Thankful for my cold frame

This winter is off to a chilly start in central Alabama.  The forecast for today is a whopping 25 degrees below normal.   The weather guys are saying that we had snow flurries during the night.  If this is a sign of things to come, we might be in for an exceptionally challenging winter.

This is definitely a cold frame winter.   I hired a handy man to build my cold frame several years ago.  It features an old glass door as the lid.   I stained the wood to match my decks and painted the trim the same color as my shutters.  The interior is lined with "frost fabric" to provide additional insulation.  We placed it on the sunny, south side of the house to take advantage of solar heating.   I also keep a remote thermometer in it
during the winter so I can monitor the temperature from inside my warm kitchen. 

The original purpose of cold frames was to provide passive warmth so plants could be grown directly in the soil,  making it possible to have veggies during the off season.  I use my cold frame as a green house to keep my container plants during the winter (although my house is filled with containers too).

The cold frame will stay about 8 degrees warmer than the outside air during the night and when I add some blankets, it will hold 10-12 degrees warmer than the outside.  Even on the coldest days, the cold frame must be opened during the day because once the sun hits the glass, the temperature can easily top 100 degrees. 

If the forecast is correct for tonight, it will be the earliest in the season that I have ever needed to put blankets on the cold frame.  Bbbrrrrr