Winter sowing geophytes
Jane McGary (Wed, 24 Dec 2008 15:12:16 PST)

Erin asked about winter protection in USDA Z8, writing
Since the promised cool greenhouse has not been built that means

One of the few advantages of not being married is that you don't have
to wait until your husband builds what he has promised. I can't build
anything much, but even I can build coldframes or, if I want fancy
ones (such as four of the five I use now), I can hire a carpenter to
build them. I wrote a chapter on bulb frames (which can also host
seedlings, seed pots, and alpines) in the book "Rock garden design
and construction." It recently went down to 14 degrees F here and I
have been snowed in (literally, can't go anywhere, many roads and
highways closed by ice, power often failed, etc.) for 8 days now. I
laid microfoam sheet insulation over the bulbs in the frames and shut
them, and I expect to lose only a small number of species, based on
previous (though shorter) cold snaps. The frames also allow one to
control the annual moisture cycle, which would be important for Erin
if she wants to grow Mediterranean bulbs in Georgia. A frame is just
a box with some kind of clear cover on it.

Just make the frame deep enough so that you can leave the cover on
when the plants are at their full height, and put something under it
to keep out burrowing rodents.

Jane McGary