Do You Raise A Garden? - Mini Greenhouse Directions Added

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We have always had a garden. I was raised on a farm when I was a child and learned the benefits and the hard work that comes from gardening. When I got married we kept that tradtion alive. We love fresh foods from our own garden. Do you garden? Even if you just have a few raised beds it can be very rewarding. A few herbs in the window sill of the kitchen is a great help also. Many people don’t have a place to garden so they just plant a “salad garden”. It is simply a few pots with a tomato, pepper, and some lettuce. The fixings for a salad. These can be placed on a balcony or window sill. There are just so many ways to bring fresh food into your life. Later in the year, when the temperatures starts dipping toward plant killing levels, many people just hang up gardening until spring. But a cold frame can extend the season through those on again, off again cold spells, even until steadily cold weather. If you've seen those fancy self-ventilating aluminum and acrylic models in the garden catalogs, you might have decided cold frames were too pricey or elaborate to fool with. That could not be more from the truth. They don't have to be expensive or elaborate to work. Now is the time to make your cold frame so it is ready in plenty of time to use when it is needed. If you put it off, it probably wont get done. Here's a quick and easy way to build a cold frame you can use to keep some lettuce or other cool weather crops growing when the mercury drops too low. All you need are six bales of hay and an old storm window. Build a rectangle out of the hay along the southern side of your house (use two bales for each side of the frame) and lay the window on top. Now you have quickly made your cold frame. Of course, you'll still need to do the gardening to make it work. You can plant seeds in a pots or flats and place them inside your frame. But the hay and glass will create a little greenhouse environment that will enable you to garden a little bit longer. (You can throw a blanket over the window for some extra protection if it gets really cold.) One note of caution: If the temperature should rebound, make sure to prop up the storm window and allow excess heat to escape.