Preparing For Winter by Gregory Engel

Pexels:  Richard Fletcher

The end of summer is approaching and we're already experiencing cooler days and cooler nights. Flashes of yellow are appearing in the Linden tree outside my home office window and I'm busy harvesting the vegetables. Just as we plan next summer's garden during the winter, perhaps even begin seedlings inside while there is snow on the ground outside, we need to begin to prepare our garden spaces for winter as the harvest winds down and we move into fall.

Cold Frames - Making the Best Choice by Gregory Engel

Photo credit:  Extension, University of Maine 
https://extension.umaine.edu/publications/2752e/

If you've gardened in Colorado for more than a few years, you know it's a challenging climate. Conditions vary from the drought days of the early 2000's to the unusually wet and cool spring and summer we've had here in 2023. Add to this a wide variation in elevation zones. More often than not, we wish for an extended growing season. A popular approach to achieving this goal is to set up cold frames structures that extend the growing season by creating a micro-climate favorable to either starting plants earlier in the spring or continue growing them late into fall, perhaps even throughout the winter.