If you live in a region with cold winters, you probably spent some cold days and nights dreaming of gardening or planning out next seasons garden plot. Rest assured you can still grow fresh lettuce, spinach, radishes, onions and more if you build a Cold Frame for your winter garden.

Cold Frame gardens are very easy to build and even better can be built with 100% recycled materials. All you need is an old window sash or aluminum, glass door frame. You can use fiberglass, polyethylene or other transparent material is glass is not readily available. Build a frame according to the dimensions of the window sash or other material you decided to recycle and use. Ideal dimensions would be approximately 18 inches at the back and 12 at the front to provide a good angle facing the sun and rain/snow drain off.

There are two ways to setup your cold frame garden: above ground or partially below ground. Insulating factors will be much better if the Cold Frame is partially below ground. Like Solar Panels, Cold Frame bins should face south for maximum sunlight exposure and have at least a 10 percent angle to make the most of the limited sunlight in northern regions.

If the weather gets extremely cold, say low twenties, it would be best to cover the Cold Frame in burlap or moving blankets for protection. You can also add a heating cable, the same kind you wrap around water pipes to keep them from freezing. Warm weather days are just as crucial to keeping your garden in top shape. You will have to monitor and open the top glass hatch to allow proper ventilation. Don't forget to water ;o)

The best veggies to grow are lettuce, radishes, chard and green onions. You can also try small carrots and other greens. What you can grow in your Cold Frame will depend on your local weather. We will build and chronicle the success of 2 Cold Frame plantations over the fall and winter to see what we can grow. Hopefully we can harvest enough for a nice fresh winter salad!

Keep it Green!

Before you start digging up your backyard to plant your garden, a plan should be made to ensure the best use of your available land and effective selection of vegetables and plants to get the most of your garden layout. The first thing to do is decide how much space you can dedicate to your garden plans. This choice is based on both the amount of yard you want to give up as well as the amount of space required by your selected crops. These two work hand in hand. If you are planning to grow a lot of large vegetables, your garden layout needs to reflect that.

The best way to start your garden is to take measurements of your backyard, decide on the crops you wish to grow and draw out your plans on paper. This will help while planting your garden as well as selecting the best logical location for your items such as compost bin, crops proximity to rain catcher and potting shed or green house if you have one.

Garden Plan

If you decide to change your crop or add anything to your plans, this is normal and at least you will have your general layout, look and feel. Adjustments can always be made as your plans are not set in stone. Having a fluid, functional garden is what you want, not chaos. So take your time in planning and research the space required for the yield of crop you wish to harvest.

Some of the other things to consider when laying out your vegetable garden plans include:

• Do you have pets that will be running around the yard? If so, think about fencing your garden off or planning your garden layout so they can't run through your freshly-planted crops.

• The same goes for children. If your kids are playing soccer or baseball in the backyard, you don't want them running through your garden.

• Think about how much time you have to water and maintain your garden. Don't plant an entire field of vegetables if you can only spend hour working on it every couple of days.

• Think about where your water faucets, or even better, the location of your rain catchers. You'll need to water your garden regularly, so it should be somewhere that is within reach of your hose.

These tips are just a primer of some things you need to keep in mind before jumping into planting your vegetable garden. Remember planning makes perfect and the same for your garden. Hopefully it is where you will be spending lots of time so make it functional.

Most of all have fun... Keep it Green!

Urban Garden Raised Beds

Urban Gardening and Urban Homesteading is becoming more mainstream then times past thanks largely to global realization of Peak Oil and how it affects our food. As the cost of gas goes up, so will the price of our food. People looking for solutions only have to look back 25-50 years when we didn't have the 3000 mile salad. People ate what they grew and shared their knowledge of harvest with up and coming generations. This knowledge has somehow been lost while the world got itself in a big hurry and hooked on Oil.

According to NGA, Natioanl Gardening Association, there are approximately 110 million Small-Scale Vegetable Growers in the USA alone in 2008 and 95 million of them are urban. In rural communities the share raising veggies is about 2 of 3 and in urban neighborhoods, from Boston to Fargo, it is about 1 in 3.

One of the largest seeds sellers, reports their sales of vegetable seed doubled in 2008 over 2007 and for the first time since WWII, vegetable seed sales in London have surpassed the sale of flowers. Due to increases in technology such as green houses the growing season in colder regions of the USA, Canada and Europe has increased by 2-3 weeks.

It is clear to see there is a movement and people are realizing the best way to ensure there is always food on the table is to grow it or buy it locally. The trend to "keep it local" also creates a sense of community and pride in what you eat. It does not matter if you insist on shopping at the local market to keep it local, take on the 100mile diet that's all the rage lately or simply convert some of your precious lawn to grow some carrots, tomatoes and cucumbers for yourself, friends and family, the point is you are doing something.

Keep it green!