I was raised in Mississippi in the 40's about 30 miles South of Jackson. At that time, the area (Copiah County)was known as the Tomato growing capital of the US. Tomatos, Bell Peppers, beans, cabbage were the major crops grown on farms ranging from 5 to 100 acres.
It was a common thing for these farms to have "hot beds" and Cold Frames to get the plants ready for the field. The hot beds were kept heated with kerosene lanterns and after the plants were moved to the cold frame, a thin white denim cloth commonly called "cold frame cloth" was used as the cover. The hot beds and cold frames were used for cabbage plants and later in the season for Tomato and Bell Pepper plants.
In town, there was a steam powered "cold whistle" called the "Squeedunk" because of it's strange sound. The thing could be heard for close to 10 miles out. The local Western Union operator would get the weather report and relay it to the town fathers who would authorize blowing of the "Squeedunk" to warn the farmers of a frost or freeze that evening. If the Sqeedunk was blown during the day, school would let out so the kids could hurry home to help cover up the cold frames and get ready for the front that was about to pass through. Back in those days, weather reporting was about 3 hours in advance so there wasn't much notice of weather changes.

Your idea of using a cold frame is a good one that has been tried and proven years back. In that part of the country, the time honored rule is to get tomatoes in the field before the first of April, but of course, for us here about 200 miles further North, that is a bit risky.

Every year in Crystal Springs MS in July, there is a tomato festival that honors the time frame from the 20's through the mid 50's when the vegetables were grown. I have a friend from high school who after retiring is back into the tomato farming business to have a booth at the festival. He has about 1/2 acre of tomatos and his are always the prize winners. His recipe for tomato fertilizer is 5-20-20 and it is regularly available in bulk from the local Co-ops. For a side dressing later on the tomatos, he uses "sodie' as he calls it. It is not the old Nitrate of Soda (16%) but is a Sodium Caltrate that has lots of calcium along with the 15% nitrogen. He is adamant about keeping the Nitrogen low for tomatos. He says that the Phosporus and Potash will make the Tomatos "fruit and root" and the Nitrogen would just make vine. He grows them in the same spot every year and between seasons treats the ground with "Slag" and Lime. I am gradually pulling his secrets from him but it is a slow process.

He picks tomatos when they are barely "pinking" and brings them in to an airconditioned double garage where they are sorted and layed out to ripen. This business that you see on TV with the upside down tomatos and vines covered with bright red tomatos is purely Hollywood stunt photography. Real vine ripened tomatos happen on the window sill of the kitchen and not outside on the vine waiting for Mr. Bird to come peck it the day before you were going to pick it.

This guy knows how to market and sells his tomatos in boxes about the size of a Xerox paper box for $25 each or $1.50 per pound in peck size containers. Last year at the festival, he sold 125 of the full boxes and ran completely out of tomatos. The culled tomatos were sold from his farm (about 12 acres) to people looking for canners.

Only the best shaped tomatos make it to the festival and he has people lined up at his booth. There will probably be about 10 booths of tomatos at other vendors but none have the quality and looks that his do. In addition to the ones sold at the festival, he probably sells an additional 100 to 150 boxes to people who come out to the farm. With the improved fertilizer and plants of today, he is probably making 20 times as much on his half acre of tomatos as his family did on the full 100 acres back in the 50's.

He and I recently had a phone conversation about the old cold frames and the "Squeedunk" whistle. Now, he purchases his tomato plants from the Junior College in Raymond MS about 35 miles away. In January, he ordered 2500 plants from them, picked them up the last week in March and set out (by hand with a trowell- 2 days) just before the end of March. So far he has been lucky with the weather and hasn't had the hail that we have had here. With continued luck, he will have another banner year at the Tomato festival.

Jay,

I haven't used a cold frame, but I think it will work in the manner you intend to use it. In a way, my screened-in back porch functions much the same for me as you are going to use a cold frame. I use it to acclimate the plants to the cooler outdoor weather before I move them outside. I have left the plants out there when temps have dropped to 30 or so.

Do you remember Bill P. who used to post on the Tomato, Vegetable and Soil & Compost Forums and others as "GoneFishin'"? Well, GoneFishin' raised his tomato seedlings in a hot frame and hardened them off by opening and closing the top of his frame. He always had healthy, hardy transplants and set his out fairly early for the Dallas area, feeling they were well-hardened from growing in the frame all along. His heat source was horse manure/stable litter from his daughter's horses I think.

I always move my tomatoes from the indoor plant shelf under lights to the screened-in porch for a few days before they go outside into direct sun. When they are on the screened-in porch the sunlight has to pass through 1 layer of regular window screen and 1 layer of 6 mm greenhouse plastic that is somewhat opaque. I've used a 6 mm greenhouse plastic that was more transparent but they sunburned a little, so we went back to the more opaque kind. The back porch stays a little warmer than outside overnight temps--between 5 and 7 degrees warmer but it only has whatever heat it collected and held from the sunlight, and I don't heat it with a heater. If I did, I could move the plants out much earlier I suppose. During the day, the screened-in back porch can easily hit the mid-90s in the afternoon, so I have to be sure on warm days today that I turn on a fan and prop open the door.

All the tomatoes are off the back porch and mostly in the ground or their containers now, but I've just moved the peppers out to the back porch this week and they'll start going outside about Friday or so before I put them in the ground next week. The greenhouse plastic usually comes off in mid-April, so we'll be taking it off the screens any day now too.

It would seem to me that your shade cloth would shade the plants at least as much as my layer of window screening and greenhouse plastic does.

When Randy moves his tropicals out of his big greenhouse, he puts them under shadecloth for a few days, so maybe he'll see this thread and chime in, if he isn't outside all week moving out his thousands of plants.

I assume that the coldframe lid can be propped open or held open in a way that will guarantee it won't be slammed shut by high wind. If that were to happen, I'd be worried the plants would roast. Finally, is the shade cloth going to be somewhat loose like a floating row cover, or attached to a frame or what? Just curious. With all the wind you get there, I suppose my concern would be that the cloth will whip around in the wind and might leave the plants uncovered at some point.

Our wind is a lot calmer here this week, though, so maybe yours is too.

And, is there a way for your cold frame to drain out rainfall in future years if you have a gullywasher of a rainstorm? I know such heavy rains are fairly rare, but one almost wiped out Gonefisin's plants in his hotbed one year. I can't remember if the lid was open or closed, although I think it was closed, and when he went out the morning after the heavy overnight rainfall, his plants were standing, floating or lying in several inches of water. I think he lost a few plants that time and it seems he was fairly upset (for him). Of course, he was so good-natured that it was hard to tell, but I do think he was not happy about the water and what it did to his plants.

Finally, have you read Eliot Coleman's book "FOUR SEASON HARVEST: Organic Vegetables From Your Home Garden All Year Long". It is amazing what he is able to raise in Maine using greenhouses that he has on a sliding track, hotbeds, coldframes, low tunnels and floating row covers. If you haven't read it, you can borrow my copy. Let me know and I'll mail it to you and you can keep it as long as you need to and send it back when you're done with it. It is a great book.

Dawn

Avidchamp,
Thanks for the information. Always interesting to read what growers used to do. Many of their methods still work well today. I can remember Mother and others using old worn out sheets and also blankets to protect fragile plants from the cold and also the wind.

Dawn,
I was trying to remember who it was that used that method. Could remember the method but not the name. I have two The door in what I call the front opens and hangs straight down so have little concern of it blowing closed. The top door I will have to secure every day. It will open to the north so the prevalent south winds will tend to blow it open. I'm sure I will make some changes for a few years. I used this same shade cloth as a wind break last year so know it will stand the wind. I've been considering securing but nailing wood lathes on each side and securing around that. Another option is I have plenty of the grommets you can attach and secure through. So feel I can keep it in place.
I haven't read the book but would like too. Sounds interesting. You mentioned Ruth Stout the other day I have read most of her books. Really enjoyed them. I believe in her methods every year. Just seems it is hard for me to completely give up working the soil a little. Haven't turned the asparagus beds over since I started them. For the last few years have been mulching heavily. I add tree leaves , manure, cottonseed meal and bone meal in the fall or early winter after I trim the stalks back. Then put grass clippings or straw on top. Was out planting some more plants in a few bare spots last week. Couldn't believe the worms and how soft and dark the soil in for 6 inches or more. And I walk in the bed some picking and also using a gate on one end. Has convinced me it works. I'd better head outside and do a few things before it gets dark and them pot up some mater plants. Have fell behind. One tray is a jungle. Jay

Jay,

If you want me to send you the Eliot Coleman book now, you can e-mail me through My Page and send me your address. I'll snail mail the book to you. Or, if you'd rather wait and read it in the fall/winter, I can bring it to the fall swap, assuming you and I both make it to the fall swap. Your choice.

Ruth Stout was so far ahead of her time. When I first read her book, I kept saying "well, it won't work here", and I believed that, right up until the time that I tried it and it did work here. LOL Nothing improves soil more than piling stuff up on top of it and letting it do double duty--first as mulch, and then as compost as it breaks down. You know, lasagna gardening is all the rage because it has a catchy name and a series of books, etc., but Ruth Stout did it long before Pat Lanza. There really isn't anything new under the sun.

Dawn