If your green thumb is itching, it might be time to put some seeds in the ground. The first day the sun came out this year gave me the garden itch, and I didn’t want to start my seeds indoors. We’ve gotten a spell of unseasonably warm weather this week so I got out there and started planting. But our last frost day is way out in May so I have to plant carefully.

If you want to make a green house/ cold frame for just your potted plants this trick will work for you. After the tutorial I’ll show you some other cold frames I’m using this year.

This project only uses a pot, soil, seeds, and Cling Wrap. You can also use a plastic bag if you want, just something that will hold in the heat from the sun, even if the air is cooler than the seeds can handle.

Dampen your soil, and add your seeds.

Cover the top of your pot with Cling Wrap.

Twist the Cling Wrap to secure it to the pot. You could also wrap a long rubber band around the Cling Wrap. The goal is to be able to remove the Cling Wrap and replace it without tearing. If you have seedlings in your pot and the internal temperature of your green house is too high they will wilt, so you can vent the green house by pulling back a portion of the plastic. If you don’t rip the plastic you can keep reusing the same piece over and over.

You shouldn’t have to water the pot at all while it is covered with plastic, it will evaporate and condense on the plastic keeping the environment moist. But if you notice that the soil is dry, go ahead and water the pot.

Here I made a larger cold frame from our old shower curtain right in my garden bed. It helps that I prepped the soil before it started snowing last year. All I had to do was go out there and plant my seeds. I might add some seedlings from the store as soon as they are available.

Same idea as above, but this time I’m using a piece of plastic packaging. It’s being held down with some pieces of brick so it doesn’t blow away.

Hopefully this will give me a jump on the growing season. There really isn’t anything to lose this way except a few seeds. The worst thing that will happen is nothing grows, or I bake them and they die. If that happens, I’ll just plant my seedlings after the last frost date and be in the same boat as everyone else. It’s a Win or Win More situtation!