Saturday, March 28, 2009

Cold Frames

This will be my first experience with cold frames. Leclerc had these on sale for a decent price so we decided to try them. There are Leclerc stores all around us, but they're all between thirty and forty-five minutes away, so we just don't go on a lark.

Successfully assembled cold frames for the garden.

We planned a trip to the store near Loches on Tuesday. We knew there were other garden stores nearby that we could try if the Leclerc didn't have what we wanted. And, Leclerc is also a big grocery store and we needed some stuff. Off we went.

It was a very nice drive through the countryside south of us. I haven't had much chance to ride out that way recently, so I enjoyed the views. The vineyards in our valley give way to rolling fields that are turning green with sprouting... er, I'm not sure what. Some colza, some sunflowers, maybe some corn, I don't know yet. And there were plenty of cows, sheep, and chickens in fields and yards along the way.

So we got the cold frames home and I assembled them. The instructions are the standard picto-gram variety. The frames are made in Israel and sold in various European countries, so picto-grams work best. You can see on the front page some of the instructions.

No tools required! Assembles in ten minutes! No drinking! Recyclable!

No drinking? I'm not sure I understand that one. Inside the booklet, it actually says, "Do not attempt to assemble this cold frame if you are tired, have taken drugs or alcohol or if you are prone to dizzy spells." Does blood pressure medication count?

I had already enjoyed a few glasses of wine, but I threw caution to the wind and gave it a go. And I will tell you, inserting Tab A into Slot B is a lot more challenging after some wine than you'd think. But I never got dizzy and the frames went together just fine. But it took twenty minutes.

9 comments:

  1. The ghostbuster sign with the glass cracks me up!

    Your cold frames are beautiful. I like to picture Kentucky bibb lettuce in them. My dad uses to do lettuce in his little greenhouse every year and that lettuce was delicious.

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  2. oh man. assembling while drinking? you could have tripped and crashed through the glass and severed an artery! glad to hear you made it safely through. ;)

    those look like sweet cold frames!

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  3. The cold frames look great!

    The directions seem to be missing our favorite American warning, which seems to appear on every set of directions: Do not use in the bathtub!

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  4. Actually, I think icon no.4 means you have to turn round in circles twice before you start. Perhaps that's where the alcohol and dizzy spells bit comes in.

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  5. Can't wait to see what goes in those great looking cold frames.....doesn't everything go better with wine?

    Victoria, Bellingham, WA

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  6. IS that glass in the panels? I've never seen these things before.

    Feeling any better??

    Judy

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  7. evelyn, we're going to try radishes and mustard greens. Wish us luck!

    tansy, slim chance. They're 100% plastic.

    chris, ah, yes. I was thinking they would be fun in the tub!

    anon, I should have known!

    victoria, yes, most everything goes better with wine. :)

    judy, no glass. Just heavy-duty poly something or other. And yes, feeling much better, merci!

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  8. Back in the midwest I used a cold frame every season. They are very useful. I hope you have good luck with yours.

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  9. They look quite sturdy. How large are they?

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