We now have a cold frame! Lewis kindly set it up for me a couple of weeks ago and it did stand empty for a bit, but as my African Marigolds are going absolutely bonkers on the window sills I decided it was time to start acclimating them.
When I grew AMs back in 2021 they were an abject failure. I misread the weather and as the plants were looking good and about the same size as those I bought from a nursery the year before, I planted them out. Soon after we had a hard frost and that was it, they were purple and sad from that point on. So this time I’ve held them back in 7cm pots. According to my searches online, Langolm’s last frost is usually in the 2nd week of May (aargh!) so I still have a month to go and they’re forming a first bloom already.
As you can see from the below, the rudbeckia and calendula are also coming along well.
Check out this bad boy. 😀
I took this photo before I put the marigolds / calendula in. I have six ivy plants in there which will be in hanging and wall baskets when the trailers are mature enough.
We’ve added a couple of decking squares to the bottom to give it a bit of a lift from ground level. When it rains hard (which it does a lot in Langholm), the monoblock can flood somewhat.
The cold frame was on offer from Suttons, £99.99 reduced from £149.99. It’s still reduced now but the offer isn’t quite as good. As I’m in the garden club I usually get a 10% discount as well. It was quite easy to put together and seems to work ok, although I have noticed some condensation inside at times.
I’m going to try and combine my rusty art skills with these posts. So the featured image is of one of the calendula pots.
