Dennis bought some hardware cloth to make some kind of protection for seedlings when we move them outside (both when we “harden off” the seedlings before transplanting, and after transplanting; could also protect seeds we plant directly in the ground), but we ran out of time to build before we left town. Anyone interested in taking up the challenge? The hardware cloth is in the garden and awaits a creative mind!
I’m not sure what we might want . . . some possible ideas are in the pics below, my thinking wasn’t that we’d make something that we’d keep on the whole season, just long enough to protect the season, maybe also until the seedlings are big enough to keep the cats from thinking these are litter boxes. We could, of course, make something more durable and attractive . . .
While I was noodling around on the web looking for ideas, I ran into a lot of talk of cold frames for extending the outdoor season . . . I think the pics below are from e-how, and I thought they looked pretty cool:
Just thinking for the future . . .
UPDATE: As noted in the comments below, there should be exactly 3′ by 6′ of hardware cloth; Dennis’ idea was to just lay the hardware cloth on top of one of the new raised beds (or even be stapled or nailed to the top of the bed), just to provide a short term “hardening off”/move to the outdoors step for the seedlings if they’re getting leggy or otherwise unhappy in our apartments. This might be a good idea, but we should be thinking about what we want to do when we transplant and plants seeds directly in the ground . . .
Concord Village EarthLab 
🙂 good thinking AS!
Now Dennis tells me he got exactly 3′ by 6′ of hardware cloth, with the idea of having it just lay on top of one of the new raised beds (or even be stapled or nailed to the top of the bed), just to provide a short term “hardening off”/move to the outdoors step for the seedlings if they’re getting leggy or otherwise unhappy in our apartments. This might be a good idea, but we should be thinking about what we want to do when we transplant and plants seeds directly in the ground . . .
I scoped out the garden this morning, looked at the roll of hardware cloth and other supplies.
We could use the small bamboo rods we got at Build It Green as stakes at the corners of the beds and perhaps one or two along the sides. Slide the hardware cloth (metal mesh) down over the bamboo to cap off the bed and protect it from animals. (The bamboo rods will fit; I checked.)
If more protection (warmth) is needed at night we could put some plexiglass or Lexan or just heavy plastic cut-to-fit over the top.
This would allow easy access to add or remove seedlings during the hardening-off period (next week) before transplanting. Gardeners could just put their seedlings out in one empty raised bed and it would get covered and protected as needed.
I think this sounds great; if I can make the time tomorrow afternoon, I may try to do it with at least some of my seedlings. I’ll check the ten-day forecast, too . . .
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