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on todays episode we are going to check in on our winter greens to see how they are doing. Related Episodes: How to Build a Cold Frame for Free: http://youtu.be/iN1wZ4NTtM8 How to use a cold frame: http://youtu.be/yPo1NPh0BeE Planing and planting a winter garden: http://youtu.be/4WTW_53lXN4 Building a Hoop House Polytunnel and Cold Frames to Protect my Fall and Winter Garden http://youtu.be/oz0kx6ua87E We planted in late August a variety of leafy greens that are all cold hardy including Mache, Miners lettuce, winter blend and Sorrel . All of these varieties are extremely and should survive the winter if given some protection. So in the beginning of October we placed the cold frame on the plants and put the hoop house over it for the additional protection. When temperatures dropped to -7c or 19 F. This years weather has been a tad odd. We had the earliest frost in 10 years followed up by record highs a plunge to -40 and then record highs again. Its important to keep the snow off of the hoop house so the winter light can penetrate and heat the hoop house and cold frame. I usually wait for the snow to stop and the brush it off quickly. So lets take a look at the plants to see how they are doing. ill carefully move the plastic from the hoop house and open up the cold frame. It looks like the plants are doing well however they are not large enough to harvest this winter. Likely what has happened is two fold. the first is it gets cold here and the plants have stopped growing. To compound the issue there is limited direct sun. The sun in the winter is much lower in the sky then the summer and the shadow of the house likely what we have is some nice dormant plants even if there was a lot more direct sun. That is alright though. When the spring comes these plants will pop back much quicker and we should be harvesting much earlier in the season. Some improvements am going to make in the future are longer hoops to allow easier access into the cold frame and a vertical support across the top to help with the snow load. This is a great opportunity with the winter solstice approaching to take a look at the patters of the sun in my garden to determine the best place for a future winter garden. I will also start it a few weeks earlier to give the plans the chance to get large enough that even if not actively growing I can still harvest in the depths of winter. I thought I would end this video with a special good buy. I hope you have a fantastic and safe holiday season my friends! I have a lot planned for 2015 and I look forward to sharing my adventures with you. Some of my favorite childhood memories are of gardening with my parents and brothers. This channel is about low cost organic urban gardening in zone 3. I am by no means an expert gardener however I love to share my experiments and journey garden year round. Please feel free to join the conversation and if you think you might like this channel subscribe. Have a great day! Check us out on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/user/stephenlegaree14 Webpage: www.albertaurbangarden.ca Google +: google.com/+StephenLegaree Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/AlbertaUrbanGarden Twitter: https://twitter.com/northern1485 Pintrest: http://www.pinterest.com/ABurbanGarden/