Filling the cold frame

Yesterday I showed you how I built a simple cold frame over part of one of my veggie beds.

Today I show you what I planted, because an empty cold frame is a sad sight.

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The first step was to get an empty storage box so I could carry all of these outside easily.

It doesn't look like much to plant, but I don't have too much space, so it's actually quite a lot. From the left there's cilantro (coriander), pak choi, Red Merlox lettuce, Red Romaine lettuce, tatsoi, and a Komatsuna and cabbage hybrid called "Senposai". Let's get them into the ground!

First I had to decide how closely to pack these rows. I decided that I had room for three of them, with a little bit more space in the upper right corner where some fall-planted seedlings didn't make it through the winter:

The plants that are already there are spinach -- they overwintered under some straw. There are a couple of kale plants and four beets in the right side of the bed too (cut off in this photo).

Into each planting hole I sprinkled a bit of Bio-tone starter fertilizer:

I haven't used this before, but thought I'd give it a try. I've used Plant-tone and Garden-tone before and really like them, and figured this couldn't hurt. (One of my goals this year is to fertilize my edibles regularly. I tend to rely too much on existing soil fertility and that becomes a problem mid-summer.)

So all planted up:

Is it my imagination, or are they bigger already?

I didn't have enough space for all of the seedlings here, so I put some cilantro on the end of the kale bed:

Speaking of the kale, it's looking so good!

There was still some room in the triangle box where I planted the Swiss chard last fall too:

Like the kale, the chard overwintered in great shape:

I can't wait to see this bed in another month!

Since that's every square inch of my veggie beds planted up now, I planted up a few pots too:

I don't want to expose these to the elements yet, so I'll protect them with buckets for a week or so:

The buckets will still let in some light, and I'll start removing them on warmer days -- if we ever get any that is.

There are a few plants left over as backups in case something catastrophic happens in the garden:

I consolidated them all into one tray so I'll have room on the plant table for more seedling trays. I've got perennials and warm-weather edible seeds to get started!


I've got an idea for another cold frame -- the more traditional on-the-ground type. I may rig that up this weekend, weather permitting. I can always use more space at this time of year!

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