Hi, What are May Apples? And would you be willing to trade it for a number of Orange Blackberry Lilies that are wintersow and would work in your coldframe perfectly? I have a friend that loves apples and I told her I would plant some with my other fruit trees if she would make the apple butter lol.

I have a cold frame I made years ago (20) ill have to dig out of the misc. pile and use it for some of my winter sowing (can drink so much milk...lol) It is a heavy s.o.b made of PT wood so still in good shape. Once out and up and running i will have to post some pictures.

I have grown spinach outdoors without a cold frame and it stayed green and edible all winter. As soon as the weather warmed a little, it began to actively grow again (I recall this happened in March). So, spinach is one crop you should definitely consider. However, I wouldn't say that my spinach actually grew in the winter, it merely stayed green, so plant it within the next month or so to give it a chance to grow to eating size by fall, then simply pick it all winter. The leaves became increasingly beat up as the winter progressed, so that by spring the old leaves were tatters. I think you could extend the growing season far into the fall with an unheated greenhouse. All of us will have tomato plants full of green tomatoes in the fall when the frost kills our plants. with a greenhouse, I think you could keep your tomatoes and pepper plants alive probably well into December, enabling them to ripen the fruit they set during summer. As with the spinach, I wouldn't expect a lot of new growth or any new fruit to set late in the fall, but the greenhouse might extend harvest into December. Similarly, cold frames should allow you to grow veggies later in fall and earlier in spring than normal, but I doubt you'll actually have year-round gardening outdoors without a full-blown greenhouse. Even with a greenhouse, the short days make many vegetables hard to grow in winter. I think indoor vegetables will not actually set fruit, but you might get a few leaves to grow on spinach, kale, etc. I think I would not expect indoor vegetables to work, but you can try and see what happens. You might do better with a couple of indoor citrus trees which, if you have plenty of light, will flower and set fruit in the winter. A couple of potted plants won't be the same as an outdoor vegetable garden, but it is better than nothing. Besides, I think once you get the hang of it, cold frames can extend outdoor gardening for about 10 months in PA, so you won't be out of action for long.

I spent a total of $30 on enough materials to cover 3 beds. What I used for the hoops was the cheapest 10' PVC pipe I could find. At the time it was 3/4" but it doesn't matter much. Just get one more pipe than you need that is large enough to fit the smaller pipe inside it. Make sure you test it in the store. Not all 1" pipes fit a 3/4". To cover it I went 4 mil clear plastic contractor's sheeting. My brother splurged on 6 mil but I think it's a bit too thick to be translucent enough. Not sure, time will tell, we're both doing winter gardens with them. To attach the hoops to the bed, I cut the bitter pipe into 6 inch sections and buy stainless brackets to clamp attach it to the outside of the bed at proper intervals. Then I just take my smaller pipe and put it into the flagpole like stand on each side. That provides great stability. Though I also use one pipe to attach to the top of the hoops. I used zip ties for it but the best way would be to drill holes and connect with nuts and bolts. I may do that. Not sure. All these supplies can be purchased from your local hardware store or big box retailer. I like shopping local but the cost is a bit more (where I am). You're choice. To keep my plastic on, I bought a box of jumbo binder clips from any office supply store. They're big enough to clamp around the plastic and PVC pipe. I realize this isn't a perfect solution as they rust, but they were cheap, so I guess I'll just buy more every couple of years. Hope that helps. Good luck extending your season or fall gardening. Here is a link that might be useful: Post after I rushed to throw it up to battle a spring snow storm...