diclemeg, Wait for the soil to thaw before pulling the plants or turning the soil. I wouldn't say that you really need to "till" the soil in the box, but giving it a few flips with a shovel, while you work in some new compost should be plenty. On the previous topic, some things to consider: You are on the verge of a four season garden. If I were in your shoes, I would check out the Four Season Harvest by Eliot Coleman, Winter Harvest Handbook by Eliot Coleman and the 12 month gardener by Jeff Ashton. A lot of the varieties that you mentioned would rebound fairly well from a light frost. What they really need is protection from the wind. Snow is not a big problem (it's actually an excellent insulator, and will protect the plants from much lower temps). If you had harvested them during the winter whenever the ground was thawed, you could have enjoyed some very tasty veggies. (Heck, you still might be able to eat them, if you pull them as soon as you thaw out - referring specifically to the radicchio, dandelion, and escarole. You might have to peel off the outer parts of the radicchio, but the center might still be good.) Don't just take my word for it though, check out those books from your local library. The key idea is that while the growing season stops in the winter (too little sunlight), the harvest season can continue all winter long (with the proper steps). Coleman lives in Maine, and is able to have fresh greens all winter long, with some very easy to make protections, and easy to follow instructions. Personally, I got all this information too late to be of any good to me this year, but I can't wait to give it all a try this fall/winter. In your case, you have some plants that might actually be able to rebound sufficiently to be harvestable. (Don't pull them while they are frozen. They can rebound if they are still in the ground. They won't grow like you want, as their primary goal now will be seed making, but if you can pull them before they start to grow again, they should be quite tasty (many of the starches will convert to sugars when exposed to freezing temps in root crops).

Two inch wide board would be better to last thru the weather. Pine doesn't have the staying power as much as cedar. Also screwing them thru braces at the corners would make them nice and firm. Like the braces on my coldframe cover shown here.

Thanks, marzy! I've changed my mind about trying the Florida weave. I'm concerned that it might take a lot more monitoring to make sure it all stays enclosed. So, my second idea was to get cattle panels, and use those as row trellises, and just keep on pushing the vines back and forth through the openings. But, then I thought about the size of the panels (four feet high), and thought about how big indeterminates can get, and thought I'd have to stack two panels to get them up to 8 feet, which means 10 foot t-posts and monster supports so it won't blow over. A 8x16 foot space presented to prairie winds... yeah, that sounds secure! So, here is my new plan. I'm going to put the tomatoes in two rows of 10. There will be 5 arched cattle panels, making a long tunnel of arches. There will be 4 plants per arch; two on each side. This will give the benefit of 8 feet of growing height per plant, while presenting only 4x8 feet of wind barrier per panel. I haven't managed to figure how much space I'll have underneath each arch. If there is enough room, I thought that might be the ideal location for lettuce, carrot, and spinach crops. The shade that will occur during the hottest part of the year might enlarge the growing season. It's been raining all weekend, and we're due for more rain all week. *sighs* So it's going to be a while before I can get all my arches set up in the garden. There are supposed to be a couple of clear days this week, so I'm hoping I can get the three melon panels set up, since those are going out in the field, and not in the tilled up garden.

I never tried "pure Mel's mix". I merely incorporated vermiculite, peat and extra compost into my existing soil. (After all, I'd spent the previous 5 years of gardening amending my clay soil...I didn't want all the previous effort to go to waste, besides, I had finally gotten my mix to the level I was almost happy with it....it was crumbly...full of worms...and wasn't as compacted as it had been.) I have had no problems with moisture retention (of course, that's probably in large part due to the level of clay content) even when I don't water quite as often as I should (life can get down right ridiculous sometimes!). My garden takes only a small step back, but bounces right back when I water, or a big storm comes through. advaya, Your plant choices look perfect. Some others to consider: Parsnips and rutabagas...all root crops do well in the fall garden. Also, they tend to be sweeter after they are nipped by a hard frost. The starches turn to sugars so that they can survive the winter! Personally, I don't even harvest them until I am going to eat them. I just mulch over the top, and if a really cold snap hits....wait for it to thaw out. They are great!