insulation against colder temperatures. I have plans to make a much hardier system this fall complete with walls insulated with packaging styrofoam.

Here are some more of our cold frames:

Salad greens, collards, kale and mustard greens

And here is an even scrappier design for a planter:

Planter in front of the Harvest House on Washington in Urbana

I really like this design as it suggests a really easy way of making a planter with out the need to have access to a lot of tools or basic wood working skills. It looks as if the wood was found and fitted together to make the planter. It could easily be made into a cold frame by placing windows on top or by stretching clear plastic over it.

Here is what you need to make a basic cold frame:

Window found in alley, wood pulled from a dumpster

I cut the boards with a power saw (a hand held saw works just as well) to the same lengths as the sides of the windows making sure to cut two of the sides a little smaller in relation to the thickness of the other boards.

Assembled frame

I affixed the pieces of wood together with wood glue (which really helps keep the wood together as it will be on, and holding, wet, moist ground) and screws (long nails will work too).

Frame placed, filled with soil

Next, find a location for your cold frame. I put soil in mine after digging up the grass underneath. The soil in our yard is poor. We have not spent the time and effort to get the soil in this spot in good condition for growing healthy plants. You might want to consider putting good top soil into your frame if you have a similar situation.

Carrots planted. Window placed.

The final steps are to plant the cold frame – I put carrots in this one – and water the seeds, finally placing the window on top of the frame

You can see the cold frame in action within just a few minutes; condensation starts to appear on the underside of the window.

Click to download and print postcard PDF.

We are having a garage and plant sale at 706 E. Fairlawn Drive. Proceeds from the sale will go to benefit the Home Birth Safety Act. You can download the postcard which has additional information on it. Please help spread the word, drop off things to sell, or stop by and get some good stuff.

We will also be making an exhibition in our garage (aka Garage & Garden) of images from the Great Unhistoric East Urbana Maple Tree Tap of 2008.

Tapped silver maple tree

The second tapped silver maple

Our neighbor and collaborator – working with Block by Block Cooperation to increase ultra-local food production in our hood – the Wine Punk (aka Sam Vandegrift), tapped the two silver maple trees in our (Let’s Re-Make) front yard this week as well as many other trees in the neighborhood. Sam identified over 30 trees in a 3-block area to tap and collect the sap from. It is really amazing to see all the trees with gallon milk jugs hanging off of antique taps. The sap wasn’t what I expected. It was colorless and had no flavor. It flowed as soon as a hole was made in the tree.  Sam’s efforts have created a bit of a buzz among our neighbors, which is exactly what we wanted to happen.

As the sap is being collected, he will boil it down to make maple syrup. We are currently planning a pancake breakfast in Sam’s driveway once the weather permits. More images and pancake breakfast details coming in future posts.

We hope to increase our activities in the next months, bringing greater visibility to food and infrastructure issues in order to slowly transform how we, and our neighbors, think about our living and shared spaces, and how they can function in new ways.

Block by block cooperation!