Summary: Coldframes during May should be filled to capacity with tender material awaking final planting-out in the garden. However, over a greater portion of the area, May will see the end of this phase of coldframe gardening.
Hardy and semi-hardy annuals and vegetables should all be in the garden by this time the final planting-out date of the tender material depends upon your locality. In the northern sections, where nights are still cold, the protection afforded by the coldframe is still needed . However, over many parts of the country, May will see the end of this phase of coldframe gardening.
Time To Taking Notes For Next Year
It’s a good time, therefore, to take stock of your progress for future reference. Are your plants too large to handle easily so there’s danger of checking growth in transplanting, or are they smaller than they should be? Next year’s sowing dates should be adjusted accordingly. Efficient, economical operation of the coldframe will depend upon finding the sowing dates best suited to your own conditions. The sowing date is directly related to the actual planting out date, which is considered in all coldframe sowing. Normally, it requires about 8 to 10 weeks from sowing to planting-out. Such plants as eggplants, peppers and other tender things need longer.
If coldframe space permits potting such things as cabbage, broccoli and tomatoes, seeds can be started earlier. On the other hand, you can reduce the coldframe time to three or four weeks if it’s a matter of just sowing the seeds and then transplanting the seedlings in the garden.
As the plants are moved to the garden, coldframe space can be devoted to rooting chrysanthemum and dahlia cuttings. Clumps previously planted in the coldframe to force green shoots, should have a quantity of cutting material ready now. As cuttings are taken, more shoots will be produced. Dahlia cuttings, which after rooting are planted in pots sunk in the soil to their rims, can remain in the coldframe another three or four weeks.
Should garden space be limited, seeds of cabbage, broccoli, Brussels sprouts and kale can he sown in the cold frame toward the end of this month to furnish plants for setting out in July for late crops. Tomatoes, too, can be sown to provide later Vants to prolong the season of fruiting. Cucumbers, melons and squash, sown in 3-inch plant hands, sprout better in the cold-frame than in the garden and provide plants that will bear fruit earlier. Thinned to just one plant in each hand, they are carried along in the coldframe and set out in June when the weather is warm. Care should he taken to see that the roots are not disturbed when transplanting.
For the remainder of the summer, it will be necessary to shade the glass from hot sun. This lowers the temperature and lessens light intensity. The heat generated by summer sun is such that it would hardly be possible to supply enough moisture to keep plants or cuttings alive. Slat shade, made from wooden lath slats to fit each sash, can be purchased. The half-inch spaces between slats allows light but no direct sunlight. However, anything that excludes the sun but allows light is sufficient. The more general method is to use whitewash. Thin milk of lime may he put on with a brush or sprinkled to give a dappled shade. Since it washes off gradually with rain, a little salt in the whitewash mixture will help make it stick. Be careful, however, as too much salt will make it difficult to remove in the fall when sunlight is again needed.
When sufficient moisture is supplied under this subdued light, conditions are very favorable for germinating seeds and rooting cuttings. More information will be given about this during the upcoming months.
by J McKane
