What's in your cold frame?

A few years ago we invested in a couple of portable cold frames. They were billed as mini serres (mini greenhouses). They have served us well. I use one up on the deck for spring seedlings. It gets great morning sun and stays warm all day. The other we use out back in the garden to grow early crops. The great thing about them is their portability; they're quite versatile.

Marigolds on the bottom, eggplant on the right, tomatoes on the upper left.

The one on the deck is nurturing our future garden vegetables. In it are many varieties of tomato, some cucumbers, some little pumpkins, parsley, squash, a bunch of marigolds, some chard, and eggplant. In fact, I just re-potted the eggplant and realized there are thirty of them! Since we love eggplant, I figure that we can't have too many. Everything in this cold frame was grown from seed. I'm always amazed when the seeds actually sprout and turn into mature plants. The wonders of nature!

The cold frame on the deck.

I'm slowly letting the plants get more and more direct sun, hardening them for their transplantation into the garden. That will happen at some point in mid-May, when the danger of frost is over in our region. I'll also plant corn at that point and maybe some beans and a zucchini or two. I'm hopeful, as always, that this will be a good garden year.