The first frost doesn’t necessarily have to end your vegetable garden, and you don’t need an expensive heated greenhouse to keep harvesting. A simple cold frame—a low, enclosed growing space topped with glass, polycarbonate or another transparent material—captures solar warmth during the day and provides plants with additional protection from cold nights.
The trick is choosing cold-frame crops that actually prefer cool conditions rather than trying to keep summer tomatoes alive through December. Lettuce, spinach, kale, radishes and several other vegetables can tolerate temperatures that would quickly finish off beans, cucumbers and peppers. With the right crops and a little attention to ventilation, a cold frame can turn a relatively small investment into weeks or even months of additional garden production.
