April 8th 2013: Building a cold frame!

As this is my first wood-working post, I thought that I'd share a little bit about me.  I would describe myself as a novice wood-worker.  I'm certainly not a master carpenter.  I've never had any formal training and I don't own as many tools as Norm Abrams.  So why have a blog?  Because if I can build stuff, then anyone can!

Here's a cold frame that I built...

What's a cold frame?  Good question.  It's like a mini greenhouse that's designed to extend the growing season (early Spring and late fall/early winter).  The nice thing about working with wood is that you can customize anything you want and build it how you want.  The cold frame that I designed was built around a medium sized sheet of Lexan (Home Depot) and all of the dimensions are derived from the size of the Lexan sheet that you choose.  Since my box is relatively small, I only needed two 1x8x8 cedar planks (Lowe's), two 1x2x8 cedar furring strips (Lowe's), 2 door hinges (Home Depot), and some Kreg squared-headed 1-1/4" screws.  The top is angled at about 30 degrees to catch the most sun.  I just used the lexan as a guide on how to cut the cedar because again the box is designed around the lexan sheet.  One trick was to double up the cedar plank before cutting the angled cut with a circular saw so that both sides of the box match exactly.  You need a steady hand with the circular saw in order to cut a straight line for the lexan to sit on flush.  I put my box together using a Kreg-joint jig and screws.  The bottom is made up of the left over wood scraps with some gaps that allow for soil drainage.  Since it's cedar, there's no staining or finishing required.  I lined the box with Dewitt Landscape fabric (so all of the dirt doesn't wash out the drainage gaps) and filled it up with potting soil.  Right now, I've planted some basil, lettuce, and peas.  I guess we'll see in a few weeks if the cold frame works or not!  It's currently sitting on my back deck, but at some point I might make a table for it to sit on.

Here's some more pics...